In order to prepare these you need to get as many barnacles as you can afford (normally when we eat these in Spain we just get a very few per person given their price). When you buy them, ask for where do they come from as the colder the water the barnacles come from, the better they are (and I honestly think that barnacles from Galicia are the very best).
Ideally they should be boiled in sea water, but if you are not living near the sea just fill a big pan with water and add 70 gr of sea salt for every litre of water. Add a bay leaf per litre as well. Once the water is boiling add the barnacles. As soon as the water boils again (a matter of a couple of minutes, if at all) take them off the pan (in some Galician villages the recipe calls for putting the barnacles into the pan , praying an 'our father' and taking them off the water…though this obviously depends on how fast you pray!). Cover the barnacles with a clean tea-cloth and serve them while they are hot. Simply superb.
