11 Traditional Welsh Recipes You'll Want to Cook Tonight - My Life In Wales (2024)

Wales has a tradition of living off the land and it’s food reflects that…it’s hearty, simple and straightforward, made with local, seasonal ingredients. It’s food that fed the hearty appetites of the men and women who worked the land: miners, farmers and fishermen. Most Welsh families have their own traditional Welsh recipes that get handed down from generation to generation.

When I came to Wales for the first time I had no idea what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised. Traditional Welsh recipes have exotic sounding names like: cawl, faggots, Welsh Rarebit, laverbread, Welsh Cakes, and Glamorgan sausages.You might not think about “food” and “Wales” at the same time, but here are some of the best traditional Welsh recipes that you will want to cook tonight:

1. Traditional Welsh Cawl

11 Traditional Welsh Recipes You'll Want to Cook Tonight - My Life In Wales (1)

Cawl (rhymes with “owl”) is the national dish of Wales. It is a soup made with what is seasonally available. Like most traditional Welsh cuisine, it developed to sustain men and women who were working the land.

Early cawl would have been made with bacon or maybe goat. Lamb was considered far too valuable a meat to be put in soup. Cawl can be added to to keep it going for several re-heatings. Traditionally cawl included meat, leeks and potatoes, but you can add other vegetables that you have on hand. The meat can be bacon, mutton, lamb, beef or even fish or other seafood. It is usually eaten with crusty bread, salted Welsh butter and, in Brecon, a chunk of Welsh cheese.

Traditional Welsh Cawl Recipe.

2. Bara Brith

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In Welsh, ‘bara” means bread and “brith” means speckled. You can make it as a yeasted bread or with self-rising flour. It’s traditionally made with tea, dried fruits and mixed spices, served sliced and buttered at teatime. You can soak the dried fruits…sultanas, raisins, currants…in tea , sherry or brandy to add flavor.

Bara Brith Recipe.

3. Welsh Cakes ( Picau ar y Maen )

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These sweet little cakes were traditionally a lunch time staple for working men in Welsh slate mines. Known also as “bakestones”, Welsh cakes are usually cooked on a griddle or on a “maen”, which is a bakestone. If you don’t have a bakestone, a heavy, cast iron frying pan will do.

Here are some variations of Welsh Cakes: ( from Wikipedia )

  • Llech Cymraeg: cooked with plain flour (particularly wholemeal flour) and baking powder, resulting in a much flatter and crisper cake. Typically, this variant is made as a slab on a bakestone, or nowadays on a baking tray, hence the name Llech Cymraeg (literally, “Welsh slab”).
  • Jam Split: popular in South Wales. As the name suggests, this is a Welsh cake split horizontally, with jam (and sometimes butter)…rather like a sandwich.
  • Apple Dragon: Add grated apple to the mix to help keep the cakes moist for longer.
  • The Newport Lovely: regional variant hand-crafted by the men of Newportfor their women as either a wedding gift or engagement present.
  • Mynydd Cymreig: (literally, “Welsh Mountain”): from North Wales. You add double the amount of baking powder, which results in their increased rising. They are also finely coated in icing sugar, symbolizing the seasonal snow cap of some of the higher peaks in Snowdonia.
  • The Kiwi Cake: exported by Welsh settlers, the Welsh cake has been produced in New Zealand for many years.

Welsh Cake Recipe.

4. Glamorgan Sausages ( Selsig Morgannwg )

The Glamorgan sausage, known in Welsh as “Selsig Morgannwg”, is a traditional Welsh vegetarian sausage whose ingredients typically include Caerphilly cheese, leeks and breadcrumbs. This sausage became popular during the Second World War when meat was scarce. You can vary the ingredients by using a different cheese, using onion or spring onions instead of leeks and adding other flavors such as mustard, parsley, sage or nutmeg.

Glamorgan Sausage Recipe.

5. Welsh Rarebit ( Caws Pobi )

This tasty dish was first known as Welsh Rabbit, although “rarebit” became famous or in vogue some 60 years later. You can use either one. Whatever you call it, it is a savory sauce of melted cheese and other ingredients, such as ale, mustard, ground cayenne pepper and Worcestershire sauce over toasted bread. Easy and delicious, it’s what’s for dinner.

