School days recipes

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MuMu_4

Did anyone else have soup after the main course instead of pudding? Luckily this only happened about once a month and aparently if they had soup first everyone had too much and then was too full for the 'proper' food.

best puddings were always iced buns, strawberry shortcake and Devonshire splits. Why? because we got milkshake too.

Everyone thought I was strange but my favourite maincourse was the luncheon meat flan. (like a quiche) I con't remember whether I like this so much becasue it came with salad or just because of itself.

MuMu

pudhark1

Hello I have just read re the school dinners, I too have wanted the recipe for the artificial cream they used on tarts such as lemon tart does anyone have it also the cheese pie it is like the ones they make in the hospitals, Any help with these recipes????

lesleyanne_3

Jackie!
i went to Woodlands school in the early sixties.
Mr Kemp was the headmaster whilst i was there. As i recall he was a lovely man.(can't say that about any of the other teachers that i have come accross in my life time). I remember going swimming and we used a school not to far away and we walked through a wood with loads of bluebells in it.
I was picked up every morning by a green bus.
it wasnt as strict in the 60's as when you were there.

CeeJay

catznine wrote:

Does anyone have a recipe for the sweet "fake" cream we used to get piped on our desserts? I used to love that!

Here is a recipe for Mock Cream from my Mum's (1940's) personal recipe book:

2 ozs margerine
2 ozs caster sugar
2 tablespoons hot water
2 tablespoons hot milk
Flavouring

Beat the fat until soft, add the sugar and cream together until light and fluffy. Beat in the water drop by drop, then beat in the milk drop by drop. Flavour to taste.

That is as it was written. I imagine that with some modern equipment the drop by drop bits could be added and whizzed in one go. I imagine that the flavouring would generally have been a drop or two of vanilla.

Enjoy... we did!


EDIT: Moral of the story is to read a thread properly BEFORE posting. I hadn't realised that Catznine's post was a year old but hope that this is still useful for you all.

jcr16

oh the good old days of school dinners. i was born in the 80's so i primary school and middle school until about 95 i think , and the dinners were gorgeous . once i got to high school in 96 the meals went to pot, all they served was chips so i had packed lunch.

anyway the scholl dinners i remember were fantastic. at primary school they always put a huge metal jug on table with water in, and the cook always made carrots in the shape of cubes. but the meals were so yummy. then at middle school the chocolate sponge was always in those huge rectangle tins , and had white icing and hundreds and thousands on, and served with pink or mint custard. if really lucky chocolate custard. the sponge was always really yummy and light. i can remember they served loads of chips ( always very greasy) and lots of turkey drummers. but the spag bol they did was gorg , and the lasagne.

ancasta_2

Im 22 and right up until i left for gcses (at 6 form i didnt bother with canteen so couldnt say) we always had "home made" food form a proper cook, a right mother hubbard buxom lady, with rosy cheeks, sounds so stereotypical but she was.
Her roast potatoes were to die for.

I remembered pink custard and chocolate sponge cake the most. yummy.

marion_6585

I don't know whether the cake you had at school was the same as I had, but here is a recipe that I use: melt 8oz hard margarine in saucepan, then add 12oz plain flour, 8oz sugar, 1oz cocoa and a drop or two of vanilla essence and stir well. Add 1 beaten egg and stir again. Spoon into a swiss roll tin (lined), smooth the top and brush top with cold water, sprinkle with sugar and bake at Gas mark 5 for 20-25 mins. Hope this is what you are looking for!

ampersand

JackieO wrote:

I was born and brought up in London, and after the war there were about 10 of these schools around London.I went to one in Downham which is on the outskirts of London near Bromley. I don't think there are any left now.They used to be for children that were sickly ,or had weak chests,lungs ect,.There were a lot of kids at my school which was called Woodlands that suffered from asthma,bronchitis or t.b. we also had children that for what ever reason had been in hospital for a long period of time. When I was there for three years in the mid fifties there were several deaths from children who couldn't recover from their illness's.We all used to get a day off when ever there was a death. I remember a brother and sister who died within a couple of months of each other. I know there used to be another school quite near to Shooters Hill in London but I think it closed down in the 1960s.
We had to be at school by 0.8.30.a.m. and before we went into breakfast we all had to do a series of keep-fit excercises in the playground. then it was breakfast then if the weather was good gardening on the large allotments attached to the school. The four classrooms looked like swiss chalets. They were all built of half wood and half glass. Most of the time the windows would be opened wide to the elements. I did virtually no written school work for three years as we were made to spend as much time in the open-air as possible.
Including myself, in my class of thirty, there were only about 20% of children who could actually read and write
I spent most of my three years reading books as there was very little else to do. After lunch we all had to have an afternoon's sleep for an hour on camp beds in the Hall if it was wet or in the playground if dry. We went home at 4.00.p.m.
I remember that if you didn't close your eyes and look like you were asleep then you would get either a punishment of spud -peeling, or in more drastic cases of insubordination there would be the cane.Both girls and boys were caned and you just had to accept it.
I recall going to a main-stream secondary school at 13 years old and being surprised that girls weren't caned as well as boys.
It gave me a life-long loathing of the open-air .When I went back to a 'normal' school I hadn't a clue what half the lessons were about . I truanted at an almost permanant level until I reached 15 and left school. I was so far behind the rest of the other children that I skipped off school at every opportunity.
I am now 60 and started at the basic skills level 5 years ago at adult education and in the last two years have passed both English and History at GCSE. I am studying a Law GCSE this year and also doing a part-time history course at Kent Uni.
Thank goodness that these schools no longer exist and now children are cherished instead of being beaten
I love going to Adult -Ed, and my grandchildren all think that Nanny is a 'cool dude'I warn them of the dangers of not having a decent education, and like me having to get one so late in life. I only hope they listen.

Chanced upon your wonderful post JackieO - thankyou for it and all it symbolises.
Good luck is with you now.

halloweenqueen_2

From rhodes around britain. Gary Rhodes says it was a recip[e he'd been looking for for years (shoulda gone to my mums!!) he remembered it from school

8oz Shortcrust pastry
14oz tin evapoarted milk
12 oz dark muscovado sugar.

Preheat oven to 200c
Use pastry to line a 10 in flan ring (or use a couple of home made/ ready made pie shells.
Line with grease proof paper and bake blind in pre heatred oven for 15-20 mins until cooked.
Leave to cool.
Whisk the evaporated milk and sugar together for 10 minutes until light and fluffy. The mix should be coffee coloured. Pour the mix into the pastry case and bake in the oven for 10 mins until set. The gypsy tart shoul now be left to cool and served cold.

There you are its delicious. the ten minutes is important, do not skimp. the other thing i remember was my mum used to make it while the roast dinner was cooking, then turned the oven off and popped the tart in to cook/set on the heat left over.