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Welsh Rarebit, No. 2
INGREDIENTS.
1 tablespoonful of butter. 1/2 a pound of mild cheese. 1/2 a teaspoonful of corn- ¼ a teaspoonful of salt. starch. ½ a saltspoonful of mus- ½ a cup of thin cream. tard.
A few grains of cayenne.
Method. - Melt the butter; add to it the cream in which the cornstarch has been stirred. Let cook
A chafing-dish rarebit built on a cornstarch-stabilized cream base rather than beer, which makes it far more forgiving than the classic version. Note that the printed method breaks off mid-sentence; the missing steps are simply to cook the cream until slightly thickened, add the cheese in handfuls off direct heat until smooth, then season and pour over toast.
- The hinge: never let it boilOnce the cheese goes in, keep the pan below a simmer. Cheese proteins tighten and squeeze out fat above roughly 160F, and the sauce turns into a stringy curd swimming in grease. The cornstarch is there as insurance, but it will not rescue a boiled rarebit.
- SaltspoonfulA saltspoon is a quarter teaspoon, so this calls for about 1/8 teaspoon of dry mustard. The salt here is a quarter teaspoon; the cheese is already salted, so add half and taste.
- "Thin cream"Period thin cream corresponds roughly to today's light cream. Half a cup of light cream or half-and-half works; heavy cream makes it heavy and cloying against a half pound of cheese.
- "Mild cheese"In a 1900s American cookbook this means a young factory cheddar, not a sharp aged one. A mild yellow cheddar, or Colby, melts smoothly; aged cheddar and any pre-shredded cheese with anti-caking starch will break more easily. Grate or dice it small so it melts fast.
- CornstarchHalf a teaspoon in half a cup of cream is a very light thickening, meant only to hold the emulsion together. Stir it into the cold cream before it meets the hot butter or you will get lumps.
- Chafing dish or stovetopThe recipe specifies no vessel. A small heavy saucepan over low heat, or a bowl set over barely steaming water, gives the most control.
- Yield and servingHalf a pound of cheese serves four as a light supper or six as a savory. Have the toast made and hot before the cheese goes in; the sauce firms as it cools and does not reheat well.
Welsh rabbit, later respelled rarebit, appears in English print from the early eighteenth century, and the name is traditionally explained as a joke at the expense of the Welsh: the poor man's rabbit was melted cheese on toast. By the time this book was published the dish was strongly associated with the American chafing dish, a piece of equipment that let hostesses and college students cook at the table without a kitchen. An ale-based rarebit tastes more assertive and is more prone to curdling over a low flame, which may be why a cream-and-cornstarch version was offered alongside it. The same era produced the golden buck (a rarebit with a poached egg) and the tomato-flavored blushing bunny, all variations on cheese kept liquid over gentle heat.