Page 49 - Phonebox Magazine September 2014

Celebrate your region’s traditional dishes Mischa Allen
area’s history. Many stem from it’s natural agriculture suitability, as historically men worked in the fields and needed sustenance throughout the long summer and cold winter days.
The Bedfordshire pudding was originally a religious festival cake, and is a type of custard pie with raisins and currants. Another historical dish are Catherine Cakes, which were named after Catherine of Aragon and were traditionally made on St Catherine’s Day, November 25th. Made from dough, butter, sugar and caraway seeds, they could be seen as sweet bread instead of cakes.
Buckinghamshire
Now we’ve heard about the Bedfordshire clanger, but Bucks has it’s own recipe with a bacon
version (the bacon dumpling or the bacon badger), consisting of pastry filled with
the porky favourite, onion, potatoes, and seasoning. However, this recipe included rolling out the pasty until it was fairly thin and rolling the ingredients in it, before boiling in muslin.
Also considered a traditional dish in the county is Stockenchurch Pie, although it’s not as old as other recipes because it includes macaroni (it must have been created after the introduction of pasta to the country in the 18th century). It has a layer of minced meat, followed by cooked macaroni, and a layer of hard-boiled eggs in shortcrust pastry. It’s similar to the Buckinghamshire rabbit pie, which is made of puff pastry, rabbit, cheese, macaroni and cream. Many know Olney has its pancakes (fancy a race anyone?) and the Cherry Fair, which stems from the county’s illustrious history with the ruby fruit. Historically, however, most of the cherry orchards were found in the south near Aylesbury, although it is still considered a Buckinghamshire speciality.
Beef and Pear Clanger Recipe
This is a simple recipe to make your own clanger, which traditionally needs suet pastry (although, if you’re short for time, you could use a pre-made shortcrust variety). You can try your own flavours at home, but remember the basic idea of a clanger is to have a sweet and a savoury side.
Ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil
2 white onions, finely chopped
500g of beef stewing meat or skirt, chopped 1 tbsp of beef consommé
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
3 ripe pears (peeled, cored and chopped) 55g sultanas
1 egg, beaten
2 tsp sugar
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 220oC/gas mark 7.
For the pastry:
350g self-raising flour 1tsp salt
85g shredded beef suet 60g butter, grated
1 egg 150ml water
2. To make the savoury filling, fry the onion for a few minutes. Place the onions aside in the beef and cook on a high heat for 5 minutes, stirring often. Add the beef consommé and Worcestershire sauce, and simmer for a few more minutes.
3. To make the sweet filling, mix the pears with the sultanas and sugar in a bowl.
4. Roll out the pasty to about 1cm thick. Place the beef filling in one half and the pear in the other, leaving 3cm of space at each end. Place a small piece of spare pastry in the middle, to separate the two.
5. Roll the pastry into a large sausage roll shape, and seal the ends together. Brush with the egg. Bake for 45 minutes, or until the pastry is golden.
Phonebox Magazine 49