Grape Sago
1 1/2 cups water 1 1/2 cups grape juice 1/2 cup sugar 1 tablespoon lemon juice 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 cup brown sago Mix together all the ingredients except the sago, and heat to boiling in a double boiler. Stir in the sago, and stir every two or three minutes till the sago does not settle to the bottom, then continue the cooking till the sago is transparent, which will require about one-half hour. Stir well. Turn into the dish in which it is to be served, or into molds wet with cold water. When cold, serve with cream. It is better to make this the day before it is to be used, so that it will get thoroughly cold and set. This makes a simple and nice dessert for Sabbath.
A cold moulded fruit pudding thickened with sago, made in a double boiler so the starch cannot scorch. Nothing here is difficult, but sago behaves unlike the starches most cooks now use.
- Sago, and what to use insteadBrown sago is the small pearl starch extracted from the pith of the sago palm, a common bulk grocery item in this period and still available in Asian and South Asian groceries. Small pearl tapioca is the closest substitute in the same quantity; instant or minute tapioca is not, as it dissolves rather than staying in distinct beads.
- The hinge: cook to transparencyThe pearls are done only when no opaque white centre remains. Undercooked sago sets into hard specks that no amount of chilling will soften, so give it the full half hour and check a pearl against the light before taking it off the heat.
- Stir until it stops settlingThe early stirring is not fussiness. Sago sinks and welds to the bottom before it begins to gel, and once a layer has caught it will never break up evenly through the pudding.
- Double boilerKeep the water at a steady simmer, not a hard boil, and expect the mixture in the upper pan to sit just below boiling throughout. A heavy saucepan over low heat works if you stir more often.
- Grape juiceUse unsweetened bottled Concord or other dark grape juice. Modern sweetened juice or juice cocktail will push the pudding well past the half cup of sugar the recipe intends; taste and cut the sugar if that is all you have.
- Moulds and unmouldingWetting the moulds with cold water is what lets the set pudding slip out; do not oil or butter them. Small cups or ramekins work as well as a decorative mould.
- Chilling and yieldThe overnight rest is genuine advice, not caution. Sago continues to firm for several hours, and a pudding turned out too early will slump. This quantity gives roughly four to six servings.