When I was at primary school. (I am 60 now) we all had a favourite pudding which was called 'Toffee Tart'.
No one but the chief cook at the central kitchen which sent out food to several schools had the recipe and the woman held it as a guarded secret. (my mother was a teacher and she too wanted the recipe) One of the kitchen hands there said that they all wanted to know how to make it too and it became (apparently) rather an occupational thing to find out.
No one ever found out anything other than the chief cook ordered extra beef dripping and it must have been used in the recipe. She always came to work before any one else and made the filling herself and refused to tell what the recipe was
It was just short crust pastry base but the filling was about half an inch of something like a liquid fudge or better described as butterscotch taste but the texture was firm. It kept it's shape when cold and sliced.
I suspect from the taste condensed milk may have been in there somewhere but for 50 years, I have often looked in cookery books but have never ever found a recipe which would make this.
Has any one any idea what I am talking about?
We lived in Surrey at the time and I have spoken to loads of people from all over and they can not recall having a similar pudding at school.
The obvious possibilities would be toffee cream tart (http://www.schoolrecipes.co.uk/index.php/school-dinner-recipes/34-desserts-puddings/104-toffee-cream-tart.html), gypsy tart (http://www.schoolrecipes.co.uk/index.php/school-dinner-recipes/34-desserts-puddings/105-gypsy-tart.html) or fudge tart (http://www.schoolrecipes.co.uk/index.php/school-dinner-recipes/34-desserts-puddings/129-fudge-tart.html).
Sounds to me like the filling used in Banoffi, caramlised condensed milk.
There is a dinner ladies cookbook on the market, don't know the name but reputed to have "secret "recipes in it.
I have some condensed milk already prepared in tins(I keep it for Banoffi) I will give it a go tonight for dessert and see if it works. I will get back to you, hopefully with a picture.
XX Jeannine
PS Presuming it has no top crust ?
Sounds like Gypsy Tart to me too.
Gypsy Tart
1 400g (14oz) Tin of Evaporated Milk
340g (12oz) Dark Muscovado Sugar
1 10inch Pre-baked shortcrust pastry case
Pre-heat oven to 200°C: 400°F: Gas 6.
Whisk evaporated milk and sugar together for approximately 10 minutes
Until light and fluffy and coffee coloured.
Pour the mix into the pastry case.
Bake for 10 minutes.
The surface will appear slightly sticky but will set completely when left to cool.
Serve cold.
Serves 6
A firm favourite in Kentish schools, it made up for the gristle stews and very lumpy mash we were forced to eat. :-X
I have the dinner lady book and there is a toffee tart in it;
Toffee Tart
pastry case (actually they make there own but surely life is too short!)
Filling
100g (3 1/2 oz) butter / marg
40g (1 1/2 oz) plain flour
250ml (9floz) milk
55g (2oz) caster sugar
100g (3 1/2 oz) golden syrup
25g (1oz) good chocolate
For the filling, melt the butter or marg in a large pan, add the flour and cook, stirring, until sandy in colour and texture, Heat the milk in another small pan, and when hot, gradually whisk it in, along with the sugar. Cook, stirring all the time, until the mixture thickens then remove from heat. Add the golden syrup and beat well.
Pour the mixture into the baked pastry case and set aside to cool. When tart is cold, grate the chocolate and sprinlke over.
May be it but without the choc?
After many years looking for it I did find the carmel tart recipe it's like the one posted above but it is made with butterscotch essence. I did make it and it did taste very nice.
http://www.sweetsuccess.uk.com/butterscotch.asp
Oh my goodness - that gypsy tart sounds amazing....
Hey ho it looks like my diet may go out the window this week ! ;D
Alison
It sounds very like what we in Hartlepool called treacle tart -very sweet and sticky without being gooey, and much preferred to frogs'eggs or the dreaded bananas lurking in cold,lumpy custard!
I have had it e-mailed to me, seemingly the fat was a half Echo marge and half beef dripping mix but butter can be used for the posh. It certainly was not used in the 1950's school kitchens!
I think that most people will want to halve or even quarter the recipe if they are going to try it as it looks like it is going to make rather a lot.
2 lb pastry
8 oz cooking fat
1 lb brown sugar
1/3pt bottle of school milk
2 heaped tbsp flour
Blind bake the pastry.
Melt fat on a low heat.
Add the milk and sugar stirring until dissolved.
Whisk in the flour.
As soon as the mixture thickens reduce the heat.
Pour onto the pastry and allow to cool.
I made Gypsy tart a while back and though I never had it for school dinners in the North of England,most of my Welsh guests instantly recognised it as one of their favourite school puds.
I must have made about 10 photocopies of the recipe that night.
Thqat is the same recipe as caramel pie over here except they use butter. XX Jeannine
I went to school in Dartford, Kent and we had Gypsy Tart there. It was my favourite pudding by far. ;D
it sounds like scottish tablet filling , can condenced milk, cup of full cream milk, 2 oz, butter and a bag of sugar, melt till sugar dissolved and then keep checking till it becomes sort of sugary on the pan, then you gotta beat like crazy, thats if you want it solid , if you took it off and just beat a little while then it wouldn,t be so hard so you could just pour in the flan, hope it helps it tastes wondeful
I don't understand it being called a "pudding". Or does that mean "dessert"
How thick is the filling in it? About an inch?
