a dinner for a ploughman in Bedfordshire and a miner in cornwall?
one has a clanger, the other a pasty.
A cornish pasty is made with potato, onion, steak and swede; cooked inside a shortcrust coating with a thick twist so that the miner could eat his lunch without his dirty hands on the main part of the meal (the twist was to hold it and throw to the pixies in the mine afterwards, thus ensuring the miner's safety).
A clanger, on the other hand was eaten by a ploughman, or agricultural worker and taken into the fields in the morning with a jug of ale. It is bacon, onion and potato at one end and either apple or jam at the other and dependant on which end you started on you might have your desserts before your main.
I brought SOH a clanger from his namesakes bakery in a local town on saturday, something he had never had before and he enjoyed though I don't think they are a patch on his cornish pasties. These ones were baked, but traditionally they would normally have been boiled.
Personally I don't like either variety very much as I am not that keen on pastry unless it is in small doses, but it is nice to have something still local and traditional even in today's modern age.
6 comments:
I really think you have left out the important part of this article - that a clanger traditionally was savoury at one end and sweet at the other - meaning that "to have dropped a clanger" meant you had lost your whole meal.
Much as I like suet puddings, I think I'll stick to Pasties and Cornish Ice Cream! :-)
I love cornish pasties, but only the ones wiht meat potatoes and onions in them.
Now coming from Cornwall I lurve pasties. Did you know it was bad luck to take a pasty to sea ????
Stay safe,
Nicey
Thank you for sharing this traditional ideas!
Graziana
http://www.erbeincucina.it
I LOVE pasties, but I feel pretty certain I've never had a proper one. What is a swede?
Because of your earlier teachings, I do indeed remember! Ploughman's lunch vs. Pasty.
And now I am further enlightened by the other comments to this interesting post. Thank you again, Sage. :)
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