1,560 easy and fully explained recipes, with +66K photos and 78 videos

How to prepare cockles

Name: How to prepare cockles
Prep time: 1 h 25 min
Cook time: 27 min
Total time: 1 h 52 min
Yield: 120 g
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 1 kg cockles; 1 shallot; 1 sprig parsley; 10 g butter; 100 ml dry white wine; pepper

Cockles are small Atlantic shellfish which can be used in many delicious dishes. However, they need to be prepared with care before cooking.

Here is a simple way to do this.

569 K 1× 3.7/5 (169 reviews)

1 hour 55 min. difficulté

Easy

6.85 €

120 g

6 Ingredients

Last modified on: March 13^th 2013

For 120 g, you will need:

1 1 kg cockles
2 1 shallot
3 1 sprig parsley
4 10 g butter
5 100 ml dry white wine
6 pepper
Total weight: 1,135 grams

Times for this recipe

Preparation: 25 min.

Resting: 1 hour

Cooking: 30 min.

All in all: 1 hour 55 min.

When should you start or finish this recipe?

If you start now, at , you will finish around : ?.Change start time

To finish around 7pm, you'll need to have started before: .Change end time

Step by step recipe

Stage 1 - ⌛ 30 min.

Tip the cockles into a large container of cold water. Stir them round briefly and leave for 30 minutes.

Stage 2 - ⌛ 3 min.

After this time, remove the cockles form the water. It is important not to tip the contents of the container through a sieve (which will not extract the sand), but remove them carefully from the water.

See how on this video.

Discard the water, rinse out the container, refill it with clean water and put the cockles back in.

Stage 3 - ⌛ 30 min.

Leave to soak for another 30 minutes.

Repeat this operation until the water remains clear.

Stage 4 - ⌛ 5 min.

Chop 1 shallot.

Rinse the parsley, keeping the stalk.

Stage 5 - ⌛ 2 min.

Melt 10 g butter in a large pan then add the chopped shallot and parsley, but do not add salt or pepper. Cook without colouring for 1 minute.

Stage 6 - ⌛ 5 min.

Add 100 ml dry white wine and bring to the boil.

Stage 7 - ⌛ 2 min.

As soon as the white wine boils, add the washed cockles...

Stage 8

...and cover.

Stage 9

After a few minutes, the shells will begin to open. Stir them round in the pan so that those that are still closed are in the wine to give them the chance to open.

Stage 10 - ⌛ 5 min.

After 3 or 4 minutes take out all the opened cockles, using a (spider) araignée or skimmer and put them in a sieve.

Stage 11 - ⌛ 10 min.

Remove the contents of the cockles one at a time and discard the shells. Discard any cockles that have broken shells and any that have not opened.

Stage 12 - ⌛ 2 min.

Rinse the cockles under cold running water to remove any remaining sand.

Stage 13

If you plan to use the cooking liquid to make a sauce, which is a very good idea, you will need to reduce it.

Stage 14 - ⌛ 3 min.

Pour the contents of the pan into a smaller pan through a fine sieve.

Stage 15

Beware: the sand from the cockles will collect at the bottom of the pan, so it is important NOT to try and filter right to the last drop, but discard the liquid from the bottom (and the sand with it).

Stage 16 - ⌛ 15 min.

Reduce the remaining saved cooking liquid by around half over low heat before using in your recipe.

Remarks

When preparing cockles, you will encounter two problems: sand, which is very unpleasant in the mouth (so do follow the advice to deal with this) and the saltiness of the cooking liquid. If you use this to make a sauce, do not add any salt.

Cockles are mostly shells and water: for 1 kg of cockles you will only end up with around 100 g of useful cockle meat (90% waste).

Keeping: A few hours in the fridge in a sealed container or covered with plastic film.

Source: Home made.

Nutritional information

	Proteins (gr)	Carbohydrates (gr)	Fats (gr)	Energy value (in k-calories)	Energy value (in k-joules)
Whole recipe	60 RDI=20 %	20 RDI=2 %	40 RDI=6 %	650 RDI=30 %	2,730 RDI: 30 %
Per 100 g	5 RDI=2 %	1 RDI=0 %	3 RDI=1 %	60 RDI=3 %	240 RDI: 3 %

Possible allergens in this recipe: milk, Sulfites

How much will it cost?

For 120 g : 6.85 €

Change currency:

Note: Be careful, these prices are only an estimate, you can consult the table of prices by ingredients used for this estimate.

Some other recipes using this recipeSee them all 7

Crusty cockle tart

A small puff pastry tart case filled with cockles in a cream and egg-yolk sauce ("a la poulette" in French).
121 K4.3 2 hours 55 min.

Breton style shellfish and vegetable soup

For this recipe with marine flavors, we will cook several kinds of shellfish, then add them to small creamed vegetables.
36 K 1 hour 45 min.

Cockles and cabbage with smoky cream sauce

I think you'll like this straightforward recipe which brings together cockles and cabbage with a smoky cream sauce.
41 K 1 hour 6 min.

Creamy spaghetti with cockles and parsley

Parsley-flavored spaghetti with cockles, tied together with a creamy sauce made from the cockles cooking juices.
30 K1 60 min.

Fillets of sole Dieppoise

In principal, fillets of sole Dieppoise are poached and served with a creamy sauce and small shellfish. I am offering a new twist on the dish, with the fish sautéed rather than poached, a cream sauce flavoured with mussel stock, and served with shellfish (mussels, cockles and clams), mushrooms and...
91 K3.9 1 hour 30 min.

This recipe uses (among others)

Other recipes you may also like

St Tropez tart

This famous dessert from St Tropez is more of a cake than a tart. The sugar-sprinkled brioche layers are sandwiched together with a rich vanilla filling which is a mixture of confectioner's custard and whipped cream.

September 11^th 2018127 K3.8 3 hours 35 min.

Nougatine

Nougatine is a delicious nut toffee: caramel mixed with toasted flaked almonds. Not a dessert in itself, it is often used to decorate cakes and pastries. But those who enjoy good things are sure to want to eat it on its own!

March 29^th 2018368 K4 35 min.

Clementine sorbet

To capture the delicate flavour of clementines, we need to use not only the juice, but also a little zest to add a delicious hint of bitternes. Here's a simple method using sugar cubes.

December 24^th 2018161 K4.3 2 hours 50 min.

Toffee apple upside-down cake

With a flavour reminiscent of the French classic tart tatin, this cake is made with a ring of tart apples arranged on a layer of caramel, then covered with the batter. After baking, the cake is turned out while still hot so that the caramelized apples are on the top with the moist cake underneath.

December 4^th 201667 K5 1 hour 50 min.

Piped petits-fours

As the name suggests, these are piped into shape using a forcing bag. These dainty little macaroon-like cakes are made with marzipan and have a soft, moist texture.

December 30^th 2019143 K1 1 day 35 min.

News list of cooking-ez.com

Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.

The 1 comment already posted on this recipe

Just made this. It was delicious! very easy to follow your instructions.
Many Thanks!
Posted by Anonymous may 2^nd 2016 at 09:58 n° 1

Follow this recipe (as 10 people already do)

If you are interested in this recipe, you can "follow" it, by entering your email address here. You will then receive a notification immediately each time the recipe is modified or a new comment is added. Please note that you will need to confirm this following.