Home › Village Receipts › A Simple Welsh Rarebit
A Simple Welsh Rarebit
Whip three eggs together with four teaspoons of cream; season with one teaspoon Worcestershire sauce, one-half teaspoon of salt, a dash of red pepper and one pound of cheese cut into thin cubes; stand over the fire and stir and beat until smooth and creamy. Serve on toast.
— Mrs. Willard E. Myers
A cheese-and-egg rarebit rather than the beer-based kind — closer to scrambled cheese than to a sauce. It succeeds or fails on heat control.
- Gentle heat, always"Stand over the fire" means a moderate, steady heat, and with three eggs in the pan that has to be low. Use a double boiler or the lowest burner setting; if the mixture reaches a simmer the eggs scramble into curds and the cheese fat separates into grease.
- Grate rather than cubeA pound of firm modern Cheddar melts far more evenly shredded, and shortens the time on the heat, which is the main risk here.
- Which cheeseA mild-to-sharp Cheddar suits the dish; the recipe does not specify. Avoid pre-shredded bagged cheese — the anti-caking starch makes the finished rarebit grainy. Aged, very dry Cheddar also breaks more readily than a young one.
- Red pepper"A dash of red pepper" is cayenne, not paprika or crushed chile flakes. Roughly an eighth of a teaspoon; it is there for warmth behind the Worcestershire, not for obvious heat.
- The cream is not a mistakeFour teaspoons for a pound of cheese looks like a misprint, but the eggs supply most of the liquid and the body. The result is thick and spoonable, and will not pour like a sauce.
- ToastUse a sturdy bread, toasted dark and dry on both sides, and top it the moment the cheese comes off the heat. Soft sandwich bread collapses under this much cheese.
- YieldA pound of cheese and three eggs will cover six to eight slices of toast — a supper dish for four to six, not a snack for two. It does not reheat well; the eggs tighten and weep.
Welsh rabbit — "rarebit" is a later, genteel respelling of the original joke name — appears in English cookery writing from the eighteenth century onward, and by the late nineteenth century it had become a fixture of American chafing-dish suppers, ladies' luncheons and after-theatre eating. Ale or beer is the classic wetting agent, but egg-thickened versions like this one were also common. The recipe directs that it be made over the fire, which explains both the modest quantity of liquid and the insistence on stirring until smooth.