Sago Cream
1/4 cup brown sago 3 cups milk 1/2 cup sugar 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon vanilla Mix together all the ingredients except the vanilla, and let stand one-half hour. Then put to cook in a double boiler. Stir frequently, cooking till the sago is transparent, which will require about one-half to three-fourths hour. Remove from the fire and stir in the vanilla. Serve cold in glasses, with a bit of bright jelly or with pieces of broken nut meats on top.
A plain milk pudding thickened with sago pearls, cooked gently in a double boiler and served chilled. Nothing here is difficult, but the starch needs patience and a low temperature.
- The hinge: keep it below a boilSago in milk scorches and the milk skins over if it takes direct heat. The double boiler is not optional, and the water beneath should stay at a bare simmer rather than a rolling boil.
- Brown sagoSago is starch from the pith of the sago palm, sold as small hard pearls. The "brown" (less refined) grade is now hard to find; white sago pearls are the usual modern stand-in, and small pearl tapioca will also serve, though it may thicken a little differently.
- The half-hour soakStanding in the cold milk hydrates the pearls so they cook evenly. Skip it and you get chalky centres inside translucent shells.
- Judging donenessThe pearls should be uniformly clear with no white speck at the core. Thirty to forty-five minutes is realistic; older or larger pearls can take an hour.
- ConsistencyIt will look thin and loose while hot and set noticeably as it cools. Pull it off the heat when it coats a spoon rather than when it looks like a set pudding.
- Stirring"Frequently" means every few minutes, and along the bottom of the pan. Sago settles and clumps if left alone.
- Vanilla off the heatAdded after cooking, as written, so the flavour is not driven off by the long heating.
- Yield and servingThree cups of milk gives about four modest glasses. Chill at least two hours; press plastic wrap onto the surface if you dislike a skin. "Bright jelly" simply indicates a clear, strongly coloured jelly -- currant is one common choice -- spooned on at the table.