Bedfordshire clanger Bedfordshire clanger The Bedfordshire clanger, also called the Hertfordshire clanger, Trowley Dumpling, or simply the clanger, is a dish from Bedfordshire and adjacent counties in England, such as Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire. It dates back to at least the 19th century. The word "clanger" is related to the dialect term "clung", which Joseph Wright glossed as meaning "heavy", in relation to food. The clanger is an elongated suet crust dumpling, sometimes described as a savoury type of roly-poly pudding. It was traditionally boiled in a cloth like other suet puddings, though some modern recipes use a shortcrust or other pastry and
Bedfordshire clanger 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. There is some doubt as to how much this was traditionally done in practice, though modern recipes often imitate the folklore by including a sweet filling. Historically, the clanger was made by women for their husbands to take to their agricultural 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.