Week 3 - Manchester United & Manchester Tart

Week 3 - Manchester United - Manchester Tart

Founded: 1878
Professional: 1885
Former Names: 1878-1880 Newton Heath LYR 1880-1902 Newton Heath
Club Nickname: The Red Devils

Frantically searching for a quick and easy recipe on a Wednesday afternoon...left it a bit late. Found the Manchester Tart and it met my requirements ie from Manchester, appealing and easyish...The original recipe I found was vv easy but I couldn't make it as it used custard powder - although Birds Custard is the epitome of English I felt I had to make both the pastry and the custard - FOOL I know!!!

They worked quite well & were well recieved, particularly since they were not too sweet. I have not had a custard tart beofre - never really appealed and must admit I still do not like although everyone else enjoyed these little tarts a lot (i made individual ones)

Baked Custard Tart

175g Shorcrust Pastry
4 Eggs
25g Castor Sugar
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Essence
450ml milk
Raspberry jam
100g Desicated Coconut
1 x Egg White, lightly whisked (until frothy)
Maraschino Cherries (optional)

1. Make the pastry
200g Plain Flour
pinch of Salt
100g Butter
2-3 Tbsp Iced Water
i. sift flour and salt into a bowl. Cut the butter into small pieces and add it to the flour.
ii. Use your fingertips to rub the btter into the flour very lightly and evenly until it begins to resemble fine breadcrumbs.
iii. Sprinkle the water over the surface and stir with a palate knife until the mixture begins to clump together.
iv. Turn out the pastry onto a lightly floured surface and press it lightly together with your fingers. Chill for about 30 min before use.

2. Roll out the pastry and line a 20cm tart tin. Chill for 30 minutes, then bake blind in a preheated oven (200 degrees Celcius) for 15 minutes. Remove the paper and beans or foil. Brush pastry case with egg white and return to the oven for a further 5 minutes to create a tight seal on the pastry.

3. Lightly whisk the eggs with the sugar and vanilla essence in a bowl. Heat the milk until warm and whisk into the beaten egg mixture.

4. Warm the Raspberry Jam and spread a thin layer on the bottom of the prepared pastry case.

5. Strain the custard into the pastry case. Sprinkle coconut over custard (I placed the coconut in before the custard when I made it). Place maraschino cherries in the top (either scatter or arrange one per slice).

6. Bake in preheated oven, 160 Degrees Celcius, for 45 - 50 minutes until the custard is set and lightly browned. Serve warm or cold

I made individual ones that looked more like portugese tarts. This recipe is adapted from a couple of different ones.

The original version of Manchester Tart was in Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management published in 1861. There she wrote :

“In this book I have attempted to give, under the chapters devoted to cookery, an intelligible arrangement to every recipe, a list of the ingredients, a plain statement of the mode of preparing each dish, and a careful estimate of its cost, the number of people for whom it is sufficient, and the time when it is seasonable."

As the eldest girl of 21 children, she quickly learned how to organize and maintain order, including basic book-keeping for household accounts. When she was 19 she married Sam Beeton who was a successful publisher. Among his titles was the Englishwomen’s Domestic Magazine.

Traditional English Dessert Recipes

Mrs Beeton started writing a regular column for the magazine and this eventually evolved into the book. The recipes were collected and tested and Mrs Beeton’s invaluable advice added in order to ensure success. She stated, “Excellence in the art of cookery, as in all other things, is only attainable by practice and experience. In proportion, therefore, to the opportunities which a cook has had of these, so will be his excellence in the art.”

Next Week ???