Ingredients
4 pt cockles, well washed
4 slice bacon, chopped
1 oz butter
1 spanish onion, chopped
3 floury potatoes, cubed
3/4 pt milk
4 tbsp chopped parsley
1 freshly ground pepper
Directions
Take a large pan with a lid and put a little water in it to boil. When
boiling, toss in the cockles, clap the lid on and cook 5 mins or so,
shaking to cook the cockles evenly. When they have all opened, tip
into a colander over a bowl. Remove cockles forthwith from their
shells, and spread out to cool quickly. Strain the liquor carefully
to remove and sand.
Meanwhile parboil the potatoes for about 10 minutes, and in another
pan, melt the butter, let the bacon sizzle in it a moment or two, add
the finely chopped onion, put the lid on and sweat till the onion
becomes transparent. Add the milk, cockle liquor, potatoes and bring
to the boil. Turn down to a simmer and cook very gently till the
potatoes are soft but not a total mush. If you cook too quickly, or
the potatoes are not properly parcooked, the milk will curdle. It
isn't serious, just less attractive.
Chop the cockles roughly, add them to the soup, pepper it and add the
parsley. Taste for saltiness, (it shouldn't need any as the bacon and
cockles are both naturally salty.
Serve with ships biscuits, which you can break into the chowder. Water
biscuits or crackers will substitute.
Servings: 4 servings
Cockle Chowder Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Fish; Seafood; Soup
The History of Recipes
It is quite possible to trace the history of recipes back into distant history, at least as far as the Egyptians, and possibly even further than that. Interesting though that is, in the main part, these ancient records were just basic pictorial instructions for meal preparation.
Interestingly, the oldest recipe in existence, according to historians are some tablets in ancient Sumerian which describe the preparation of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as having made drinkers feel wonderful. During Roman times 25BC a Roman scholar, called Apicius, assembled some scrolls describing recipes enjoyed by wealthy Romans. In his scrolls, he recounts how the meals were divided into hors d`oeuvres, main meal and dessert, something we still use today. Aspicius tells us how the Romans were skilled in the use of a wide range of spices and herbs, including many that are still in use today for example basil, fennel and dill. Closer to modern times, we have a couple of interesting books from the 14th Century ; one book titled `Forme of Cury`, and another, similary entitled `Curye on Inglish`. The titles are somewhat misleading tho`, these books are unconnected to the indian food that is familiar to us all today, but instead accounts of the types of meals on the tables of the rich and powerful. In the fifteenth century, knights returning from the crusades brought us many foods, spices and herbs from Arab countries, such as parsley and basil. These new foods and tastes caused an eruption in recipe publications, most of which are now in private cookery archives. Like it or not, the introduction of television brought us cooking programs and the spin-off recipe books. And that brings us to the present day and the invention of computers and the internet, permitting everyone to access massive numbers of recipes just like those on this site. |
We hope you enjoy this Cockle Chowder recipe.
