BS: Gypsy Tart?

Subject: BS: Gypsy Tart?
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 11 Jul 20 - 10:30 AM

It seems that this delicacy, which originates from the Isle of Sheppey in Kent, was frequently served for pudding in Kent schools. It was brought to my attention by my sister in law who lives in Edenbridge, who announced that she had bought one for part of her birthday meal. Are there any inhabitants of Kent who are familiar with Gypsy Tart?

Subject: RE: BS: Gypsy Tart?
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 11 Jul 20 - 04:20 PM

It even tells you how to make it here!!

Subject: RE: BS: Gypsy Tart?
From: Donuel
Date: 11 Jul 20 - 04:26 PM

How did you make out with the gypsy tart? Sounds sexy.

Subject: RE: BS: Gypsy Tart?
From: The Sandman
Date: 11 Jul 20 - 04:49 PM

I never came across it as a child.

Subject: RE: BS: Gypsy Tart?
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 11 Jul 20 - 05:13 PM

My sister in law told us about it. Now although my dentist has told me "no sugar at all" I'm determined to try it.

Subject: RE: BS: Gypsy Tart?
From: Jos
Date: 11 Jul 20 - 05:56 PM

Is it possible the name of this tart might cause offence to traveller or Roma communities? Maybe a small amount of rum or other strong drink should be added to the filling, then it could be re-named 'Tipsy tart'.

Subject: RE: BS: Gypsy Tart?
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 11 Jul 20 - 06:23 PM

It is what it is, I had never heard of it before today.

Subject: RE: BS: Gypsy Tart?
From: Mr Red
Date: 12 Jul 20 - 03:44 AM

So how does a Gypsy fit a fridge in the canvas covered wagon?

Methinks 'tis a desert to follow a ploughman's lunch

the earliest date Wiki on Gypsy Tart cites is 2014. This website claims it goes back 100 years. Another talks of a gypsy baking one for children near her house! Gypsies had houses, with fridges, in 1920? Showmen maybe, and we called them gypsies when I were a lad. But, I mean..............

Now tell me, is it a Kentish Tart or a Tart of Kent?

Subject: RE: BS: Gypsy Tart?
From: Jos
Date: 12 Jul 20 - 09:47 AM

The second link doesn't say it was first made by a gypsy woman in a house, it says it was an elderly woman who saw some rather thin looking gypsy children playing in the fields and thought they might be hungry.

Subject: RE: BS: Gypsy Tart?
From: gillymor
Date: 12 Jul 20 - 09:55 AM

Substitute a graham cracker crust add some key lime and you've got a key lime tart.

Subject: RE: BS: Gypsy Tart?
From: Jos
Date: 12 Jul 20 - 10:01 AM

PS It doesn't say the food was in her fridge, it was in her pantry, which was where people kept food before they had fridges - such as in 1920.
Besides, who keeps tinned food and sugar in the fridge?

Subject: RE: BS: Gypsy Tart?
From: Jos
Date: 12 Jul 20 - 10:08 AM

Add banana for a banoffee pie.

Subject: RE: BS: Gypsy Tart?
From: Anne Lister
Date: 12 Jul 20 - 10:16 AM

It wasn't only served in Kent schools. I remember it from school dinners generally, and I was in schools in Kent, in Berkshire, in Worcestershire and in Cardiff. Loved it. I've never seen a recipe for it before this thread, though.

Subject: RE: BS: Gypsy Tart?
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 12 Jul 20 - 11:59 AM

Gypsy Tart and Spotted Dick..

would that be on a cafe menu, or a dodgy video hidden in Bonz's shed...???

Subject: RE: BS: Gypsy Tart?
From: keberoxu
Date: 12 Jul 20 - 01:26 PM

I looked at a question-and-answer online thingy
that not only gave a recipe for Gipsy Tart,
but allowed people to comment and ask for assistance.

This simple recipe was a struggle for several commenters,
and I learned a lot from their complaints
and from those who knew the solution to their problems.

From which, I glean two observations.

1) This is a dish that can be made with
the fewest and most common of ingredients,
provided one has a LOT of sugar.

2) This is actually a labor-intensive dish, and in order
to prepare it correctly,
one should be well-accustomed to spending
ten to fifteen minutes at a time
stirring furiously.
Which not all of us are,
in this, the post-industrial age.

There were numerous comments that
the only way to get the filling to "set" properly
was to really spend a lot of time
whisking that milk around in the bowl
before filling the pastry crust.

Subject: RE: BS: Gypsy Tart?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 12 Jul 20 - 01:43 PM

If you go into a cake shop in Bakewell do you just ask for a tart?

Subject: RE: BS: Gypsy Tart?
From: Rain Dog
Date: 13 Jul 20 - 05:00 AM

Yep, had it at school in Kent many years ago. A few years ago one of the local shops was selling it. Not seen it recently but then I have not been looking for it.

It is very sweet

Subject: RE: BS: Gypsy Tart?
From: Mr Red
Date: 13 Jul 20 - 09:48 AM

PS It doesn't say the food was in her fridge,

Does the recipe call for fridge cooking? Or what? And would muscavado sugar be common 100 years ago? (Soft brown sugar, or sugar+treacle maybe). That's the Folk Process for you.

If you go into a cake shop in Bakewell do you just ask for a tart? - the simple answer is Yes if you ain't local. But with a little knowledge you could look a bit clever by asking for a Bakewell Pudding.

Subject: RE: BS: Gypsy Tart?
From: Jos
Date: 13 Jul 20 - 10:40 AM

Mr Red - Yesterday you asked "So how does a Gypsy fit a fridge in the canvas covered wagon?" and "Gypsies had houses, with fridges, in 1920?"

That is why I pointed out that the website didn't say the food was in her fridge. It doesn't mention a fridge but does mention a pantry. It was you who brought the fridge into the discussion. Nobody mentioned "cooking" in a fridge until just now.

Subject: RE: BS: Gypsy Tart?
From: Rusty Dobro
Date: 14 Jul 20 - 03:46 AM

Never realised until now that Gypsy Tart originated in Kent: it was a constant in the school dinners at my primary school on the North Downs, and indeed at home, though perhaps that’s not surprising as my Mum was the school cook.....

Subject: RE: BS: Gypsy Tart?
From: Penny S.
Date: 14 Jul 20 - 11:03 AM

Had it frequently in school as a pupil, and then as a teacher, in Kent. Selected bakers will sell it, which is better than making it, because you do not have to eat the whole thing. As a pupil, we were given it in rectangular trays, to be shared between eight girls, half of whom abjured it. I used to eat about four portions "to finish it up". As we walked vast distances between school buildings, this did no harm at the time.
When I was teaching, I got the recipe from the school cook. She did not include egg in the pastry. Nor specify muscovado sugar, though when our bakery was taken over, they had heard that was the sugar to use. I have used soft brown sugar, both light and dark. Nor did I whisk the sugar and evaporated milk together from the start, but did the milk first and then added the sugar. The cook did not suggest refrigeration after setting in the oven - I suspect it was a good way to use the declining oven heat after cooking something else.

Subject: RE: BS: Gypsy Tart?
From: Penny S.
Date: 15 Jul 20 - 05:13 PM

I can date it to 1960, when I went to Folkestone Technical School for Girls, which had already been serving it before that. I think it may have ceased being served while the kitchens were managed by various private companies which ripped off the staff. They then came back in house, but whether the academised place still serves it I know not.