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Welsh Rarebit-No. 2
Butter toast, keep it hot. Into a saucepan or chafing-dish put 1 pound young cream cheese that has been grated; season with a dash of red pepper and paprika, 1/2 teaspoonful powdered mustard, 1 tablespoonful butter; keep stirring. When cheese is nearly dissolved add 1 wineglassful of good musty or other ale or beer. Put toast in hot soup-plate, pour over cheese, and serve with beer or ale.
A straightforward chafing-dish rarebit: the whole trick is heat control, since cheese held too hot or too long will break into strings and oil.
- Keep the heat lowMelt the cheese gently over low heat or a double boiler and never let the mixture boil. Once it simmers the proteins tighten and the fat separates, giving a grainy, greasy sauce that will not pour smoothly.
- A wineglassfulIn books of this period a wineglass is about 2 fluid ounces, or 1/4 cup. Add it warm rather than cold, a little at a time, so the emulsion does not seize.
- "Young cream cheese"This does not mean modern block cream cheese. It means a fresh, mild, full-fat cheese that melts readily; a young cheddar, Lancashire or a mild Gouda is closer to the intent. A pound is generous.
- "Musty" aleThe term appears in period rarebit recipes and is usually taken to mean old or stale ale rather than any particular style; the precise sense is not settled. In practice a brown ale, mild or English bitter works; avoid anything heavily hopped, as bitterness concentrates as the cheese warms.
- Red pepper and paprika"Red pepper" here is cayenne, so use it by the pinch. Paprika in cookbooks of this period meant plain sweet paprika, not smoked.
- Toast timingHave the toast buttered, hot and in warmed plates before the cheese is ready. Rarebit sauce stiffens within a minute or two of leaving the heat, and cold toast turns it claggy.
- YieldA pound of cheese serves four generously as a supper dish, or six as a savoury course.
Welsh rarebit is documented in English cookery from the early eighteenth century as "Welsh rabbit"; the usual explanation, that melted cheese on toast stood in for game a poor household could not afford, is traditional rather than documented. "Rarebit" is generally regarded as a later respelling of the same phrase. By the time this collection was compiled the dish had become a fixture of late-evening chafing-dish cookery, the American fashion for cooking at the table over a spirit lamp, which may be why the recipe offers a saucepan or a chafing-dish interchangeably.