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Cheese Toast
Cut cheese up fine and mix it with 1 beaten egg, 1 tablespoon butter,½ cup new milk. Cook till smooth and pour over toast.
A one-line rarebit-style sauce with almost no quantities given. The technique matters more than the measurements here: this is a custard thickened by egg, not a roux, and it will scramble if pushed.
- How much cheeseThe original never says. For half a cup of milk and one egg, 3 to 4 oz of a firm, well-flavoured cheese is the sensible range — a sharp cheddar or a dry Cheshire. Much more and the sauce turns stringy rather than smooth.
- "New milk"Fresh whole milk, as opposed to skimmed or the previous day's. Any whole milk works; the fat helps keep the emulsion together.
- The hinge: never let it boilWith a whole beaten egg in the pan, anything above a bare simmer curdles the mixture into cheesy scrambled egg. Cook over low heat, or in a bowl set over simmering water, stirring constantly until it coats the spoon.
- Order of operationsThe original mixes everything cold and then cooks it. If you prefer more insurance against curdling, melt the butter and warm the milk and cheese until the cheese has slackened, then take the pan off the heat before stirring in the beaten egg.
- Grate rather than "cut fine"Coarsely grated cheese melts far more evenly than the fine dice the original describes, and shortens the time on the heat.
- ToastUse bread toasted dry and firm on both sides. Soft or fresh-toasted bread collapses under a wet sauce; a sturdy slice holds it.
- YieldEnough for two or three slices of toast — a light supper or savoury course for two. Salt, pepper and a little mustard or cayenne are usual in dishes of this type, though the original mentions none of them.
Melted cheese poured over toast is a long-established British savoury, and by the time the Five Roses book appeared the family included Welsh rarebit, Scotch woodcock and a dozen chafing-dish variants. What distinguishes this version is the egg: it turns the dish from a simple melted-cheese sauce into a thin custard, which is more forgiving of cheap or dry cheese and stretches a small piece of it across several slices of bread. Five Roses was published by Lake of the Woods Milling Company to sell flour, and the recipes were gathered from Canadian housewives, which explains the telegraphic style: contributors wrote as they cooked, assuming any reader already knew what melted cheese should look like.