Gypsy Tart and School Dinners
Go back to the 1980s and you’ll find me, knee-high to a grasshopper, attending a small primary school in South Manchester. It was a faith school of only about 120 pupils but it was by no means exclusive. We still had our ubiquitous, ‘girl who smelled of Spam,’ (thank Lee & Herring for that one) and none of us were from particularly affluent families. We all enjoyed our mid-morning bottle of free milk - quite how that survived the clutches of Thatcher the milk snatcher I’m not 100% sure - and we all enjoyed our school dinners.
It was a very simple affair, a two-course set meal usually consisting of sliced pork or beef with gravy and some boiled veggies followed by a sponge pudding or a crumble. There was no menu, no buffet to choose from and come to think of it I can’t even remember there being a vegetarian option. But it was good hearty stuff, not exciting I’ll be the first to admit, but a balanced diet. We were eating what we needed, not necessarily what we wanted. I wolfed it down anyway, of course. (This blog isn’t called Pernicketydave!)
In recent years school dinners have rarely been out of the newspapers. It took a celebrity chef back in 2005 to embarrass the authorities into improving what had become shockingly low standards. The budget per child that schools were being asked to work with was so low that their only option was to provide cheap, processed foods that were alarmingly unhealthy. The government’s response to the problem? As always, to appear on television and say they’ll throw money at it - money it was later reported they didn’t actually have. The ‘quango’ that was set up to deliver reform, the School Food Trust, was initially criticised for having a conflict of interests due to many of its board members having links to large catering firms that already supply to schools. These concerns do appear largely to have been redressed and the School Food Trust have compiled new guidelines for food standards which are now mandatory in English primary schools, with a looming deadline for the same in secondary schools. Of course, it wouldn’t be a quango if there weren’t conflicting reports on its success so far, but it’s early days. Let’s hope the shame that kicked this whole thing off is matched by an ongoing sense of responsibility to our kids.
Here’s a dessert from yesteryear, though one which is unlikely to appear in the SFT’s guidelines.
Gypsy Tart is a fondly remembered school dinner dessert, particularly in the South of England. A sweet pastry tart with a filling made from whipped evaporated milk and muscovado sugar, very basic ingredients for essentially a very basic pudding. It might be a little on the calorific side but nothing that can’t be worked off by shinnying up a rope in the school gym afterwards…
- For Gypsy Tart
- 300g sweet shortcrust pastry
- 1 can of evaporated milk (410g)
- 330g muscovado sugar
Roll the pastry to about 3mm in depth, line it inside a 25cm tart dish and dock the base with a fork. Place a sheet of greaseproof paper in the dish on top of the pastry, fill with rice or dried beans and blind bake it at 170°C for 10/15 minutes until the sides start to turn a light golden. After this, remove the rice or beans and return to the oven for another 5/10 minutes until the base also turns golden. Remove the pastry case from the oven to cool but bump up the oven temperature to 200°C ready to bake the filled tart.
Put the muscovado sugar and the evaporated milk into a bowl and whisk together with an electric whisk until it becomes thickened and paler in colour. About 10 minutes of whisking will do it. Pour the mix into the pastry case (about ¾ of the way to the top) and bake for about 5 to 10 minutes. The tart will rise (though it levels off when left to cool) and the surface will feel set but tacky to the touch when it’s done. Remove the tart to a cooling tray and serve at room temperature.
Now this wouldn’t be an honest food journel if I didn’t mention that the tart pictured above was actually attempt #3. Attempts 1 & 2 failed for different reasons but ones which a baker of any experience wouldn’t repeat. At this stage of my baking know-how even the simplest of tarts is quite a steep learning curve. An enjoyable one, though.
And my Gypsy Tart verdict? Well, it’s not difficult to see why it’s associated with school and childhood because Gypsy Tart just doesn’t feel like an ‘adult’ dessert. Served up here with a scoop of ice cream, it has a very rich toffee-like, syrupy taste which you could imagine kids wouldn’t be able to get enough of. Quite how school teachers stopped the kids bouncing off the walls after dinner is anyone’s guess. For an adult palate though, it’s probably a little too sweet and sickly, or maybe that’s just my unenthusiastic sweet-tooth talking. Still, if you’re looking for a nostalgia kick then this is your pud. It’ll make you feel 8-years old all over again.
GDave
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Anything named gypsy tart has to be tasty! What is it with you and Miles making these gorgeous desserts, then letting us know you don’t care for sweets. As I said to Miles, that’s not fair! It’s always the girls craving the sweets, but not the calories.
Your posts are always filled with such interesting and fun details. Love the stories — of course, you’re quite the story-teller! Very entertaining, GDave.
Comment by Melissa − on Sep 5, 2009 at 11:31 pm
Despite my frankly hyperactive sweet tooth, I’ve never made or even eaten this. Now I plan to have a day off and eat nothing else. Mind you, that might turn into two days off and/or diabetes… I really must learn to save some for later.
I second the love of the storytelling, too. Great site all round. I especially enjoyed being reminded of the word ‘bowlhead’.
Incidentally, I think the vegetarian option in the 80s was ‘don’t eat the slices of meat’.
