Skip to main content
Main

Sago Soup

A clear soup made with sago, beef tea, cream, and egg yolk, seasoned with pepper and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Beef and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,971 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Sago Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the sago

  1. Cook the sago in ½ cup of water until clear.

  2. Add the beef tea, pepper, and salt.

  3. Simmer for 10 minutes.

Finish with egg

  1. Beat the egg yolk with the cream.

  2. Pour the soup into the egg mixture.

  3. Return the mixture to the saucepan.

  4. Reheat gently, ensuring it does not boil to prevent curdling.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Beef + teatop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together417 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methyl-3-(methyldithio)furan (thiamin, meat).

  3. Tea + peppertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together260 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  4. Tea + creamtop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together463 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

  5. Cream + peppertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together21,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Cream and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 21,449 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Sago
Swells and thickens the soup as its starch gelatinises during cooking, giving body.
Beef tea
Forms the savoury liquid base that carries the flavour of the soup.
Egg yolk
Enriches the soup and thickens it gently when heated, giving a smooth texture.
Cream
Adds fat for richness and a silky mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Reheat gently without boiling. Egg yolk proteins set when heated, so if the soup boils the yolk scrambles and curdles, leaving a grainy texture. Low, gentle heat keeps the custard-like mixture smooth.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

More sago soup recipes

Creamy 4Chicken 3German 3 See all 82 →

You might also like

Roast BeefRoast Beef211 recipesBeef LoafBeef Loaf175 recipesCorned BeefCorned Beef87 recipesBeef BrothBeef Broth67 recipes