Anglesey Eggs - Ŵyau Ynys Môn

Photo © Rob Jones

I’m researching a recipe book of Welsh recipes.

Pop those words into any self-respecting search engine, or peruse the limited number of cook books available, and you’ll get the same recipes cropping up all the time - Bara Brith, Welsh Cakes, Glamorgan Cheese Sausages, Welsh Rarebit, Roast Lamb etc. But you’ll always also come across a recipe for something called …

Anglesey Eggs

The only problem is that I have never to this date found anyone in Wales who has either made it or tasted it?

Is it a myth? Is it a con? What is exactly is it? Should i be cooking it in June?

Myth? No - there’s far too much evidence for its existence, and the recipes for it are fairly standard - namely, cook up some Welsh chopped leeks, fried off in some butter. Par boil some potatoes and make some buttery mash. Mix the two together and create a base layer in an oven proof dish. Boil some eggs. Quarter then and lay them on top of the mash/leek layer.

Photo © Rob Jones

Grate some cheese. Use half to make a cheese sauce. The rest mix with some bread crumbs. Pour the cheese sauce over the eggs so they are covered, and finally sprinkle a comprehensive topping of the cheezy breadcrumbs. Into the oven till the breadcrumbs are browning, and the cheese sauce is bumbling up around the edges.

Et Voila, as we say in Wales.

There are traces of this recipe going back to about the 15th Century and some suggest it goes back to Roman times. It’s also linked apparently to a folk tradition of ‘Egg Clapping’ where children would go door to door and recite rhymes in order to be given to eggs. Who knows why. Without TV or Social Media I presume there wasn’t much else to do.

Making this in June? (Looking out the window and watching the torrntial rain outside). Yes.

R