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Cheese and Whites of Eggs
2 ounces of cheese 1/2 gill milk 1 ounce of butter 4 whites of eggs 4 fingers buttered toast Salt Melt the butter and cheese in a saucepan; do not let it cook. Add the whites of egg, seasoning and milk. Stir until it thickens, pour on hot toast, and serve at once.
A quick savoury in the mould of Welsh rabbit, built on egg whites left over from custards and mayonnaise. It is essentially a stovetop cheese custard, and it succeeds or fails on heat control.
- The hinge: keep the pan barely warmEgg white starts to coagulate at around 145-150F and is firmly set well before a simmer, and cheese proteins tighten and weep at not much more. Work over low heat or a pan of hot water and pull it off the moment it coats the spoon; a boil gives you rubbery curds in a puddle of butterfat.
- Half a gillA gill is a quarter of a pint: 5 fl oz imperial, 4 fl oz in American measure. Half a gill is therefore roughly 2 to 2 1/2 fl oz, a scant quarter-cup of milk. Whole milk gives the smoothest result.
- Weights to volumesTwo ounces of cheese is a well-packed 1/2 cup grated; one ounce of butter is 2 tablespoons. Grate the cheese rather than cubing it so it melts before the pan has a chance to get hot.
- Which cheeseThe recipe says only 'cheese'. A firm, dry, sharp cheese of the Cheddar or Cheshire type suits it best; anything young and rubbery, or a processed slice, will string rather than melt into the milk.
- "Fingers" of toastNarrow strips cut from a slice of bread, buttered and still hot. Four fingers is the base for one or two servings; have them toasted and waiting, because the mixture cannot be held.
- YieldTwo modest servings as a lunch or supper dish, or four as a savoury course. It does not reheat.
- SeasoningSalt is all the original allows, but egg white is bland; white pepper, a scrape of mustard or a drop of Worcestershire are common additions in cheese savouries of this kind.
Egg whites were a standing surplus problem in a household that cooked from Victorian and Edwardian books: custards, curds, sauces, mayonnaise and rich cakes all called for yolks alone, and the whites had to be used the same day. The dish itself belongs to the family of hot cheese savouries served on toast, of which Welsh rabbit is the best known.