Welsh Rarebit Recipe

6. Welsh Pancakes ( Crempog )

.The Welsh love their pancakes. These were traditionally made on the bakestone for unexpected guests. Welsh pancakes, known as “crempog” in the North, are usually served dripping with butter. They can be made savory with the addition of some herbs and spring onion or with buttermilk, oats, and speckled with currants and raisins.

Crempog are traditionally eaten on Shrove Tuesday, also called “Pancake Day”. The Welsh customs for Shrove Tuesday include kicking cans up and down the street, begging door-to-door for flour and singing cheeky songs and verses.

Modryb Elin Enog

Os gwelwch chi’n dda ga i grempog?

Cew chithau de a siwgr brown

A phwdin lond eich ffedog

Modryb Elin Enog

Mae ‘ngheg i’n grimp am grempog

Mae Mam rhy dlawd i brynu blawd

A Sian yn rhy ddiog i nol y triog

A ‘nhad yn rhy wael i weithio

Os gwelwch chi’n dda ga i grempog.

In English:

Auntie Elin Enog

Please may I have a pancake?

You can have tea and brown sugar

And your apron full of pudding

Auntie Elin Enog

My mouth is parched for pancakes

My mum is too poor to buy flour

And Sian is too lazy to get the treacle

And my father’s too sick to work

Please may I have a pancake?

Welsh Pancakes Recipe.

7. Traditional Roast Welsh Lamb ( Oen Cymreig )

Welsh lamb is like wine…it’s flavors come from the earth that it feeds from.Welsh Mountain Lamb is a hardy breed that thrives on wild mountain fragrant herbs and abundant heather.

Salt Marsh Lamb comes from the estuary pastures of the Welsh coastline and carries within its flesh the saltiness of the sea. In between are the lowlands with their sweet juicy grass that makes the meat-rich and the fat crispy.

Roast Lamb Recipe.

8. Anglesey Eggs ( Wyau Ynys Mon )

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Anglesey Eggs is a simple dish that is a soulful blending of leeks (the Welsh National vegetable), mashed potatoes and cheese sauce. It was a dish created from a scarcity of meat and is the very best kind of comfort food. Make this dish mid-week, when you need some warm, earthy pleasure.

Anglesey Eggs Recipe.

9. Welsh Onion Cake ( Teisien Winwns )

Welsh Onion Cake is another great traditional comfort food, consisting of thin layers of onion, potato and butter. You can have it on its own as a vegetarian main, but it is traditionally a side dish, eaten with lamb or beef.

Welsh Onion Cake Recipe.

10. Welsh Faggots ( Ffagodau Cymreig )

The name “faggot” is the old northern British term for uncased sausages. Traditionally, it was made from off-cuts and offal, but now you’ll find that it’s made from pig’s liver and/or pork and beef. It is enjoyed all over Wales, but particularly in mid and south Wales. Welsh Faggots are traditionally served with mashed potatoes, green peas, and onion gravy.

Welsh Faggots Recipe.

11. Laverbread ( Bara Llawr )

Laverbread is a traditional Welsh delicacy made from seaweed that has been washed and cooked to a dark greenish paste. Laverbread is full of vitamins and minerals, low in calories and high in protein. It is a rare plant source of vitamin B12 and is also full of iron and iodine.

Traditionally, the most popular way to eat laverbread is to roll it with oatmeal and cook it in bacon fat until crispy.It is mostly seen in a traditional miner’s breakfast of bacon, eggs, and cockles before a long day at the pits.

Laverbread Recipe.

11 Traditional Welsh Recipes You'll Want to Cook Tonight - My Life In Wales (2024)

FAQs

What is the traditional food of Wales? ›

Dishes such as cawl, Welsh rarebit, laverbread, Welsh cakes, bara brith (literally "speckled bread") or the Glamorgan sausage have all been regarded as symbols of Welsh food. Cawl, pronounced in a similar way to the English word "cowl", can be regarded as Wales' national dish.

What is the most popular dessert in Wales? ›

Welsh cakes

Perhaps the best-loved of all Welsh treats, these small, circular cakes are dusted in sugar and provide the perfect accompaniment to a hot cup of tea. Traditionally cooked on a bakestone, Welsh cakes can also contain sultanas and chocolate chips for a sweeter twist on the original recipe.