Yes, I would call it a pudding meaning a dessert. Why I do not know GrannieAnnie. ;D
As I remember it, the filling was about 1'' thick. So very sickly you wouldn't want it any thicker.
It was called pudding because we kids had:-
Dinner then Pudding.
It could be a regional thing. In the South Dinner was the main meal of the day so it could be eaten at Mid day or in the Evening.
In the North I found that what ever was eaten at mid day was dinner then the evening meal was always tea.
As we got posher and restaurants were frequented we started to call the mid day meal lunch and the evening meal dinner. Except on Sunday when Dinner was at Lunch time and tea was at Dinner time.
As kids 'lunch' was a snack at play time where we lived.
Desserts, Puddings, Sweets and even 'Afters' all mean the same to a lot of people.
I suppose it is much the same with a flan or tart. I always thought flans were savory and tarts sweet but I have seen it the other way, probably for effect. I was disappointed the first time I had a slice of Quiche and it was just like a bacon and egg flan.
Stews were made on top and casseroles were the same thing but slow cooked in an oven.
A rose by any other name..
Quote from: PurpleHeather on July 04, 2010, 15:37:34
It was called pudding because we kids had:-
Dinner then Pudding.
It could be a regional thing. In the South Dinner was the main meal of the day so it could be eaten at Mid day or in the Evening.
In the North I found that what ever was eaten at mid day was dinner then the evening meal was always tea.
As we got posher and restaurants were frequented we started to call the mid day meal lunch and the evening meal dinner. Except on Sunday when Dinner was at Lunch time and tea was at Dinner time.
As kids 'lunch' was a snack at play time where we lived.
Desserts, Puddings, Sweets and even 'Afters' all mean the same to a lot of people.
I suppose it is much the same with a flan or tart. I always thought flans were savory and tarts sweet but I have seen it the other way, probably for effect. I was disappointed the first time I had a slice of Quiche and it was just like a bacon and egg flan.
Stews were made on top and casseroles were the same thing but slow cooked in an oven.
A rose by any other name..
No wonder I'm confused reading posts here. It took me the longest time to understand that "tea" means evening supper...sometimes.
It is a good job I stopped before I ventured into elevenses, supper, cocktails and midnight feasts. Of course we also have snacks. They can be eaten at any time.
I remember the first time I went on a cruise. It started off at :-
5am when the cafe opened for CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST danish pastries, croissants, butter and preserves. Freshly baked and hot from the oven.
6am the self service area opened for cooked breakfast (eggs cooked to your requirements whilst you waited) and at
8am the waiter service restaurant opened up. Smoked salmon and scrambled eggs was my new experience there. Gosh that is good and I do it now with the smoked salmon trimmings they have at the supermarkets, much cheaper and still good.
10am. all closed except for the restaurant because sooooooooooo many turned up just after 9.45. They struggled to close for 11am.
11 am Freshly baked cookies were served with coffee or tea.
Noon Lunch began. There were various places to eat, self service or waiter service, all with a different menu.
2pm all restaurants closed
3pm-4pm afternoon tea was served with all the different sandwiches and cakes.
5pm- 8pm cocktails were served for the first sitting of dinner and for those on second sitting
6pm first sitting of waiter served dinner
8pm second sitting of waiter served dinner.
Midnight buffet was the last meal of the day. It lasted until 2 am.
Yes you could go to every one every day. If you were on board you could just simply spend all day eating.
The evening meal was several courses
Appetiser
Soup
I think a fish dish came in around here somewhere
Salad
Main Course
Desert
Cheese and biscuits
Coffee and petite fours
It is much easier to add on a stone in weight in a week than it is to lose one in a month.
I am an early riser and was always at the danish pastry place, for my early morning cuppa rather than food but each day, a lady went in and got a plate full of pastries. Agreed she looked more like Hattie Jacques than Victoria Beckham.
No matter where we went for food (we tried all the areas over various days, I always saw her. I can still see her in my mind now, she never spoke to any one. She just ate.
It was not unusual for people to take a napkin, fill it with food and take it away just before service ended at any one of the above.
One thing I loved was the green salad with blue cheese dressing they did. Never did find out how to make one exactly like it.
What amazed me more was how many sparrow like women could put away so much food. May be they existed all year on beans on toast once a day to save up for an annual binge. But then you would think their stomachs would shrink so that they could not eat much. It amazed me.
Whoops
We have not yet mentioned BRUNCH! :-[
It sounds like the fudge tart we had for school dinners, I remember asking the dinner lady for the recipe and was also told it was secret. Pastry base with a soft fudge like filling and chocolate scrapes on top...yummy.
PurpleHeather, we just did a cruise to celebrate our 45 wedding anniversary and I quickly got into the smoked salmon routine for breakfast everyday, and more seafood for lunch and more seafood for dinner. I almost grew gills that week!