Welsh Rabbit

A terse church-cookbook version of Welsh rabbit that assumes the cook already knows the method: make a thin white sauce, melt cheese into it off high heat, finish with egg. The proportions work, but the order matters more than the list suggests.

• The hinge: low heatCheese sauce breaks when it gets hot enough to boil, leaving stringy curds in a pool of oil. Melt the cheese into the warm sauce over the lowest possible heat, or in a double boiler, and stop stirring once it is smooth.
• Method the recipe omitsCook the butter and flour together for a minute, whisk in the milk, and let it thicken. Then pull the pan off the heat and add the cheese a handful at a time. The egg goes in last, beaten and tempered with a spoonful of the hot sauce before it joins the pan.
• The eggIt thickens and enriches but will scramble at a hard simmer. Once it is in, keep the pan below 180F and serve promptly; the sauce should still be hot enough (about 160F) to cook the egg through.
• "Finely cut cheese"A heaping cup is roughly 4 oz of a firm cheese such as cheddar; grate or dice it small so it melts before the sauce overheats. Pre-shredded cheese is dusted with anti-caking starch and melts grainy.
• Seasoning"Salt and pepper to taste" is thin for this dish. Many period versions of the same sauce carry dry mustard, cayenne or Worcestershire, and a scant quarter-teaspoon of mustard powder lifts it considerably.
• No beer hereMany Welsh rabbit recipes use ale as the liquid. This one is a milk version, common in American community cookbooks of the period.
• SaltinesThen as now, plain soda crackers. Toast them briefly in a dry oven so they do not go soft under the sauce; buttered toast works equally well.
• YieldServes two as a light supper or four as a savory over crackers. It does not hold or reheat well, so make it at the moment of serving.