Comment by DrMike − on Sep 6, 2009 at 6:58 pm
Melissa,
I don’t know what it is about blokes and desserts. Sure, you’ll get plenty of testimonies to the contrary, but you’ll never find a guy who can talk about a ‘double chocolate bomb’ for 5 hours solid. If I hear the name Gü Puds mentioned one more time I’ll test the ‘death by chocolate’ theory out quite literally.
GDave
Comment by greedydave − on Sep 6, 2009 at 8:24 pm
DrMike,
Apparently it doesn’t refrigerate well, so not only do you have to eat it all, but you have to eat it quickly!
Thanks for dropping in. You’ll no doubt have guessed that my plans to come South of the Border (Down Congleton Way) fell through. Touch wood, I’ll put that right before Christmas.
Incidentally, I might have to pump you for a bit more info on Staffy Oatcakes as I’m leaning towards those being next up.
All the best.
GDave
Comment by greedydave − on Sep 6, 2009 at 8:24 pm
GDave,
Great post, a simple but effective dessert. When do we get chocolate pudding with pink custard? That was my favourite but then anything other than being force fed sago pudding was a bonus. Kids of today hey? They’ve no idea!!
Miles
Comment by Miles − on Sep 6, 2009 at 10:06 pm
Miles,
Chocolate pudding with pink custard? Which posh, private school did you go to?
Cheers Guv! The puds at my school were just magic. No sago or tapioca in sight. What’s more, there was always strawberry Angel Delight waiting for me when I got home too. Ah, nostalgia!
GDave
Comment by greedydave − on Sep 7, 2009 at 7:52 pm
GDave,
A fine looking tart is that and you should feel proud. Your dedication to the making of it is outstanding…. don’t you just hate it when they fail. I’m still not perfect with the old macarons despite numerous trials…. which only goes to show the enormous amount of trust and faith I have in my future oven… any failures will of course, be chalked up to it’s over complicated menu
Cid
Comment by Cid − on Sep 7, 2009 at 7:57 pm
Thanks Cid,
I was very close to putting a photo up of failed attempt #2. It was spectacular! If I’d have taken a close-up pic it would have looked like Earth’s landscape after the robots destroyed the world. Decided against it in the end.
How close are you to getting your future oven in place? I hope you are in the ‘putting stuff back together’ stage following the ‘ripping stuff to bits’ phase.
GDave
Comment by greedydave − on Sep 7, 2009 at 8:14 pm
GDave,
Shame about attempts one and two…. hope they didn’t go to waste!
As for kitchen renovation…. well, let’s just say tart number two would blend in nicely as things stand
In truth it’s definitely ‘putting stuff back’ although it seems like a long road ahead. I’m having dreams in slow motion with me and the oven running towards one another, arms out-stretched in longing anticipation 
I’d be worried but it’s a long term recurring dream occasionally interrupted by Colin Firth… oddly enough it used to be the other way around 
Cid
Comment by Cid − on Sep 7, 2009 at 11:10 pm
I tried 3 times to make a gypsy tart and failed miserably…attempt number 1. followed recipe, filling bubbled over pastry case and went really runny…guess the oven was to hot and too much filling for the pastry case …attempt no 2…looked promising, still runny, it was more like gypsy tart soup…attemp no 3…wow…looked really good….cooled…and still runny….if it’s such a simple tart why can’t i make it….arghhhh….so frustrating will try again next weekend …
this is the recipe i followed
180C, gas mark 4.
1 x 410g tin evaporated milk, refrigerated overnight
275g dark soft brown sugar # Using an electric mixer, whisk together the chilled evaporated milk and sugar on full power for a minimum of 12-15 minutes. By this time it will have become light, coffee-coloured and creamy. The consistency should resemble softly whipped cream, that is not quite holding peaks.
# Pour it into the pastry case and bake for 10 minutes, during which time the filling will set, and develop a sticky surface. Remove it from the oven and leave to cool. Once at room temperature, the tart is ready to serve.
Comment by Hazel − on Oct 20, 2009 at 10:13 am
Hi Hazel,
I agree entirely. For a simple tart I found it quite hit and miss, but I just put this down to my baking inexperience. I didn’t suffer the bubbling over but on one attempt it lost its “whip” and collapsed entirely. I hadn’t read before that the milk should be chilled and might give that a try sometime in the future. Thanks for stopping by!
GDave
Comment by greedydave − on Oct 21, 2009 at 2:26 pm
Hi Dave
That looks great! I have been looking for a recipe for butterscotch tart which we used to have at school. Do you think this is the same thing?
Comment by Debbie − on Nov 23, 2009 at 2:24 pm
Hi Debbie,
It’s not something I’ve come across but it does sound remarkably similar. To me it looks like the only differences are that Butterscotch Tart uses flour in the filling and uses whole milk instead of evaporated. You may have come across this article already but it seems to answer your question to the letter. Thanks for saying “hi!” and do come back with your results when you nail it.
GDave
Comment by greedydave − on Nov 23, 2009 at 8:28 pm
Hi Dave
Thank you so much for the link. I’ll give it a try!
Comment by Debbie − on Nov 24, 2009 at 7:18 am