Cockles remind me of my childhood. I grew up
in Carmarthen and a lot of cockling took place
just down the estuary in Llanste an, where I now
have a house. I used to go to the market with
my dad and get a pint of cockles. He fried them
up with some onions and bacon, which is how I
still cook them today. Cockles are pure nostalgia
for me.Gower Salt Marsh Lamb is the best in the
world. Born and bred on the salt marshes of
the Gower Peninsula, salt marsh lamb is truly
something special. I actually delivered two salt
marsh lambs as part of a TV programme I
worked on a few years ago. I was learning how to
be a sheep shearer and one thing led to another
and I ended up delivering two little lambs.My grandmother made an incredible Bara
Brith. One of my biggest regrets is that I don’t
have the recipe. She used to slice it really thinly
and smother it with butter. Nothing better.
Having said that I recently discovered a woman
called Melanie Constantinou of ‘Baked by
Mel’ in the Vale of Glamorgan, who makes an
impressive Bara Brith right up there with my
grandmother’s.Warm Welsh cakes straight o the bakestone
are what dreams are made of. You’ll fi nd
some of the best around at Swansea Market.
I’ve been going there for decades to pick up
ingredients from the butchers, greengrocers and
fi shmongers.Legend has it that the Italians stole Parma
ham from Carmarthen. Carmarthen ham isdry salt-cured, then air-dried, and the result
literally melts in your mouth! It’s said that when
the Romans settled in Carmarthen, they stole
the recipe for Carmarthen ham and returned to
Italy and called it Parma ham! Whether or not this
actually happened is anyone’s guess, but I will say
that Carmarthen ham is better than any Parma
ham I have ever had in my life.I have a bar at home. It’s always well-stocked
with Welsh whisky. I can’t live without Penderyn.I love to cook with my son. He’s 15 and we cook
a lot together. He’s brilliant and fearless when it
comes to tackling recipes, like oxtail or a game
pie. We like to get steak from the local butchers,
or we do a big roast, or curry. We’ve even
tackled sushi together.My mother was half Belgian, half Welsh.
So there was always a lot of Belgian infl uence in
her cooking. We ate a lot of steak frites. And she
would cook local cockles the way the Belgians
would cook mussels.I used to be away from home up to
nine months a year. When I was singing
internationally I was constantly on the road. I also
lived in London for ten years, but I always knew
I would return to Wales. The older I get the pull
back west becomes stronger. The Welsh have
a term for it – Hiraeth – which means a deep
longing for home. It’s why I bought a house
where I grew up. When I am in Llanste an,
among the memories of my childhood, many of
which revolve around food, among friendship
and community, I feel like I am truly at peace.WYNNE EVANS
The Welsh tenor, broadcaster and face of GoCompare tells us
about the food of his childhood growing up in West Wales,cooking with his son and discovering new producers.
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