a taste of wales. at costco?

No, sillies, this isn't a tale of eating a whale!

It's true. Most Angeleno's don't know where Wales is, and they sure as hell don't know that one of their national foods is the cockle. Wales is one of the four countries (yes, it's its own country), that comprises the United Kingdom - that land across the pond we often assume falls under the blanket "England" that most certainly does not. A country rich in history and tradition, bordered primarily by the Irish Sea with lush hills and valleys, craggy cliffs, and patches of desolate coal-like terrain, it's no surprise many of the local foods come from the sea.

So, what on earth is a cockle? It's a lot like a small clam. Brits eat them as snack food, served outside of their pale orange and green hued shells in paper cones with a bit of vinegar. You can even get jars of them pickled at local groceries. The Welsh do the same, but it's more common to see them served as you would other bi-valves for dinner, and more often, on a breakfast plate with another local staple called laverbread (pronounced lavahbread), which is a made from a type of seaweed - Porphyra - native to the cold and rocky north Atlantic shores west of Swansea.

Imagine my surprise when I saw none other than a big ol' five pound net bag of live, fresh cockles staring back at me from a bed of a ice in the live seafood stall at my local CostCo - in Marina del Rey! Naturally, the first thing I did was pick up the phone to call my Welsh boyfriend! I had to repeat myself a few times before he realized I was, in fact, saying cockles. I promptly bought the bag - while a couple of onlookers asked me what they were and what I was going to do with them - and he promptly called his mother for cooking instructions. The bit about boiling them for a couple of minutes sounded like crazy talk, but after getting my way to throw in some herbs, garlic and a hefty bit of white wine, and agreeing to hold the salt (it comes from the shells), we did just that.

They smelled so good, we had a few fresh out of their shells as soon as they'd cooled just enough to handle, and they were absolutely delicious. The pink-orange flesh was so sweet, tender and fragrant it was like no clam I'd had before. To be blunt about it, I'm not much a fan of clams, but I could have easily sat down and polished off the lot.

We saved the remainder to chill and snack on with a bit of vinegar and crackers, and those were quite tasty too. Now I'm looking forward to having some with laverbread when we're in the UK for the holidays!

No guarantee they'll regularly carry them, but if you don't want to hop on the next flight to London, head to your local CostCo and give some a try.

CostCo Store #49
13463 Washington Blvd
Marina del Rey, CA 90292
(310) 754-2020