Bacon Roly Poly or Clanger, is an old fashioned British pudding brought up to date. Bacon, red onions and mushrooms all rolled into a suet pudding casing and steamed for the ultimate comfort food.
I was recently sent a Mermaid Pudding Sleeve and discovered that there weren’t that many recipes mentioning how to use one.
I had never made a roly poly style pudding before and suet never features on my shopping list.
This called for some old fashioned British cookery and I knew just the place to look, my grandmother’s old book titled The Birds Eye Book of Britain’s Favourite Recipes.
I had never cooked from it before as it seemed so dowdy and old fashioned (1964) but I knew all the old cooking techniques were covered in there.
I wanted to find an alternative to the obvious Jam Roly Poly so was pleased to find a savoury dish in the form of Bacon Roly Poly.
In the original recipe the onions and bacon go into the pudding uncooked but I didn’t fancy taking my chances with this so fried them up and also added mushroom and changed the onions to red ones.
There is mace in the recipe which I bought specially and then promptly forgot to use so if you don’t have any don’t worry as it tasted delicious without!
I was very impressed with the way that the Mermaid Pudding Sleeve cooked the Roly Poly as the finished pudding was not like it had been purely steamed.
Where the pudding had come into contact with the metal sleeve there was a slightly baked surface which I really liked.
The original recipe was rolled up in pudding cloth and boiled for 2 hours so the texture would have been more spongy which you can see from the picture.
Indeed I notice some recipes suggesting that you put your Roly Poly in the oven to crisp it up slightly after steaming – so no need with the Mermaid Sleeve!
As this Bacon Roly Poly (also known as a Clanger) is made with fairly inexpensive ingredients I am entering it into this month’s Credit Crunch Munch which is run jointly between myself and Helen over at Fuss Free Flavours. I am also entering it into the Tea Time Treats challenge being run by Lavender & Lovage and What Kate Baked (who is hosting this month) where the theme is Perfect Puddings, both sweet and savoury. As this recipe is also made from scratch I also have to enter it into Made with Love Mondays challenge hosted by Javelin Warrior’s Cookin w/Luv.
After mixing up and rolling out the dough you simply lay on the fried onion, mushrooms and bacon.
After rolling up and sealing the edges with water, place into Mermaid Baking Sleeve.
Then simply place in a steamer for 2 hours topping up the water regularly.
Then simply remove the Roly Poly from the sleeve and serve.
As it says in the original recipe “an honest to goodness dish for tough guys” !
Bacon Roly Poly
Ingredients
- 200 g / 7oz Back bacon chopped
- 1 tbsp Rapeseed Oil
- 2 Medium red onions chopped finely
- 120 g / 4oz Mushrooms chopped
- Pepper
- Powdered mace optional
- 200 g / 7oz Plain flour
- Pinch of salt
- 100 g / 3.5oz Shredded vegetable suet
- Water about 5 tbsp
Instructions
- Fry the bacon in a large non-stick pan in the oil until cooked and then set aside using a slotted spoon.
- Sweat the onions on a low heat in the same pan with a lid for about 5 minutes.
- Stir in the chopped mushrooms and sweat for a further 5 minutes under a lid.
- Sieve the flour, mix in the salt and suet and then add the water to give a firm dough which comes away from the sides of the bowl cleanly.
- Roll out the dough to a rectangle shape the same width as the pudding sleeve about 1/4 “ thick.
- Lay the bacon and onions/mushrooms over the dough leaving a gap along the sides and the bottom edge.
- Season with the pepper and a little mace if using.
- Roll up the pudding and seal the sides and bottom edge with a dab of water.
- Put in pudding sleeve or roll up in a layer of grease proof paper and foil loosely (to allow for expansion) and scrunch foil to seal.
- Place in a steamer over boiling water for 2 hours topping up the water regularly.
- Once ready slice up and serve with your favourite vegetables and gravy or tomato ketchup if preferred.
Tracy Nixon
I made this and it went down well with the family! Thanks!
Maya Russell
That’s real winter warming, comfort food. You could add chopped sausage or sausage meat.
Paul Wilson
This looks really nice.
Camilla
Thank you:-)
Maya Russell
Yum! I’ve never seen a Mermaid pudding sleeve. Are they expensive?
Camilla
They’re not cheap but I’m sure you can shop around on the internet.
Tracy Nixon
Ohhhh looks nice! Different too!
MsComp
With the weather turning cold again and my thoughts turning to more hearty food, I was so happy to find this recipe. I don’t have the sleeve thing though so just a minor technical hitch. It looks fab!
Carrie Talbot-Ashby
Oh wow, My mum made this (But we called it a Bacon Clanger!) and we minussed the mushrooms and instead my mum would make spicy red chillies in ours for my dad, the king of spice! But this looks absolutely delicous! I admit I have attempted this once about tn years ago! It didn’t look half as nice but I haven’t got a steamer like yours, I think I know what I will be buying this weekend! Thanks for this, I shall let you know if mine worked!! lol
Camilla
Yes the steamer is fab, do let me know how you get on:-)
Taylor J
My parents used to make this, but instead of a sleeve they used a tied up tea towel, not quite sure how this worked as I was only young, but may be worth looking into!
Camilla
I beleive you can wrap the pudding in foil (well) and then float the shirt sleeve or tea towel on top of the water to steam:-) These days a steamer pan would be less fiddly.
Tressa
This is a meal I have been eating since I was a child & one my 10 & 7 year old love now. It’s their favourite. I don’t have a mermaid baking sleeve so I just pop mine in the oven at about 200 degrees for 30mins. It’s a very inexpensive meal that the whole family adore, I recommend serving with beans as the suet can dry out when cooking. My husband and I have outs with onions & mushrooms, but the kids just have plain bacon, it’s like a giant bacon pasty! So glad to see the classics coming back.
Camilla
I’m so glad I made this as it really seems to have struck a chord with many people. I imagine that baking in the oven would dry out the suet but in the pudding sleeve it just right. Beans do sound like a yummy combination with it:-) Thank you for stopping by:-)
What Kate Baked
Such a great recipe Camilla- my usual bacon risotto for tea tonight pales into comparison to this glorious dish! Thank you for a brilliant second entry into TTT!
Camilla
Thanks Kate! Hadn’t realised I’d entered twice, well I’m a bit like buses then, no entries for ages and then 2 come along at once:-)