In school kitchens across Surrey

I’ve just been glancing through my mother-in-law’s 1950’s school dinner cookery book. She was in charge of the kitchen of a Surrey school and the Education Department at County Hall issued a recipe book to the schools throughout the area. I’m amazed at the variety of meals they cooked and the care taken to make them healthy and appetising and varied. I’ve opened it at random and on one side of the page is Goulash, and opposite Stuffed Loin of Lamb and Veal and Ham Pie.

Goulash

• 16-18 lbs stewing beef
• 2 lbs onions
• 4 lbs carrots
• 1 lb tomato purée
• ¼ – ½ lb paprika pepper
• ½ lb macaroni
• 2 gal. water
• 1 lb flour
• dripping
• 1/4 lb seasoning

Seasoning mix:

• 1 oz salt
• 1 oz pepper
• 1 oz mustard
• ½level tsp nutmeg
• 1 level tsp ginger
• ¼oz sage
• ¼ oz thyme

1. prepare the meat, cut into pieces and toss in paprika pepper and seasoning
2. slice the onions and carrots
3. heat the dripping, lightly fry the vegetables and meat
4. put the meat and vegetables into a pan, add the tomato purée and cover with cold water
5. bring slowly to the boil and simmer gently for approximately 2 hours
6. add the macaroni and cook for a further 1/2 hour
7. blend the flour with the water
8.  and stir until cooked
9. garnish with parsley

It may no longer be the sort of meal children would like, but it has plenty of protein, plenty of vegetables, plenty of carbs,  spices to season, it’s freshly cooked and it’s garnished to make it more appealing! In those days (as sadly the same now) for some children this would be their only meal of the day, and it would be balanced, nourishing, and no doubt tasty – although lack of choice would obviously be an issue for some of them. Some people look back to the 50’s (possibly those who weren’t there) and think food, especially mass catering, was bland and badly cooked. In the school kitchens across Surrey, spices were in common use, a selection of carbs – potatoes, rice, pasta was used, and variety in the menu was the key to making sure the kids were well fed. And of course, there was always pudding!

My featured image isn’t of a school dinner, we didn’t have cameras to take photos of school life in those days!