FAQs

Why is this called gypsy tart?

Nobody is quite sure. There is an invention myth, which involves a Kentish lady making an emergency tart for two Romany children, but there’s nothing to back this up. Some people have also suggested it is the kind of thing which could have been easily assembled from store cupboard ingredients by a travelling community. Again, this is pure supposition. As far as we can tell the recipe was invented specifically for school dinners in Kent when provision expanded in the 1950s. It certainly fitted the criteria, being cheap, easy and wildly popular with kids (though it isn’t exactly healthy, and we wouldn’t recommend it today except as a very occasional treat).. Many people in Kent have very fond memories of eating it at school in the 1950s through to the 1980s.

Gypsy is a contested term, and not one in use to describe the Romany community today. However, it is still used as a descriptive term for items as varied as blouses, jazz and this tart - which is a well-known dish in Kent and sometimes elsewhere in Britain. As we've mentioned despite various origin stories, nobody is quite sure where the name came from.

Why does she crimp the pastry?

It helps to stop the pastry slumping in the oven and makes it easier to cut into slices.

What’s this about baking blind?

The phrase was a post-War one so for Mrs Wilding it was still quite new (though the technique had been around for a lot longer). Cooking the pastry before adding the filling means that you can be certain the pastry is cooked – the filling needs such a low temperature that otherwise the pastry would simply not cook.

What is evap?

Evaporated milk is a concentrated milk product made by boiling off some of the water from milk. It is sold in tins and keeps for years. It was commercialised in the late nineteenth century and became a store cupboard staple, especially for the working classes. It could be reconstituted to make a reasonable version of fresh milk but was most often used from the tin, as an accompaniment for tinned fruit or in coffee or as an ingredient, as here. It is slightly thicker and a bit sweeter than fresh milk.

What is the school dinners link to the Food Museum?

We have a rolling exhibition programme, and our current theme is School Dinners. The exhibition opened last year, has won several awards, and, if you visit on the right day, you get a chance to try some dishes from school dinners gone by. For more information, click here https://foodmuseum.org.uk/whats-on/events/school-dinners/

No matter the decade, we are always there in the kitchen to startle Kathy when she enters ❤

Thank you so much, Annie and Kathy, for bringing Mrs Wilding to us. We remember Mrs Crocombe fondly!

Kathy Hipperson is a true inspiration. I hope she knows how much happiness she has brought people. I am always amazed at how easily she can use historical cooking tools like its second nature

My late mother in law was a school dinner lady in a primary school in north Kent in the 1970's. She said she practically had to sign the Official Secrets Act to not divulge the recipe for Gypsy Tart!!! Despite it being on the menu at the school, and a firm favourite,she never made it for her own family!! Thank you for another evocative video.

I enjoyed this, I'm a 75 year old man and it reminded me of my childhood, we used to get that particular one 😊

I had gypsy tart in my kent school,  they used to give us 1/2 an apple to "clean our teeth " after all the sugar. I was told it was invented by a lady from isle of sheppy who wanted to  give extra calories to some traveller  children a long time ago .

As a young nurse from St Georges Hospital, my late MIL spent hop season in Kent providing first aid to the East End hop pickers.

What a lovely episode of our favorite cooking show "Kathy Hipperson - time-travelling culinary specialist"! She has just coined a very poetic and laconic definition:
"A slice
of something nice."

I'd do half butter and half lard; i know people don't like lard, but it makes such light, crisp shortcrust pastry

I love this series! The world needs More of Mrs. Wilding.

Mrs. Wilding is already an icon

I very much appreciate the period clothing and poise being done so flawlessly. There are elements that exactly mirror a senior neighbour that I knew as a child. The shoes, stockings are right. The foundational undergarments are right, because the silhouette is perfect. The apron. The cardigan. The watch. Only thing missing is a nice ginger cat in a pool of light. Beautiful, beautiful job.

Kathy Hipperson is a gem. 💎
I just found this channel and I love learning about home arts in the 40s and 50s.

I am 78 this year I was born in Kent, gypsy tart was my very favourite when I went to school, I now live in Australia and no one has heard of it

"And then, I might just have a little taste."  In my house, that's cook's privilege.  Don't want to serve an inferior treat to the guests!

One of my daughters, Kentish born like me, still makes Gypsy Tart…she’s in her 50’s

They still sell gypsy tart in the supermarkets here in Kent. Lovely 😋

Thought you might be interested to know that a long time ago I worked for the School Meals Service run by Hampshire County Council. I have a recipe book put together by the various cooks that ran kitchens in the various schools in the Hampshire Authority area. This was first issued in 1949 and the copy that I have is dated 1966. In this book is Gypsy Tart. I have very fond memories of the puddings that were produced in that decade and its such a shame that the whole thing was disbanded in favour of contractors. The kitchens were carefully put together so that everything was cooked from scratch every day with no reheating allowed. That was when the food that was left, which wasn't much, was collected for pig swill. Nothing was wasted then.

I love watching Kathy, whether she's Mrs Wilding or her great granny, Mrs Crocombe. This time, she threw the shade on margarine.