# Old school-dinner recipes...



## hyper-Suze (Jul 2, 2011)

I am really wanting do some baking tomorrow and I'd love to bake old schools dessert recipe, Chocolate Crunch, sometimes known as Tarmac...

does anyone know the recipe? 

I doubt schools are allowed to cook this anymore as I wouldn't imagine its healthy!! ...but yummy!

Any suggestions or recipes will make me one happy chick!!!


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## Northerner (Jul 2, 2011)

I don't think we had that when I was a kid, what was it like? Apart from Tarmac, that is


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## Pumper_Sue (Jul 2, 2011)

Is this what you are looking for? http://www.schoolrecipes.co.uk/inde...pes/34-desserts-puddings/46-crunchrecipe.html


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## hyper-Suze (Jul 2, 2011)

Pumper_Sue said:


> Is this what you are looking for? http://www.schoolrecipes.co.uk/inde...pes/34-desserts-puddings/46-crunchrecipe.html



YEP! thats the one!!!!! 
Can't wait to try although the amount of butter/marg is a concern, can't believe this was allowed in schools, its almost a whole tub of butter!!!

The pic looks similar but it does look more appetising in the chocolate version
I have also found the recipe for the pink custard to go with it but can't find the mint custard recipe, oh, well...can't have my cake(or custard) and eat it!LOL

I'll have to put a picture up in the gallery of my attempts...


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## hyper-Suze (Jul 2, 2011)

Northerner said:


> I don't think we had that when I was a kid, what was it like? Apart from Tarmac, that is



It's sooooo tasty, it is crunchy and also chewy, I suppose it could be what tarmac tastes like....

It can be eaten as is or I personally remember it with custard known as 'pink' strawberry or mint custard...yum


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## Northerner (Jul 2, 2011)

Hurrah! You got me searching and I found the recipe for the custard flan I loved at school - apparently it's known as Manchester Tart, but since I'm from Yorkshire that's probably why it was never known as that (wrong side of t'Pennines!)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/manchester/content/articles/2006/09/29/151006_manchester_tart_feature.shtml

Might have to get cooking!


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## hyper-Suze (Jul 2, 2011)

Northerner said:


> Hurrah! You got me searching and I found the recipe for the custard flan I loved at school - apparently it's known as Manchester Tart, but since I'm from Yorkshire that's probably why it was never known as that (wrong side of t'Pennines!)
> 
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/manchester/content/articles/2006/09/29/151006_manchester_tart_feature.shtml
> 
> Might have to get cooking!



Lots of cooking will be a'happening tomorrow! Just as long as we carb count before eating!

Love the cheeky pic of the 'original Manchester Tart'!!!!

I might try it but I'd have to omit the coconut part!


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## Northerner (Jul 2, 2011)

hyper-Suze said:


> Lots of cooking will be a'happening tomorrow! Just as long as we carb count before eating!
> 
> Love the cheeky pic of the 'original Manchester Tart'!!!!
> 
> I might try it but I'd have to omit the coconut part!



As far as I remember, we never had coconut on it at school so will be omitting it myself


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## trophywench (Jul 3, 2011)

Alan, in my neck of the woods it was known as Chocolate Concrete; never Tarmac!

And we had mint custard - what you do for that is to make custard as per usual with your pint of milk and your custard powder BUT instead of your yellow Brown & Poulson's custard powder you use cornflour so you land up with white, fairly tasteless custard.  Then you add either green colouring and mint flavouring or literally I drop of red colouring and strawberry flavouring.  Et voila!

We had the white custard - but with vanilla flavouring added (no, it doesn't taste the same as ordinary yellow so-called vanilla custard) with either chocolate sponge or chocolate cornflakes.


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## Monica (Jul 3, 2011)

They DO still have them in school, chocolate crunch and shortbread, both served with custard or strawberry custard. I like the cornflake crunch best though
I don't know if they've adjusted the recipes to make them healthier, but I doubt it. For the school packup bags they put a piece in a separate paper bag and that bag is always soaked with grease/fat stains


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## Steff (Jul 5, 2011)

Weirdly I have  found my old bero recipe book from school I seldom look at it but did use it the other week to make lemon drizzle cake.


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## Northerner (Jul 5, 2011)

Steff said:


> Weirdly I have  found my old bero recipe book from school I seldom look at it but did use it the other week to make lemon drizzle cake.



Bero! Whatever happened to that? Or can you still get it?


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## Steff (Jul 5, 2011)

Northerner said:


> Bero! Whatever happened to that? Or can you still get it?



Dont make me feel old lol

And ive not seen it no, its mcdougals now or supermarkets own brand or allisons x


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## novorapidboi26 (Jul 5, 2011)

All I can say is, I wish I went to your school, the deserts sound magnificent...


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## AlisonM (Jul 5, 2011)

I'm with Novo, we never had school dinners that good. Meat was cooked to shoe leather (occasionally it was so underdone it was still mooing, baa-ing, clucking or oinking), veg was cooked to soup and custard always had lumps and a thick skin, so did rice pudding. The nicest thing they did was what we called mystery fruit crumble, it tasted OK, but it was impossible to guess what the fruit might once have been.


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## Freddie99 (Jul 5, 2011)

I am convinced that the chefs at my college were stuck in the attitudes of the late 1930s or early 1940s as the food was so bloody awful I got the distinct feeling they were preparing us for a German prisoner of war camp. I swear they will be put on trial as war criminals sooner or later...


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## shiv (Jul 5, 2011)

Being on mixed insulin during school meant I never had school meals; I always had home packed lunched (so my mum could put the right amount of carbs in it).


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## novorapidboi26 (Jul 5, 2011)

shiv said:


> Being on mixed insulin during school meant I never had school meals; I always had home packed lunched (so my mum could put the right amount of carbs in it).




I bet you wished you could have had school dinners some days............


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## Northerner (Jul 5, 2011)

All throughout school we had really good school meals. I think it was half a crown a week (sixpence per day) when I started infants school, and finished up at about 15p per day by the time I left school. I had a voracious appetite throughout my teens and could easily consume the meals of four boys at one sitting on a regular basis. I have been known to consume a tin of chocolate pudding and a jug of custard (sufficient for 8 boys) and still have a bit of a rumbling tummy! Not having kids of my own, when Jamie Oliver first started up his campaigns I was astounded at what was being provided thirty years on - definitely NOT progress!


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