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Tomato Rarebit
2 tablespoons butter 2 tablespoons flour 3/4 cup thin cream 3/4 cup stewed and strained tomatoes 1/8 teaspoon soda 2 cups finely cut cheese 2 eggs, slightly beaten Salt Mustard Cayenne Put butter in chafing-dish; when melted, add flour. Pour on, gradually, cream, and as soon as mixture thickens add tomatoes mixed with soda; then add cheese, eggs, and seasonings to taste. Serve, as soon as cheese has melted, on Graham Toast.
A chafing-dish rarebit with tomato worked in, from the era when the chafing dish was the fashionable piece of tableside equipment. The whole dish turns on heat control: cheese and beaten egg over direct flame will curdle in seconds.
- The hinge: gentle heatKeep the pan below a simmer from the moment the cheese goes in. Once the eggs are added the mixture must thicken, not boil, or it will break into grainy curds and weeping fat.
- Chafing dishA chafing dish is a shallow pan over a spirit lamp, often with a water jacket. A heavy saucepan on the lowest burner works, and a double boiler is safer still if you are nervous about the eggs.
- Why the sodaThe 1/8 teaspoon of baking soda neutralises enough tomato acid to stop the cream and cheese curdling. Do not increase it — more will give a soapy taste and a dull colour.
- Thin creamThin cream is roughly today's light cream, around 18 to 20 percent fat; half-and-half is thinner and will give a looser sauce. Heavy cream will make the sauce cloying against the tomato.
- Cheese quantityTwo cups finely cut cheese is about 8 ounces, possibly a little more if diced rather than grated. A sharp aged cheddar melts and tastes best; pre-shredded cheese carries anti-caking starch that turns the sauce gritty.
- Mustard and cayenneMustard here means dry mustard powder, a pinch or two, not prepared mustard. Both it and the cayenne are traditional in rarebit and do real work against the richness.
- Stewed and strained tomatoesPassata is the closest equivalent; canned tomato puree is more concentrated and would want thinning. Straining matters -- skins and seeds spoil the texture of what should be a smooth sauce.
- Graham ToastToasted whole-wheat bread, graham flour being coarse whole-wheat. Toast it firmly; a soft slice collapses under the sauce.
- YieldThe recipe gives no yield; the quantities would probably serve about four as a light supper dish. It is best served straight from the pan rather than held or reheated.