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Cockles and Eggs

Criccieth, Gwynedd

Cooking the cockles and eggs

This cockle and egg mixture was eaten between slices of barley bread or oatcakes in the district around Porthmadog, and it was regarded as a luxury there.  In the past, women would walk from Penrhyndeudraeth to Porthmadog to sell cockles.  They would knock on doors, dancing and singing the following rhyme:

Cocos a wya

Bara ceirch tena

Merched y Penrhyn

Yn ysgwyd ‘u tina!’

 

(Cockles and eggs

Thin oat cakes,

The girls of Penrhyn

Doing the shakes!)

Fish

The Recipe

You will need

  • approximately one quart cockles (in their shells)
  • two or three eggs, well beaten
  • bacon fat
  • black pepper

Method

  1. Cover the cockles with water and bring to the boil. 
  2. Boil the cockles for a few minutes only.  (Boiling for a long period causes them to become tough.)
  3. Take the cockles out of their shells, wash them well and lay them out on a large cloth to remove excess moisture. 
  4. Fry them in a little bacon fat, tossing them well in the fat before pouring the beaten eggs over them. 
  5. Stir well with a wooden spoon and season with black pepper.

Cricieth, Caernarvonshire.

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