Laverbread and crab souffles with cockle sauce

1. If the crab is whole, pull the body apart and pick out all the meat - discarding only the mouthpiece and the grey "dead man"s fingers" that fringe the inside carapace.
2. For extra flavour, make a stock with crab shell, flavoured with a piece of carrot and a quarter of onion, and boil down to a couple of well-flavoured tablespoons which can replace the equivalent milk in the basic white sauce given above.
3. prepare the white sauce; melt the butter in a small pan. Stiri in the flour and fry gently until the mixture is still pale but sandy.
4. Whiski in the milk slowly, beating till you have a thick sauce.
5. Simmeri for 5 minutes.
6. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200 c) gas mark Stir the crabmeat and prepared laverbread into the sauce.
7. Seasoni with salt, pepper and nutmeg.
8. Separate the eggs.
9. Beat the whites until quite stiff.