Learn how to make a traditional bedfordshire clanger with baker Anna Higham’s easy recipe. Here’s why this regional bake should be on your radar…
- Heritage dish: “Bedfordshire clangers are a classically idiosyncratic British bake. They’re a double-ended suet pastry; one end is filled with a sweet filling, the other with savoury. Lunch and dessert all in one!” says Anna.
- Potted history: Clangers hail from Bedfordshire, and are also eaten in neighbouring counties. They were traditionally made by farm workers’ wives in the 19th Century for their husbands to take for lunch.
- Classic flavour combo: “I’ve chosen to fill them with a classic pork filling (with a little quince in there) and an apple filling at the other end. There’s a little dividing wall between the two fillings but if there’s fraternisation while they bake, the pork and apple sides will still be a welcome combination. They are a little work to make as you’re making two fillings, but they’re a fun weekend project and perfect picnic food.”
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Ingredients
For the pastry
- 200g self-raising flour, plus extra to dust
- 100g beef suet
- 1 medium egg yolk, beaten with a pinch of salt, to glaze
For the pork filling
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 1 small eating apple, cored and finely chopped
- ¼ tsp ground mace
- 25g membrillo (see Know-how)
- 250g pork mince
- 50g fresh breadcrumbs
For the apple filling
- 2 bramley apples, peeled, cored and roughly chopped
- 1 tbsp caster sugar
- 50g membrillo
- 3 small eating apples, cored and finely sliced
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Method
- To make the pastry, in a large mixing bowl, rub the flour and suet together with your fingers until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add a pinch of salt, then slowly pour in 100-150ml cold water, mixing, until the dough comes together into a ball (you might not need all the water). Wrap, then chill for at least 30 minutes in the fridge.
- For the pork filling, add the butter, onion and apple to a saucepan over a low heat. Cook for around 10 minutes until the apple and onion are very soft. Add the mace, membrillo and a pinch of salt and pepper, then cook and stir until the membrillo melts. Transfer to a tray, spreading out the mixture so it cools quickly.
- Once cool, combine with the pork mince and breadcrumbs. Fry off a small portion to check the seasoning, if you like. Once you’re happy, cover and chill the pork filling in the fridge until needed.
- For the apple filling, add the bramley apples, sugar and membrillo to a medium saucepan (one with a lid) with a splash of water. Cook over a medium heat, covered, until the apples completely break down into a purée (about 10 minutes). Add the sliced eating apples, mix well, then leave to cool. Chill until needed.
- Heat the oven to 190°C/170°C fan/gas 5. Take the pastry out of the fridge, unwrap and, on a lightly flour-dusted surface, roll into a large rectangle, roughly the thickness of a pound coin. Cut out 10 rectangles, roughly 12cm x 9cm, saving any trim to create the central barriers. Add 1 tbsp of the pork filling to one side and 1 tbsp of the apple filling to the other, leaving a 1cm barrier around the outside and a little gap in the centre. Add a small piece of pastry between the fillings, then brush the edges of the pastry with a little water. Fold the dough over the filling, then use a fork to seal the edges.
- Brush the clangers with the beaten egg yolk, put them on a lined baking tray, then bake for 25 minutes until golden and a skewer pushed into the pork side comes out hot. Allow to cool for a few minutes, then enjoy – or leave to cool and enjoy at room temperature.
Nutrition
- 280kcals Calories
- 12g (6.3g saturated) Fat
- 9.9g Protein
- 32g (13g sugars) Carbs
- 2.4g Fibre
- 0.3g Salt
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