Cockles with Bacon and Cream

This is my favourite breakfast, leaving me incapable of sleeping in on waking up, knowing what awaits downstairs. The best bread to accompany this is toasted soda bread or, if you really need to stoke the furnace, a fried and well-drained slice of white. This recipe is for freshly cooked and picked cockles, not the ones you find in jars of vinegar. You will occasionally find pre-picked cockles a little gritty. This can’t be helped. Reserve any