---
title: "What’s cooking today: Traditional melktert"
description: "In honour of National Melktert Day on Saturday 27 February, and with a nod to the old colonial style of the great C Louis Leipoldt, here is a recipe based on the famous one in SJA de Villiers’ Cook & Enjoy."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "TGIFOOD"
author: "Tony Jackman"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/tonyjackman/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-02-26-whats-cooking-today-traditional-melktert/"
published: "2021-02-26T11:52:59"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 392
---

# What’s cooking today: Traditional melktert

> In honour of National Melktert Day on Saturday 27 February, and with a nod to the old colonial style of the great C Louis Leipoldt, here is a recipe based on the famous one in SJA de Villiers’ Cook & Enjoy.

By Tony Jackman · Published 26 February 2021, 13:52 SAST

## Content

*This is a companion recipe to*[*this piece*](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-02-26-land-of-milk-tart-and-honey/)*by Tony Jackman about the classic milk tart*

*Adapted slightly from the traditional milk tart recipe in SJA de Villiers’ Cook & Enjoy (revised), written more or less in the style of Leipoldt’s time.*

Make a paste by rubbing a tablespoonful of butter with a half cupful of self-raising flour. To this add a tablespoonful of castor sugar and a pinch of salt. Beat a large egg and mix this in to form a firm dough, which must then be pressed into the greased base of a pie dish and worked towards the edges and up the sides. Prick this with a fork and refrigerate till required.

Preheat your oven to 220℃. For your filling, boil two cupfuls of milk with a stick of cinnamon and the peel of an orange or indeed of tangerine should you have it to hand.

In a saucepan, combine four tablespoonsful of sugar, three tablespoonsful of cake flour, one tablespoonful of cornflour and a pinch of salt. Add to this mixture the cooked milk, a little at a time, having discarded the peel but retaining the cinnamon stick, and stir it over a low heat till it has thickened.

Remove the cinnamon stick and add two tablespoonsful of butter, stirring it well to dissolve the butter. After it has cooled for a few minutes, beat three egg yolks and stir them into your mixture, a little at a time.

Whisk three egg whites with one tablespoonful of castor sugar till thick, and fold in a third of this, then the remainder.

Pour this into your lined pie dish, which you have removed from the refrigerator to return it to room temperature.

Bake it in a hot (220℃) oven for 10 minutes, then turn the heat down to 200℃ for another 10 minutes. Sieve some powdered cinnamon on top or some nutmeg, or both, and possibly some little crosses of citron peel as well. **DM/TGIFood**

*Our Thank God It’s Food newsletter is sent to subscribers every Friday at 6pm, and published on the*[*TGIFood platform*](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/section/tgifood/)*on Daily Maverick. It’s all about great reads on the themes of food and life. Subscribe*[*here*](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/about/newsletter/)*.*

*Send your recipes to tony@dailymaverick.co.za with a hi-resolution horizontal (landscape) photo.*

*To enquire about Tony Jackman’s book, foodSTUFF (Human & Rousseau) please email him at*[*tony@dailymaverick.co.za*](mailto:tony@dailymavericl.co.za)