Gill Meller A COOK’S YEAR
He’s made an art of celebrating the fruits of land and sea and, as group head chef at River Cottage, is expertly placed to know when seasonal food is at its best. This month, Gill plates up an often overlooked British delicacy: plump, juicy cockles
RECIPE, FOOD STYLING AND STYLING GILL MELLER PHOTOGRAPHS ANDREW MONTGOMERY
what’s good now.
The scientific name for the cockle family has its root in the ancient Greek for things related to the heart: καρδία (cardia). Perhaps it’s the heart-like shape of their corrugated shells that earned them this name, or perhaps it had more to do with the hard-working muscle inside – reminiscent of a heart and so good to eat, especially at this time of year. Maybe Molly Malone could tell us the answer – she of the Irish song, who famously sold cockles and mussels ‘alive, alive, oh!’ in Dublin’s fair city. Judging from that atmospheric ode, she must have known a lot about her produce.