A little bit like a good old fashion British pasty, a Bedfordshire clanger was a staple on farms back in the good old days. It was created so that workers could take a full meal out to the fields when they were going to be work all day. Wrapped up in pastry was two thirds a savoury pasty, and one third a sweet pudding – genius. This British classic has been forgotten and we aren’t sure why. With both sweet and savoury in crumbly shortcrust this Bedfordshire clanger is a winner for any lunchtime. We’ve plumped for tried and tested flavours, with a ham and potato filling featuring in the savoury side and an apple and cinnamon mixture filling the sweet side. However, once you’ve nailed this basic Bedfordshire clanger recipe you can have fun experimenting with all sorts of flavour combos – from curry and tropical fruits to pulled chicken and set custard, there’s no limit to what you can combine in this tasty pastry recipe.
Ingredients
- 1 small gammon joint (around 750g)
- 2-3 bottles of cider (around 600ml)
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 sage leaves
- 2 apples
- 1 white onion, finely sliced
- 25g butter (for onions)
- 2g salt (for onions)
- 1 ½ tsp brown sugar (for onions)
- 3 apples, peeled and quartered
- 3 tbsp brown sugar
- 10g melted butter
- ¼ Lemon, juice
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 10g Dijon mustard
- for the pastry
- 400g plain flour
- 2 eggs, one for glazing
- 4g salt
- 130ml water
- 85 g suet or vegetable shortening
- 50g butter, chilled and grated
Method
Place the gammon in a deep pan with the cider, bay leaf and sage, so that the liquid is covering the joint. Put on a medium heat. Bring to a slow simmer and cook for 3 hours. Once cooked cut into bite sized pieces.
Place the butter in a frying pan and wait until the it becomes frothy. Add the onions with a little bit of salt and cook until translucent. Once cooked through add the brown sugar and continue to cook on a low to medium heat until they are golden brown and caramelised. Turn off the heat and allow the onions to cool at room temperature.
Place the apples in a frying pan with the melted butter and the lemon juice and cook until soft on the outside but still hard in the centre. Add the sugar and the cinnamon and leave to cool.
Place the peeled and chopped potatoes into salted water and par boil. Then leave to cool.
For the pastry, sieve the flour and salt into a bowl. Add the suet and the butter and rub in with your fingertips until you have a breadcrumb-like consistency. Add in the water and one egg and bring together. Once formed, make the pastry into a flat circle, clingfilm and place in the fridge to chill (if you’re in a rush place the pastry in the freezer).
Preheat the oven to 180C degrees.
Once chilled roll out the pastry, 2mm thin and cut 10cm by 15cm.
Like when making a sausage roll, you only want the filling to cover one half (length-ways) of your pastry, so that you have enough pastry to bring over the top to cover everything neatly.
For a Bedfordshire clanger you want the savoury filling to fill 2/3rd of the space and the sweet side to fill the remaining third. Place a thin wall of pastry at the two third point to prevent leakage between the two sides when you add the fillings.
For the savoury side, first place a thin layer of Dijon mustard on the pastry, then pile the gammon, caramelised onions and potatoes on top.
For the sweet side place the apples with some of the juices.
Egg wash around the three sides and pull the remaining pastry over the top and seal. Egg wash the top of the clanger and place in the fridge for 10.
Take the clanger out of the fridge, slash three times on each side, sprinkle with brown sugar on the sweet end and salt on the savoury and bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.
