 | |
| Alternative names | Hertfordshire clanger, Trowley dumpling |
|---|---|
| Type | boiled suet dumpling (traditional); baked pastry (some modern recipes) |
| Place of origin | United Kingdom |
| Region or state | South Midlands (Bedfordshire,Buckinghamshire; alsoHertfordshire,Cambridgeshire,Huntingdonshire) |
| Associatedcuisine | English cuisine |
| Serving temperature | hot, or ambient temperature |
| Main ingredients | suet pastry; liver or meat; potatoes; onions; jam or fruit |
| Ingredients generally used | sage |
| Similar dishes | Bacon Badger (Buckinghamshire); Bacon Pudding (Sussex) |
TheBedfordshire clanger (also called theHertfordshire clanger,Trowley dumpling,[1] or simply theclanger) is adish fromBedfordshire and adjacent counties in England, includingBuckinghamshire andHertfordshire.[2] It dates back to at least the 19th century.
The word "clanger" is related to the dialect term "clung", whichJoseph Wright glossed as meaning "heavy", in relation to food.[3][4]
The clanger is an elongatedsuetcrustdumpling, sometimes described as a savoury type ofroly-poly pudding.[5][6] Its name may refer to its dense consistency: Wright's 19th-centuryEnglish Dialect Dictionary recorded the phrase "clung dumplings" from Bedfordshire, citing "clungy" and "clangy" as adjectives meaning heavy or close-textured.[4]
Clangers were historically made by women for their husbands to take to theiragricultural work as a midday meal: it has been suggested that the crust was not originally intended for consumption but to protect the fillings from the soiled hands of the workers.[7] They could be eaten cold, or warmed by being wrapped in damp newspaper under a brazier.[1] While sometimes associated with the hatmakers of theLuton district,[8] the same dish was also recorded in rural Buckinghamshire,[3]Cambridgeshire andHertfordshire.[1]
It was traditionally boiled in a cloth like other suet puddings,[9] though some modern recipes use ashortcrust or other pastry and suggest baking it like apasty, a method dating from a 1990s revival of the dish by a commercial bakery.[10] The dumpling can be filled with liver and onion,[11] bacon and potatoes,[3] pork and onions,[12] or other meat and vegetables, and flavoured with the garden herbsage.
Usually a savoury dish, clangers were also said to have been prepared with a sweet filling, such as jam or fruit, in one end; this variant is referred to in aBedfordshire Magazine of the 1960s as an"'alf an' 'alf" (half and half), with "clanger" reserved for a savoury version.[6] A 1959 reference also suggests that clangers were usually savoury, stating that the version with a sweet filling in one end was called theTrowley Dumpling after the hamlet in westHertfordshire where it was supposed to have originated.[13][1] There is some doubt as to how often a sweet filling was traditionally added in practice,[12] though modern recipes often imitate the folklore by including one.
A similar dumpling was known in parts ofBuckinghamshire, particularlyAylesbury Vale, as a "Bacon Badger".[3] It was made from bacon, potatoes and onions, flavoured withsage and enclosed in a suet pastry case,and was usually boiled in a cloth.[14][8] The etymology of "badger" is unknown, but might relate to a former term for a dealer in flour.[15] "Badger" was widely used in the Midland counties in the early 19th century to refer to a "cornfactor, mealman, or huckster".[16] The same basic suet dumpling recipe is known by a variety of other names elsewhere in the country; "flitting pudding" is recorded inCounty Durham, "dog in blanket" fromDerbyshire,[17] and "bacon pudding" inBerkshire andSussex.
A baked "clanger" featured as a signature bake in episode 8 ofSeries 8 ofThe Great British Bake Off.
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