Boiled in plenty of water, they take 3-4 minutes to cook. Once cooked, roll them in a little oil to make the shell glossy and serve with vinegar and salt (and a pin to extract the meat from the shell). It's a little time-consuming to remove winkles from their shells, but worth the effort for the taste.

Do you have to cook Winkles?

Topshells and winkles only need to be cooked for 4-5 minutes, then eaten with a pin. Yes, a pin! The flesh is sealed in with a small disc which you can flick out with the pin then hook out the flesh. Easy!

How do you purge Winkles?

Step 1: Purge your winkles

Purge your winkles by putting them all into a bucket of seawater. Make sure all the winkles are covered in water, you can do this by using a pan lid that's small enough to fit into the bucket and pushing it down.