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Bean Rabbit
Heat two tablespoons of butter and add cup of cold baked beans which have been put through a vegetable press; season with salt and paprika; when heated through, add one-half cup hot milk, mix thoroughly and add cup of cheese cut fine, and a spoonful of catsup or Worcestershire sauce. Stir until cheese melts, and pour over crackers or toast.
— Mrs. H. B. Morrison
A Welsh rabbit stretched with leftover baked beans — a thrifty village supper dish that comes together in under ten minutes. The whole thing hinges on gentle heat.
- Keep it below a simmerCheese melted into a hot bean-and-milk base will curdle and turn grainy if it boils. Work over low heat or a double boiler and pull the pan off as soon as the cheese has gone smooth.
- A "vegetable press"This is a ricer or food mill, not a modern juicer. Cold baked beans push through easily; a few pulses in a food processor or a mash with a potato masher gives the same smooth purée.
- Which beansHousehold baked beans of the period were typically navy or pea beans with molasses and salt pork, closer to canned pork and beans than to a smoky barbecue-style bean. A drained can of plain baked beans, riced, is the nearest thing.
- The cheese"Cheese cut fine" most likely points to a firm store cheese of the Cheddar type, diced small so it melts quickly. Grate it instead, and avoid pre-shredded bags, whose anti-caking coating dulls the texture.
- MeasuresCups here are almost certainly the standard 8-oz cup: one cup beans, half a cup hot milk, one cup diced cheese. "A spoonful" of catsup or Worcestershire is unspecified -- anywhere from a teaspoon to a tablespoon. Worcestershire is much saltier and sharper, so start small.
- ConsistencyThe bean purée thickens on standing and can seize into paste. Loosen with a little more hot milk until it pours; it should coat a spoon, not mound on it.
- YieldProbably enough for two generous servings over toast, or four over crackers as a light supper or chafing-dish course. It is unlikely to reheat well -- the beans stiffen and the cheese separates.
Welsh rabbit — usually spelled rarebit by the genteel — was a familiar dish of nineteenth-century American cookery, a plate of melted cheese and seasoning poured over toast that could be made at table in a chafing dish. Its popularity spawned an entire family of imitators named on the same pattern: tomato rabbit, corn rabbit, and here a bean rabbit, in which cold baked beans are pressed smooth and made to do the work of extra cheese. That thrift is the point. Community cookbooks like this one collected receipts from women who were feeding households on what remained in the pantry, and this dish credits a named neighbor — Mrs. H. B. Morrison.