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Panaculty or Pannakalty is a regional dish from the North East of England. The dish is a great way to use up leftover cooked meat.
Are you looking for a cheap and easy dinner recipe that is full of taste and uses up your leftovers? Panculty is perfect for this, just pop everything in a casserole dish and leave to cook. Read on to get the recipe.
Panaculty is a dish known by many names, panacalty, panaculty, panackerty panaggie or panack are some of the variations. It should not be confused with pan haggerty, another regional dish that uses potatoes and cheese.
The recipe will vary depending on what leftovers are available. It consists of leftover meat or corned beef, onions, stock and seasoning with a layer of potatoes on top. This is placed in a dish and cooked in the oven. Sometimes you will find root vegetables, mainly potatoes, added to the dish, it all depends on what is in the cupboard.
There are many versions of the dish and each family will have their own recipe. Some include sausage and bacon or black pudding, some have several types of vegetables and some even have cheese. However it is made it is a tasty and filling dish and a great way to use up leftovers.
Read more: Pease pudding recipe
Historically the North East was an area where men worked hard during the day. The area was full of coal mines, ship yards and steel works, all jobs that were manual. Cheap and filling food was very much a requirement of the times and this meal is ideal. It is a dish that could be slow cooked during the day and enjoyed in the evening as a warming comfort food.
Note: You can use any leftover meat or just the corned beef if nothing else is available. Some recipes use sausages or bacon. The only limit is your imagination.
Panaculty has regional variations, on Teeside it is made in a frying pan and the meat is often left out and served separately. Another way of making it is to make the panaculty in a large pan and serve as a soup. This can be reheated as often as is needed.
To make the panaculty just slice up leftover meat, usually beef or lamb onions and vegetables into a casserole dish. If you do not have much leftover meat use a tin of corned beef as well. This makes a much tastier variant of corned beef hash. Layer the top with sliced up potatoes. Mix the stock with some cornflour and pour over the top. Leave in the oven to cook for an hour and serve when the potatoes are golden brown.
The panaculty is great eaten on it’s own but it is often served with a stottie cake. These are large round bread buns that are specific to the north east region. They make great sandwiches and a cheese savoury sandwich in a stottie cake is a taste sensation.
You can also do more vegetables to eat alongside like peas or broccoli. Panculty is a one dish meal with all the potatoes and vegetables in one dish so it saves washing up.
I have never tried but I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t work.
Do you have your own recipe for panaculty? What do you add to it? Let me know below.
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If you are interested in regional recipes you may also like to read my recipe for leek pudding which is another simple but filling dish.
For a tasty teatime sweet treat then sly cakes are perfect.
I heard of panaculty, but never cooked it myself. It’s a great way to use the meat leftovers, and sounds like a great comfort food.
Its really tasty, well worth making
I have never heard of this dish before, but I am all for using up leftovers and reducing waste.
I totally agree, I hate having loads of food waste
I have never heard of this…! thanks for sharing this 😉
Very welcome. Do let me know what you think if you try it. I love finding regional recipes, so fascinating
I’d never heard of this recipe. It’s basically what I do with the leftovers from the Sunday roast but in a big pan on the hob. I like the idea of putting it in the oven so I can get on with other things though 🙂
I will have to try it in a pan, but the oven works really well and you can just leave it