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Cockles and Eggs
Criccieth, Gwynedd
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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!)
The Recipe
You will need
- approximately one quart cockles (in their shells)
- two or three eggs, well beaten
- bacon fat
- black pepper
Method
- Cover the cockles with water and bring to the boil.
- Boil the cockles for a few minutes only. (Boiling for a long period causes them to become tough.)
- Take the cockles out of their shells, wash them well and lay them out on a large cloth to remove excess moisture.
- Fry them in a little bacon fat, tossing them well in the fat before pouring the beaten eggs over them.
- Stir well with a wooden spoon and season with black pepper.
Cricieth, Caernarvonshire.
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