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Dessert

Sago Jelly

A gelatinous dessert made from sago, water, raspberry syrup, and optional cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Syrup and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,964 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Sago Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Make the jelly

  1. Boil sago in 3½ pints of water until ready.

  2. Let it cool, then add ½ pint of raspberry syrup.

  3. Pour into a shape rinsed in cold water.

  4. Let it set until firm enough to turn out.

Serve

  1. Serve with a little cream around it, if desired.

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. Syrup + creamtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,964 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Tea + raspberrytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together61 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-beta-ionone (floral).

  3. Raspberry + creamtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,332 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Raspberry + syruptop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together377 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Sago
Starch that thickens as it cooks and sets the jelly into a firm, wobbly mass.
Raspberry syrup
Adds sweetness and flavour to the jelly.

The step that matters

Letting the sago cool before adding the syrup. Sago thickens and sets as it cools, so the jelly firms up as the mixture rests. Adding syrup while it is still very hot can thin the mixture and weaken the set, so cooling first helps it hold its shape when turned out.

Swap the raspberry

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tea, syrup, cream):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Strawberryfits about as well
  3. Peachfits about as well
  4. Raspberrythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tea, syrup, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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.

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