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What you are remembering is butterscotch tart and it is in the book, minus the chocolate sprinkles but you can always add your own! The book has been published by Portico books, see Amazon but other bookstores are available! It's called School Dinners. There is a recipe for butterscotch tart somewhere in this post too. Back near the beginning.
Good luck hope it is as you remember it.

CALLING OUT TO CRITICALFRIEND. I really need the recipee for this school desert i remember and never can forget. It was a kind of tart base could have been short crust pastry ind the topping...oh my goodnes the TOPPING like a caramel/butterscoch-wasnt set hard just sticky with a few sprinkles if chocolate oh just soo so yummy you need this to add to that great book of yours!! For the record id def my your book just fight for it. good luck.

hi there im going to definitely order your book but there are a few recipes missing

such as...

cheese scotch egg (i cant remember whether the cheese replaced the egg, or the meat, or was with the egg and without the meat) but was delicious

chicken curry, the one with sultanas in that was always nice

i think chococolate chip sponge was at school at some point with custard

and also i remember some kind of sponge cake that tasted almost like it had cinammon in it and i think it was crispy on the outside sorta, and had sultanas in it i believe, was always served with custard

i look forward to hearing if you have any of these recipes

also one that is driving me insane, australian crunch (dont know if this is what is described as concrete) but it had peppermint icing on top it was white icing but peppermint tasting, served with some kind of custard, that was amazing all recipes show it with mint custard, but the one i had, had mint icing....

apologies if some of these are in your book but i havent got it yet and only looked on the index page on amazon

i really hope you can provide all these recipes that wud be amazing, and wud stop my mind going crazy about them lol, cant get the sultana sponge thing with custard out my head

Thanks Frankie's girl... I remember asking for the recipe again some time after I left the school and was doing my A-levels but sadly the county-run kitchens had been outsourced and the cook (and her book) had long gone. You're right about it being a standard book - it was the Essex County Council one; I asked someone who worked for ECC in a residential home but again, that was quite some years later and it had all changed.

Hi speckledegg.....You could always email the school, and ask them to ask the cook for the recipe again, all cooks used to be given same recipe books, she is probably using the same book now, a friend of mine worked it a Residential Home and was a cook there for 20 years and she always referred to her book as her bible....xx

Please help... I was at school in Essex in the early 90s. The school canteen used to do a recipe for sausages in barbecue sauce. It was my favourite and quite rare too! I asked the cook for the recipe and she photocopied it for me - but alas, it has been lost.

Does anyone have/remember the recipe for these? I know that dried onions and worcestershire sauce were part of the recipe... I'm desperate here!

Thanks!!

What the real world has been in need of for ages and should be compulsory studies for GC,SE - show the little blighters what they've been missing! Now does anyone have any information on the dish we used to call kit-e-kat after the famous cat food of the day. We made all sorts of bad jokes about it, but everybody cleared the plate and there was never any left. even if it did come with salad & mash. It was cat food pink, obviously, and very savoury. must have contained meat of some variety, maybe corned beef or sausage meat, probably tomato, maybe cheese as well. Would make this old (62) lady very happy if I could re-create it again!

Mince is def there - spag bol recipe has the mince alternatives inc the one with fried bread triangles! (p52)
xxxx CF

critical freind thank's i have just recieved your book i ordered off amazon,BRILLIANT!!!! going to get stuck into making a few.Did'nt see savoury mince that was in the 60's or have i over looked it turning onto the next recipe with eagerness.

Hi, cheese catherine wheels are a mix of cheese, mash and onion rolled into puff pastry - delish!!

school dinners (yummy) please please can anyone remember cheese wheels, if you werent at first sitting at lunch when these where on the menu you didnt stand a chance of getting one, it was a sort of chunky wheel shape made of pastry with a lovely cheesy filling, it wasnt just cheese tho and i cant think what else it could be.

