Today’s spotlight is on Welsh Rarebit.

Welsh rarebit is a Welsh dish of hot cheese sauce served on toasted bread. Welsh rarebit is not simply cheese on toast. Cheese on toast is made by grilling slices of pure cheese on toasted bread whereas Welsh Rarebit is a grilled cheese-based sauce made from cheese, flour, beer and often added egg.

Welsh rarebit is similar to Scottish rarebit, but the bread in Welsh rarebit has both butter and mustard. Some versions of Welsh rarebit also include bacon and sliced tomato. Published recipes often refer to Welsh rarebit as “posh cheese on toast”.

Welsh rarebit is often eaten as a main course or high tea, Welsh rarebit makes a light, yet filling meal when served alongside a nice green salad. If you’re feeling a bit extra, add a poached egg on top. This variation is known as a “golden buck”.

Here are some beers that you can use in Welsh rarebit:

• Strong, brown ale: Some recipes call for a strong, brown ale, such as Hobgoblin by Wychwood breweries.
• Golden ale: A golden ale can add a hoppy, boozy flavor.
• Stout or Guinness: Stout or Guinness can be a delicious addition to Welsh rarebit, but you can cut them with milk to prevent the sauce from becoming overwhelming.
• Welsh bitter: You can try a quality Welsh bitter, such as The Rev James by Brains Brewery Beer.
• Lighter ale: A lighter ale can work well in Welsh rarebit.

 

Some recipes simply melt grated cheese on toast, making it identical to cheese on toast. Others make the sauce of cheese, ale, and mustard, and garnished with cayenne pepper or paprika. Other recipes add wine or Worcestershire sauce. The sauce may also blend cheese and mustard into a béchamel sauce.

 

History

The dish originated in Wales and is often found on the menus of brasseries in the North of France, especially near the coast.

One of the first appearances of Welsh Rarebit in print is in the 1700s. It appears in The Art of Cookery. In this cookbook, the author gave versions for several British countries. The word “rarebit” is a corruption of the word “rabbit”. The term “Welsh rabbit” was first recorded in 1725, and “rarebit” was first recorded in 1781. In 1785, Francis Grose defined “Welch rabbit” as “a Welch rare bit”. The original 18th-century name of the dish was “Welsh rabbit”, which was later reinterpreted as “rarebit” because the dish contains no rabbit.

The notion that toasted cheese was a favorite dish irresistible to the Welsh has existed since the Middle Ages. In A C Merie Talys (100 Merry Tales), a printed book of jokes of 1526 AD (of which William Shakespeare made some use), it is told that God asked St Peter to get rid of the Welsh from heaven, as they kept causing a ruckus.  St Peter marched outside the Pearly Gates and shouted “baked cheese ”. All of the Welsh men and women excitedly tumbled out of the gates.  When St Peter saw they were all outside, the gates were slammed behind them. This is why there are no Welshmen in heaven. The 1526 compiler says he found this story ‘Wryten amonge olde gestys’.

Welsh rarebit supposedly causes vivid dreams. The 1902 book Welsh Rarebit Tales is a collection of short horror stories supposedly from members of a writing club who ate a dinner which included a large portion of rarebit immediately before sleeping to give themselves inspiring dreams. Winsor McCay’s comic strip series Dream of the Rarebit Fiend recounts the fantastic dreams that various characters have because they ate a Welsh rarebit before going to bed. In “Gomer, the Welsh Rarebit Fiend”, Season 3 Episode 24 of Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., indulging in Welsh rarebit causes Gomer (and later Sgt. Carter) to sleepwalk and exhibit inverse personality traits.

Betty Crocker’s Cookbook in 1921, claims that Welsh peasants were not allowed to eat rabbits caught in hunts on the estates of the nobility, so they used melted cheese as a substitute. It also claims that Ben Jonson and Charles Dickens ate Welsh rarebit at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, a pub in London.[38] It gives no evidence for any of this; indeed, Ben Jonson died almost a century before the term Welsh rabbit is first attested.

 

Here is a classic Welsh Rarebit Recipe for you to try:

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup butter.
• ¼ cup all-purpose flour.
• ¼ teaspoon pepper.
• ¼ teaspoon dry mustard.
• ¼ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce.
• 2 drops hot pepper sauce (such as Tabasco®)
• 1 cup whole milk.
• ½ cup beer.

 

Directions

1. Melt butter in a saucepan over low heat. Stir in flour, salt, pepper, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and hot pepper sauce. Cook and stir until smooth and bubbly, about 5 minutes.
2. Remove the saucepan from the heat. Gradually stir in milk, then return to heat and stir continuously until mixture comes to a boil. Slowly pour in beer; cook and stir for 1 minute. Melt Cheddar cheese into mixture in small portions until completely incorporated.

 

There are many variations of Welsh rarebit. One popular variation is known as James Martin’s.

To make James Martin’s Welsh rarebit, you can:

The ingredients for James Martin’s Welsh rarebit are:

• 350g grated cheddar cheese.
• 100ml milk or beer
• 1 tsp Worcester sauce
• 2 tbsp English mustard
• Few drops Tabasco
• 4 tbsp plain flour
• 3 egg yolks
• 2 slices of white bread toasted.
• 2 slices back bacon, cooked.
• 4 tbsp chutney

Directions:

1. Preheat the grill to high.
2. Poach the haddock in milk for 2-3 minutes.
3. Gently melt the cheese in a pan, then add all the remaining ingredients, carefully stirring.
4. Add the flour, continuing to stir.
5. Cut the sourdough into chunks and pop into the bottom of an oven proof dish.
6. Dot with chutney.
7. Sit the haddock on top.
8. Cut a piece of rarebit to fit and pop on top of the fish.
9. Put under the grill for 2 to 3 minutes.

 

National Welsh Rarebit Day is celebrated annually on September 3rd to honor the classic British dish made with a savory cheese sauce and toasted bread. Let us know in the comments if you like Welsh Rarebit and what variation is your favorite.