What is the national drink of Wales? ›

Perhaps a trickier question to answer, Penderyn whisky is the most famous Welsh spirit, and perry and cider have certainly gained in popularity, but beer is considered by most to be the national drink of Wales.

What is the quintessential Welsh food? ›

Staple fruits of the land include oats, barley, wheat and vegetables, including the famous Welsh leek – an enduring symbol of Wales and found in traditional dishes, such as Glamorgan sausage and the hearty broth known simply as cawl. Nothing showcases the Welsh tradition of simple wholesome fare more than cawl.

What is the most popular meal in Wales? ›

Welsh Rarebit is perhaps the most famous Welsh dish of them all and like Scottish Haggis and Irish Stew you'll find the world over.

What is a typical breakfast in Wales? ›

Some people count bacon and eggs as a full breakfast, whereas for others it must include sausages, beans, tomatoes, mushrooms, toast or fried bread, hash browns, black pudding and even bubble and squeak or potato cakes!

What are 3 foods that are from Wales? ›

Don't leave Wales without trying…
  • Welsh rarebit. Providing etymologists with a headache for centuries – it was originally known as Welsh rabbit, though at no point was rabbit one of the ingredients. ...
  • Glamorgan sausage. ...
  • Bara brith. ...
  • Lamb cawl. ...
  • Conwy mussels. ...
  • Leeks. ...
  • Laverbread. ...
  • Crempogs.

What cake is Wales famous for? ›

Picau ar y maen — also known as Welsh cakes, Welsh miner cakes, pice bach, cacennau cri, and teisennau gradell — are thick-ish, round tea cakes traditionally made on a baking stone or griddle, studded with dried fruit, possibly sprinkled in caster sugar, served warm or cold, butter and jam optional.

What sweets is Wales famous for? ›

Wales is known for a number of tasty sweet treats, these include Welsh cakes, crempog and bara birth. Welsh cakes are super tasty and loved by many in and around Wales.

What tea do Welsh drink? ›

The leading Welsh Teas are Welsh Brew Tea and Glengettie Tea . Both brands are packaged in English and Welsh. Welsh Brew was an answer to Yorkshire tea and created specifically for Wales.

Is there a Welsh cocktail? ›

Steeltown Vodka Cosmonaut – A simple and refreshing spring cocktail. If vodka is your thing, this delicious Steeltown Vodka Cosmonaut is out of this world! A delicious spring cocktail with layers of lemon, Welsh vodka, cranberry juice, and simple syrup. Get the recipe and make your own Steeltown Vodka Cosmonaut.

What fruit is from Wales? ›

These include Denbigh Plum, Bardsey Apple and Cariad Cherry. These are rare and special varieties that have a long interesting history in Wales. Especially the Bardsey apple that if found nowhere else in the world. This variety of apple is believed to date back to the 13th Century when it was grown by monks.

What cheese is famous in Wales? ›

Caerphilly is a hard, crumbly white cheese that originated in the area around the town of Caerphilly, Wales. It is thought to have been created to provide food for the local coal miners.

What is the national vegetable of Wales? ›

The leek. Before there was the daffodil, there was the humble leek. This root vegetable is so well established as part of Welsh culture that wearing a leek to signify you come from Wales is noted as an 'ancient tradition' in William Shakespeare's Henry V, first performed in the 16th century.

What is unique about Welsh culture? ›

Wales is known for its traditional Welsh language music, including religious hymns and patriotic folk ballads. It's also home to lots of world-famous singers such as Tom Jones and Bonnie Tyler. The harp is one of the most common instruments associated with Wales, particularly the triple harp or three-row harp.

What is Wales most known for? ›

Wales; famous for its rugged coastline, mountainous National Parks and not forgetting the Celtic Welsh language. It's a pretty cool country to live in or to visit.

What is the national dish of UK? ›

United Kingdom: fish and chips, chicken tikka masala, Cornwall: Cornish pasty. England: sunday roast (especially roast beef), pudding (particularly Christmas plum pudding) Northern Ireland: Ulster fry.

What do they call Santa in Wales? ›

Siôn Corn: Is literally translated as 'Chimneypot John', or the 'bloke that comes down the chimney' and is the Welsh Father Christmas or Santa Claus.

References

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