Traditional Welsh Recipes

Teisennau Bara Lawr (Laverbread Cakes).

Laver is a red-coloured edible seaweed that grows on rocks around the Welsh coast. For these cakes it is mixed with oatmeal and fried with bacon for breakfast.

1lb. laverbread
 4 oz. fine oatmeal
 6 rashers bacon

Mix the laverbread and oatmeal together and form the mixture into small, round, flattish cakes. Fry the prepared cakes in hot fat (preferably bacon fat), using a palette knife to keep them in shape. Fry until they are crisp and brown on both sides. Serve with the grilled rashers of bacon as a breakfast dish.

Prepared laver, usually tinned, can be obtained from health food shops, specialist grocers or some supermarkets. If bought fresh, it must be washed VERY well in cold running water to remove all sand and then boiled in water for 30-40 minutes and drained thoroughly; at this stage, it will look a little like cooked spinach. When cooked, it is minced or chopped and it becomes laverbread, ready for use.