My dear mother had a sago soup that she used to make quite regularly but I don't have it written down. There seem to be very few savoury recipes for sago soups on the 'net - most are sweet/dessert-type Asian soups. From my memory it was sago cooked in a meat or chicken broth with milk added and egg for thickening. It's unlikely to have been fancy foreign - she learned to cook quite late in young adulthood so it may have come from my father's English family. Does anyone possibly have such a recipe please?

Google books [books.google.co.nz]

has Veal and Sago Soup:
¼ lb pearl sago
2½ lbs veal chopped fine
3 quarts water
1 pint milk
4 eggs

(An American book so American measurements - I'd put the veal as 1134g, the water as 2.8 litres, the sago as 113g, the milk as 473ml.)

Wash the sago several times and then soak it for half an hour in some warm water just covering it.
Boil veal and the 3 quarts of water slowly until liquid is reduced to half the original amount. Remove the meat. Put the pot back onto the stove. Put the soaked sago into the pot of broth and boil it for half an hour, stirring very often to prevent lumping and scorching.
Heat the milk almost to boiling. Separate the eggs (you don't need the egg whites for this recipe at all). Beat the egg yolks lightly, then mix into the milk gradually (like you would when making custard) and then tip the milk and egg mixture into the soup, stirring constantly. Season with s&p, boil up once to cook the eggs, and serve. If the liquid's too thick after putting in the eggs, add a bit of boiling water. It should be about the consistency of hot custard.
Chicken can be substituted for the veal, making it very good for strengthening invalids and those suffering from colds and pulmonary infections.

I should add the book itself is Common Sense in the Household: A Manual of Practical Housewifery by Marion Harland, published 1871, America



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/07/2020 12:28AM by J1.

Not strictly relevant but I had a look in my mother's 1930s cookbooks. No sago soup but I did find a recipe for tapioca soup which seems to be made of milk, onion , cheese and tapioca. On the same page were a couple of versions of"Waste not want not Soup" which was vegetable water and milk with as much grated vegetables as you had available. There is another recipe for "Cheap White Soup". The pages are quite dense print with a minimum description of method, cooking temperature etc. No pictures so it was just you on your own with your wood range. Different times .....

Thank you - I have to confess I didn't look out for this last year but this looks good.