This site uses only a few technical cookies necessary for its operation. By continuing to browse, you accept their use.
To find out more...
To find out more...
How to prepare cockles
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.
Here is a simple way to do this.
1 hour 55 min.
Easy
6.85 €
120 g
6 IngredientsLast modified on: March 13th 2013
1 kg 
1 
1 sprig 
10 g 
100 ml 
Times for this recipe
Preparation: 25 min.
Resting: 1 hour
Cooking: 30 min.
All in all: 1 hour 55 min.
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.
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.
Repeat this operation until the water remains clear.
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).
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.
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
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.
37 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.
42 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.
31 K1 60 min.
Fisherman's Ragout
This ragout combines vegetables (cut small and cooked until just tender in vegetable stock) with a mix of cockles and chunks of fish, all simmered together with cream and saffron.
122 K4.1 2 hours 20 min.
Crusty cockle tart
A small puff pastry tart case filled with cockles in a cream and egg-yolk sauce ("a la poulette" in French).
122 K4.3 2 hours 55 min.
This recipe uses (among others)
Cockles
You can get more informations, or check-out other recipes which use it, for example: Tagliatelle with cockles, Breton style shellfish and vegetable soup, Creamy spaghetti with cockles and parsley, Cockles and cabbage with smoky cream sauce, Crusty cockle tart, ... See them all 7
Dry white wine
Like these other recipes: Pea risotto "Mantecare", Pork chops in the oven, Fillets of sole Dieppoise, Rabbit with mustard, Montbenoit's canapés, ... See them all 70
Butter
Like these other recipes: Half-cooked chocolate cake with raspberry coulis, Steak burger topped with egg, Arizona cupcakes, Paimpol salad, Kouign-amann, ... See them all 498
Parsley
Like these other recipes: Sautéed Pork with Peanuts, Quiche Bretonne, Roscoff salad, Fish terrine with spinach and tomatoes, Green Piedmont Salad, ... See them all 164
Other recipes you may also like
Couscous
In couscous, the meat and vegetable mixture is rather long to cook, but not difficult. And the couscous itself (a kind of coarse semolina) is simple and quick to prepare. November 16th 2017544 K4.3 2 hours 40 min.
How to prepare spinach
For most people (and me most of all), spinach brings back bad memories of canteens... But, well prepared, it's a fine and delicate vegetable which goes remarkably well with scrambled eggs, fish, and many another things. Here are two ways of preparing it. June 5th 20153.42 M3.5 1 hour 9 min.
Celeriac Rémoulade
A classic recipe of traditional French bistro cooking (winter salad). December 21th 2020422 K5 20 min.
Bechamel sauce
Bechamel sauce is a classic, made from a cooked butter-flour mix called "roux", where milk is added and slowly cooked. We get a thick sauce, used in many recipes. June 13th 2024455 K4.3 20 min.
Poached eggs
Poached eggs are cooked, without the shell, in barely simmering (nearly boiling) water. White should be firm and yolk soft, that's the difficulty. This recipe teaches you how to succeed with three important points. January 8th 2013335 K5 2 hours 40 min.
News list of cooking-ez.com
Sign up to receive the latest recipes (next batch due to be sent on 2026-04-19)
Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.
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.
Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.
Alternatively: you can subscribe to the mailing list of cooling-ez.com , you will receive a e-mail for each new recipe published on the site.
The 1 comment already posted on this recipe
Many Thanks!