Bacon Roly Poly 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 entitled 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!
The boiled roly poly had more spongy texture. Dig that photographic style!
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.
Paul
Where can I buy one of these tins
Camilla
I’m afraid these tins don’t seem to be made anymore. You can Google for alternative ways to make a roly poly using the old “shirt sleeve” method.
Olwyn
My mother in law used to make this suet pudding but she used to bake it in the oven, and it was absolutely delicious.
Camilla
Awesome, glad it brought back a foodie memory:-)
Michaela Knight
My Nan used to make this but it was known as Dog House Dinner, we always wondered why it was called that but soon found out, it was when my granddad was in my nans bad books “ in the dog house”, I’m looking forward to making it for a few friends to try xx
Camilla
LOL, well I would enjoy being in the dog house in that case:-) Enjoy:-)
Nichola
My Nan used to make this for me when I was little. Her mum, my great grandmother, called it mare’s arse pudding. I have no idea why! We make it with bacon, onion and sage. Honest to goodness comfort food.
Camilla
What a precious memory, thank you so much for sharing Nichola:-) Yes it really is proper comfort food and great for the weather we have in store!
Sue
Where can I get this sleeve can only find long thin ones which I dont want
Camilla
Hi Sue, I’m afraid you can’t buy the pudding mold I featured anymore sadly (or anything similar). However you could do it the old fashioned way with the method from my Birds Eye Book. It says “Dip a pudding cloth into boiling water, sprinkle it with flour and wrap it round the roll, tying the ends with string.” Then you’d put in your steamer.
Kim
What a fun dish! It is so great to discover a new way to use bacon. I am amazed how such simple ingredients are able to flavor a meal.
Camilla
Thank you Kim:-)
Cazzie
It is not a Clanger. a Clanger was a suet pasty with a meat filling on one side and a fruit filling on the other side. Originally from Bedfordshire in the UK and taken by farm workers int the fields.
Camilla
Hi Cazzie sounds just like the original Cornish Pasty that had jam at one end for the farm workers. I found this on Wikipedia which might explain the confusion “While often savoury, the clanger was also said to have been prepared with a sweet filling, such as jam or fruit, in one end; this variant is referred to in a Bedfordshire Magazine of the 1960s as an “‘alf an’ ‘alf” (half and half), with “clanger” reserved for a savoury version”. Clangers also came from other counties so I’ve also learned something new today:-)
Barry
I make this fairly regularly and adapted it a few times to enhance the flavour profile, i found that a nice thin spread of dijon mustard fresh mixed herb with the bacon and onions is really nice served with another british side of bubble and squeak and side of spinach along with a mustard gravy
Camilla
Ooh Barry, that sounds like a fabulous combination, thanks for sharing:-)