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English Monkey
1/2 pint (I cup) milk 1/2 pint (I cup) stale bread crumbs 1 gill (1/2 cup) soft, mild cheese in small pieces 3/4 oz. (1½ tablespoonfuls) butter I beaten egg 1/2 teaspoonful salt Red pepper to taste Toasted crackers Soak the bread crumbs in the milk for fifteen minutes. Melt the butter in a chafing-dish, add the cheese, stir until melted, then add the bread crumbs, and when hot, add the seasonings and the egg. Cook for three minutes and pour over toasted crackers.
A close cousin of Welsh rabbit, thickened with milk-soaked bread rather than beer. It comes together in under ten minutes, and the only real difficulty is keeping the egg from scrambling.
- The hinge: gentle heatOnce the egg goes in, the mixture must stay well below a simmer or it will curdle into cheesy scrambled egg. Work over low heat (or a double boiler if you have no chafing dish) and stir constantly; the three minutes are for thickening, not boiling.
- A gillHalf a cup, as the recipe itself notes. By volume, a half-cup of cheese in small pieces is roughly 2 oz grated — a modest amount, which is why the bread does most of the work.
- Soft, mild cheeseThe book means a young, high-moisture cheese that melts smoothly — a mild Cheddar, Lancashire, Colby or Monterey Jack. Avoid aged, dry cheeses, which break into oil and strings in a milk-based sauce, and avoid pre-shredded bags, which are dusted with anti-caking starch.
- Red pepperCayenne, not paprika and not sweet red pepper. A pinch is enough.
- Stale bread crumbsSoft crumbs torn from day-old bread, not dry packaged crumbs, which will drink the milk and turn the dish pasty.
- The chafing dishA tabletop pan over a spirit lamp, popular for late-night suppers in this period. Any small heavy saucepan over low heat does the same job; what matters is keeping the heat gentle, so do not substitute a hot skillet.
- Toasted crackersPlain soda crackers or water biscuits. Toast them dry until crisp and lightly coloured, and pour the mixture over at the last moment -- it softens them within a minute or two.
- YieldThe book gives no yield; the quantities suggest two as a light supper, or four as a savoury on small crackers. It does not reheat well; the egg tightens and the bread goes gluey.