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The Welsh Breakfast is a unique combination of some of the most symbolic food of Wales, such as Welsh bacon, Laverbread, and Penclawdd cockles. The breakfast begins with thick slices of Welsh bacon. Historically, bacon was kept and used as a staple source of fat in most kitchens throughout Wales. Traditionally each family had a pig which would be slaughtered in the winter. The Welsh traditionally used all of the parts of the animal, not letting anything go to waste. The meat that was not cooked immediately was cured to last throughout the year. One of the main cuts of meat was the pork belly, commonly known as bacon. That bacon would be salted and hung to dry in the kitchen. Each time you wanted to add meat to your food, you would cut a piece of bacon from the slab of cured meat that was hanging in a cool dry place in the kitchen or pantry. The Welsh breakfast begins by frying thick sliced of this fatty bacon until the fat begins to melt and fills the frying pan with a thin layer. This fat is then used to fry the laverbread. Laverbread is a seaweed that is collected on the rocks off certain coasts in Wales. After collection, the laver is then cleaned and boiled for over 6 hours (amazing right?). After being processed, the laver is now called laverbread. The laverbread is then mixed with oats and/or flour and formed into patties to be fried in the bacon fat. Depending on the family, the Welsh Breakfast finishes with a backyard egg, cockles, fresh vegetables or mushrooms, and homemade bread. All would be fried in the bacon fat and eaten as a wholesome meal for a full day's work on the farm.

equipment needed for the welsh breakfast
  • 1 cast iron frying pan

directions for welsh breakfast:

welsh breakfast ingredients:

1 of each per person

  1. Form a patty with the laver, flour, and a pinch of salt and pepper.

  2. Fry up the bacon, in a cast iron skillet. Snip the sides of the bacon so that they don't curl up when being fried.

  3. Flour the boiled cockles so that they are coated with a thin film of flour.

  4. Once the bacon is golden and crisp, fry (one-by-one) the laver patty, the bread slices, the egg, and the cockles.

  5. Fry to your liking and eat before a big day, as a hangover cure, or after a rugby match.

welsh breakfast recipe: 
cooking time: 20 minutes
  • 1 Tbsp of prepared laverbread or 1 handful of fresh laver (cooked for 6 hours and strained)

  • 1 slab of dry cured, bacon

  • 2 tsp of flour

  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 Tbsp of boiled Penclawdd cockles

  • 2 slices of bread

  • 1 free range egg

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