I've really enjoyed reading these threads. Not a food comment at all really but we used to have a Head School Cook called Mrs Trimmings (1960's/70's). Very apt. The food was absolutely delicious and no one dragged their heels going to the dining room. A firm favourite was Gypsy Tart. My brother would sell his soul to the devil to get the recipe. Gary Rhodes version didn't taste the same as I remember - maybe my pallet has become a little more refined!

Hi I'm after a recipe for chicken fricassee, remember the chicken in white sauce served with a small triangle of fried bread?
Thanks

criticalfriend, thanks 4 that info will give that a try,look forward to watching you on tv. regards googie

I am so glad it has brought back memories. The book is called "school dinners" and the cheapest place to get it from is Amazon although you can get it in most book shops too. Author name is Becky Thorn. If you watch Market Kitchen this week you will see me discussing the book and school dinners in general! I'm on on Weds I think. Thnks for your interest in the book.

criticalfreind , i would love to buy your book what title does it go under,i loved all those deserts mentioned and the cheese flan. when i was in the senior school i used to be a server for the infants,i could'nt wait to get back to the canteen for my dinner when we often got seconds.if you could give me any info or recipes i would be grateful.

Hello, my sister found this thread and made cornflake pie and chocolate crunch (or concrete as some know it) complete with pink custard at the weekend, it was fantastic and bought back some wonderful memories! Just wondering if your book is out now and if so where I can get some copies from?

Hi All

Just been reading your gread thread. My Nanna was head cook of our school for many years way back and we used to have Cheese & Rice Flan, does anyone have this most delicious recipe please - I have seen the cheese one but not sure if I just add a bit of rice and if so how much

If anyone can give me this recipe I will eternally gratefu

Some great recipes on here by the way, Manchester Tart ..........Yum!!!!!!!!!!

Never heard of this recipe and by the looks of the ingredients it won't taste of much....you will have to make up the dried milk with the water...... to make the sauce .....in a pan put the flour and a add a little milk to make a paste, keep beating with a hand whisk to stop it going lumpy then gradually add the rest of the milk beating all the time... keep cooking on a low heat till the sauce thickens....as for the sugar use caster sugar.....good luck

I'm getting desperate. Shaving Foam or Marshamallow cream.
I have obtained the recipe, however just don't seem to manage to do it correctly.
It is as follows for 25 servings:
2 pints water
2oz Cornflour
5oz Dried Milk
2oz Sugar (what type of sugar?)

Method:
1 Make sauce in normal way ( which way)
2 Leave to cool
3 Beat until mixture has increased in bulk and is light and fluffy.

Any suggestions gratefully rec'd

Wasn't this simply a chocolate cornflake cake in a ball? You can make these either with melted chocolate or a combination of melted butter, cocoa and golden syrup to coat the cornflakes.

Hi all,

I have LOVED reading all of these recipes, but can't find the one I am looking for.

Wondered if anyone could possibly help me?
I am looking for a recipe for 'chocolate haystack cake', it was a ball of chocolatey hard goo and was served in individual cake cases.
As i remember it used to sell out at first break when the dinner ladies decided to make it.
Some people called it chocolate bob cake, but I assure you it was much more appetising than it sounds.
Think it had crushed cornflakes in it.
I am pregnant at the minute and this is all I can think about (along with candyfloss)

thanks

A bit more on Dutch apple cake..... our version was a tin pastry topped with apple puree, thios was topped with either a pink blancmangy confection and cornflakes or just the cornflake cake. The swirl of mock cream on top of your was a real treat I don't recall us having. Lucky you!!

It was called Dutch apple cake!

Hi all.

Found this page after searching on the net for school dinners. Congrats on your book CF, I must get a copy.

What I remember was a sweet made with apples and cornflakes and topped off with some fake cream, Unfortunately, I cant remember what it;s called but I loved it and would love to be able to make it for myself. I think the apples may have been a puree of sorts as I seem to remember it being quite sweet. I dont remember it being one of those rock hard creations either (not that I've got any problems with those. I grew up on school dinners in the sixties and seventies and I loved nearly all of them. I hope someone can help me!