Ingredients / Shopping List
Savoury filling:150g braising steak1 rasher streaky bacon1 med onion1 large diced potatoSalt and pepper300ml beef stockSweet filling1 baking apple40g sugar1 tsp cornflourPastry150g S.R. flourSeasoning75g suetWater to mix
Savoury filling:
150g braising steak
1 rasher streaky bacon
1 med onion
1 large diced potato
Salt and pepper
300ml beef stock
Sweet filling
1 baking apple
40g sugar
1 tsp cornflour
Pastry
150g S.R. flour
Seasoning
75g suet
Water to mix
Prep to Cook: oven 200ºC or Gas Mark 6
Baking tray greased. Pastry brush, mixing bowl, veg knife and chopping board, Rolling pin, palette knife.
Prep: Make this in 2 sessions. Firstly the savoury pastie filling, cook then chill.
Prepare the savoury filling in advance (the day before) so that it has time to cool after cooking
Dice the beef, bacon and onion and fry for a few minutes until a little browning is seen.
Dice the peeled potato into cubes like large peanuts ,
Stir into the meat mix and add plenty of seasoning.
Add a little beef stock and simmer for 25 minutes. Turn off heat and allow to cool
Prepare the sweet filling:
Peel apple and removing the core. Blend together the cornflour and sugar.
Dice the apple and toss in cornflour and sugar mixture.
It is ready to use in the clanger.
Prepare the pastry: Mix the suet and flour and add water to make a dough.
Knead lightly and then roll into a piece the size of a swiss roll tin
Cut into half, trim the edges and keep the scraps
Use the scraps to mark a ‘half-way’ barrier position on the pastry strips.
Position the savoury filling along the centre line of the savoury end of the pastry.
Then spoon the apple filling on the sweet end of the pastry.
Brush one edge of the pastry with water using your pastry brush.
Carefully roll the pastry over the filling and seal the edges underneath so they are not visible
Brush the savoury end with egg wash.
Mark the sweet end with slits using a sharp knife.
Bake for 25 - 35 minutes until golden and crisp.
Serve warm with salad.
A traditional regional product used to provide a hearty lunch for workers in agriculture. Sweet and savoury in one roll but in separate sections.
Cooks Know How: Suet pastry is a pastry that uses beef suet as the fat. Suet fat comes from around kidneys, a white hard dry fat that can be grated. Nowadays the suet is also available as vegetable suet, check the label if this is your preferred choice. Suet pastry is quick to make as suet comes as small nuggets of fat ready to weigh and use. It does not need rubbing in, simply mixing into the seasoned flour. Water is added to make a soft dough that can be rolled lightly. Suet pastry relies on the fat to give a texture a bit like rough puff pastry on baking; but if steaming is used to prepare a suet pudding the fat simply melts and is absorbed by the flour. The resulting pastry is soft and very pale.
In this recipe the pastry is used like rough puff and is baked to a crisp finish in a hot oven.
The Bedfordshire Clanger is a seasonal and regional product that combines a sweet and a savoury snack in one product. It was given to farm workers for their lunches when working in the fields.
When the pastry is cooked the flour is gelatinised by the steam from the water in the dough and the fat melts and is absorbed to give tender flakes. Before cooking a glaze of egg wash can be applied, so that browning will occur on the outer surface due to the Maillard reaction. The fillings should be chosen to provide good nutrition and flavour.
Really the choice is up to you and provides an opportunity to use up leftover hot-pot or even roast dinner to create a nourishing snack. This recipe uses a pastie filling of cooked beef, onion, potatoes and bacon. Prepare this in advance, preferably the day before and chill. Apples can be used freshly peeled chopped and diced and mixed with a little sugar and cornflour. The oven heat will stew the apple and the cornflour will gelatinise apple juices to produce a gel.
Shaping the dough is important and is perhaps the most tricky part of the preparation. Filling and wrapping the ‘Clanger’ relies on having good overlap of pastry, one side of which is dampened so that it sticks to itself. A scraper or palette knife will help roll the pastry over. Make sure the seam or overlap of pastry is underneath and not seen.