The Hirshon South African Melktert

Citizens – the profound sweet tooth possessed by the lactic-loving TFD has found its ultimate expression in this special dish from South Africa, known as melktert! This will become your next favorite dessert, as it is everything you could ask for: rich, sweet, delicious and not at all difficult to make!

South African cuisine reflects the diverse range of culinary traditions embodied by the various communities that inhabit the country. Among the indigenous peoples of South Africa, the Khoisan foraged over 300 species of edible food plants, such as the rooibos shrub legume, whose culinary value continues to exert a salient influence on South African cuisine.

Subsequent encounters with Bantu pastoralists facilitated the emergence of cultivated crops and domestic cattle, which supplemented traditional Khoisan techniques of meat preservation. In addition, Bantu-speaking communities forged an extensive repertoire of culinary ingredients and dishes, many of which are still consumed today in traditional settlements and urban entrepôts alike.

By the seventeenth century, Dutch – and later British – colonization and settlement of the Cape Colony resulted in further culinary diffusion. Cape Coloured and Cape Malay communities founded a distinctive diasporic cuisine, derived largely from Malaysian and Indonesian culinary traditions, while Afrikaner voortrekkers further inland adapted Dutch, Khoisan, Cape Malay and Bantu foodways to accommodate their peripatetic lifestyle. In addition, French Huguenot refugees, many of whom settled in Franschhoek, played an instrumental role in developing South Africa’s viticultural industry.

As the British colonial enterprise in South Africa proceeded into the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, immigrants from Asia, many of whom arrived as indentured laborers in the nineteenth century, further enriched the culinary oeuvre of South Africa. In particular, Indian South Africans – and, to some extent, Chinese South Africans – brought a wealth of spices, seasonings and dishes, historically associated with Kwa-Zulu Natal, although Indian cuisine is currently widely available across South Africa and savored by many ethnic groups.

Melktert (Afrikaans for “milk tart”), is a South African dessert consisting of a sweet pastry crust containing a creamy filling made from milk, flour, sugar and eggs.

The ratio of milk to egg is higher than in a traditional Portuguese custard tart (Pastel de nata) or Chinese egg tart (dan ta), in which both was influenced by the Portuguese, resulting in a lighter texture and a stronger milk flavour.

Unusually, there is no commonality between family recipes for this dessert. Some recipes require the custard to be baked in the crust, and others call for the custard to be prepared in advance, and then placed in the crust before serving. Cinnamon is often sprinkled over its surface. The milk used for the custard can also be infused with a cinnamon stick before preparation.

Melktert is described as an African dessert that shows distinctive Dutch traits. Melktert seems to have come straight from Dutch Medieval cooking, via the Dutch settlers in the Cape in the 1600s. Some people trace its origin back to a dish described by Thomas van der Noot in 1510 in his recipe book, “Een notabel boexcken van cokeryen” (A Notable Book of Cookery).

As noted on gastroobscura.com:

South Africans expect to find melktert at supermarkets, bake sales, church events, bakeries, and celebrations.

Dutch settlers brought early recipes for this cinnamon-dusted custard pie to the southern tip of Africa in the 17th century. With them came their native tongue, which blended with other languages to form Afrikaans, now one of the official languages of South Africa.

Melktert is Afrikaans for “milk tart,” and while the pastry lacks official designation, it’s the closest thing the country has to a national dessert pie.

Many of the Dutch settlers on the Cape of Good Hope were dairy farmers, hence melktert’s name and creamy ingredients. Interpretations may vary, but milk, sugar, eggs, and a thickener (such as flour) are fairly consistent across traditional recipes.

Bakers sprinkle cinnamon on top, and some mix the spice into their milk. Depending on ingredients and preparation, the texture of the pie ranges from wobbly to firm. Crusts might be short-crust, puff pastry dough, or nonexistent.

Chefs riff on classic takes with additions such as citrus and wine, but variations aside, melktert remains ubiquitous, beloved, and distinctly South African.

My Citizens, I am confident you will find this African recipe more than worthy of both your time and effort! It does, after all, come from The Food Dictator Himself!

Battle on – the Generalissimo

The Hirshon South African Melktert

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Ingredients

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• Shortcrust Pastry:
• 125 grams cold butter (approximately 1 stick or 1/2 cup)
• 36 grams granulated sugar (approximately 45 ml or 3 tablespoons)
• 225 grams cake flour (approximately 400 ml or 1 2/3 cups)
• 1 egg (large)
• 30 ml cold water (approximately 2 tablespoons)
• ***
• MILK TART FILLING
• 1/2 stick butter
• 25 grams cake flour (approximately 45 ml or 3 tablespoons)
• 7 ounces sweetened full fat condensed milk
• 2 cups whole milk
• 3 large eggs, separated
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp. almond extract
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder mixed with 1/2 tsp. freshly-grated nutmeg for dusting

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Instructions

1. For the pastry, pulse the butter, flour and sugar in a food processor until it has the consistency of breadcrumbs.
2. Add the egg and water and mix until just combined.
3. Bring the pastry into a ball and flatten into a disk on a piece of cling wrap. This makes it easier to roll into a round shape later.
4. Chill and rest the pastry for about 30 minutes before use.
5. Roll out the pastry and line a 25 cm tart pan ensuring that the pastry overlaps the sides a bit as it may shrink during baking if not rested enough. Chill it again for another 10 minutes before baking.
6. Switch on the oven and heat to 400 F.
7. Prick the base and line with parchment paper and baking beans or beans, and bake blind for about 10 minutes.
8. Remove the baking beans and bake for another five minutes. Be careful not to get a burn as you may drop the beans and damage the tart case.
9. Reduce the oven temperature to 170 degrees Celsius / 350 F.
10. Cook the filling while the pastry base is baking in the oven.
11. In a medium size bowl mix the butter and flour ensuring there are no lumps. Add in the condensed milk, vanilla, almond extract and the egg yolks and mix until smooth.
12. Heat the milk until it reaches boiling point stirring occasionally with a flat edged wooden spoon to prevent it catching and burning on the bottom of the pot.
13. Add a little of the boiled milk to the egg mixture ensuring that you whisk out all the lumps. Slowly add the rest of the milk while whisking or stirring and then return to the pot and place back on the heat.
14. Stir the milk mixture on the heat until it thickens and it starts to bubble.
15. Remove the pot from the stove and let the mixture cool for about 10 minutes.
16. Whisk the egg whites and salt until they are glossy but not too stiff. It should be soft peaks at this stage, not the ‘tip it over your head and it doesn’t drop’ stiffness.
17. Fold the egg whites into the cooled custard mixture.
18. Pour into the pastry case and bake for 15-20 minutes until it is set. Do not over bake as it will rise and sink like an overdone souffle.
19. Sprinkle with cinnamon and nutmeg powder and serve.

• Prep Time: 0 hours
• Cook Time: 0 hours
• Category: Recipes

Nutrition

• Calories: 892.11 kcal
• Sugar: 42.66 g
• Sodium: 336.05 mg
• Fat: 50.21 g
• Saturated Fat: 29.89 g
• Trans Fat: 1.51 g
• Carbohydrates: 91.12 g
• Fiber: 1.06 g
• Protein: 19.34 g
• Cholesterol: 306.11 mg