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Sago and Apple Pudding
Soak a tea-cupful of large sago in cold water for an hour, to free it from the earthy taste. Rinse it well, and boil gently till clear in a quart of water. Stir frequently, and add a little more hot water if necessary. This will depend upon the quality of the sago, which when taken from the fire should be tolerably thin. Half fill a large buttered pie-dish with partially-boiled apples. Sweeten these, and sprinkle over them a little grated lemon-rind or powdered cinnamon. Pour the boiled sago over them, and bake the pudding in a moderate oven. When the apples are soft the pudding is done enough. Time to boil the sago, about an hour; to bake the pudding, about an hour. Probable cost, 6d. Sufficient for five or six persons.
A Victorian nursery-and-invalid pudding: pearl sago cooked to a translucent porridge and baked over sweetened apples. Nothing here is difficult, but the sago behaves quite differently from the modern packet.
- The hinge: sago must be clear before it goes in the dishUndercooked sago stays chalky at the centre and no amount of baking will fix it, because the pudding is only in the oven long enough to soften the apples. Simmer until every grain is translucent through, with no white speck.
- Sago, and what to use instead"Large sago" is pearl sago, starch from the sago palm, sold in bead form. Modern pearl sago from an Asian grocer generally cooks faster than the hour given here, so test it rather than trusting the stated time; large pearl tapioca is the nearest substitute and behaves much the same.
- The hour's soakingThe recipe gives the cold soak as a way to free the sago "from the earthy taste". With clean modern stock a shorter soak and a rinse is ample, mostly to stop the grains clumping.
- Consistency off the heat"Tolerably thin" means pourable, not a set porridge. Sago keeps thickening as it cools and again in the oven, so err on the loose side and top up with hot water as needed while it simmers, as the recipe directs.
- MeasuresA teacupful is roughly 6 fl oz (about 170 ml, or 3/4 US cup) of dry sago; a quart is 40 fl oz Imperial, about 1.1 litres. That ratio is generous and you may not need all the liquid.
- A moderate ovenAround 350F / 180C. The pudding is only finishing the apples and setting the top, so it may well be done in less than the stated hour; the recipe's own test is that the apples are soft.
- The apples"Partially-boiled" means stewed briefly with a splash of water until they have begun to collapse but still hold shape. A firm cooking apple such as Bramley or Granny Smith works; sweeten to taste before the sago goes over, since it cannot be adjusted afterwards.
- Yield and servingFive or six as written, in a large pie-dish — the quart of sago alone is 2 pints, and it goes over a dish already half full of apples. Serve warm with cream or a thin custard; it sets solid when cold and is better reheated than eaten straight from the refrigerator.
Sago reached British kitchens as a colonial import from the Malay archipelago, where the pith of the sago palm is washed, settled and dried into starch, then rolled into pearls. By the mid-nineteenth century it sat on the shelf beside tapioca, arrowroot and semolina as one of the cheap, bland, easily digested starches recommended for children, convalescents and anyone with a delicate stomach — the recipe notes the cost at sixpence, which puts it among the economical family puddings. The pairing with apples is the standard Victorian trick of using fruit to carry a starch that has almost no flavour of its own. Sago puddings have all but vanished from British tables while remaining common in Southeast Asia, where sago is native and treated as a staple rather than an invalid food.