Now there is cheese on toast which I love and I have made with all sorts of variations and then there is Welsh Rarebit the POSH cheese on toast and growing up this was a teatime favourite for me and I reckon we must have had it every week.
For those of you who don’t know, Welsh rarebit or Welsh rabbit is a dish of a savoury sauce of melted cheese and various other ingredients, poured over slices of toasted bread and served hot, no rabbits involved in this recipe.
Welsh rarebit is typically made with Cheddar cheese, but of course any nice strong hard British cheese is good and use Welsh Cheddar if you can.
Various recipes for Welsh rarebit include the addition of ale, mustard, ground cayenne pepper or ground paprika and Worcestershire sauce.The sauce may also be made by blending cheese and mustard into a Béchamel sauce or Mornay sauce. Some recipes for Welsh rarebit have become textbook savoury dishes listed by culinary authorities including Escoffier, Saulnier and others, who tend to use the form Welsh rarebit, emphasising that it is not a meat dish.
In Jamie Oliver’s recipe he spreads chili jam on the bread before adding the cheese mix. I have used Branston pickle but I find this is better with regular cheese on toast as it has too much flavour and you don’t want that as you ant to taste the flavours of the Welsh Rarebit.
Serves 2
Ingredients:
- 225g grated, strong cheese such as Cheddar or Cheshire, Welsh mature cheddar if you can get it
- 1 level tsp English mustard powder
- 2 tsp flour
- 1 tbsp butter
- 4 tbsp beer, stout or milk
- 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 4 x 2 cm thick slices of good-quality bread, (sourdough or a rustic style bread)
- Salt and pepper to taste
Preparation method:
Put the cheese, butter, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, flour and pepper into a saucepan mix well and then add the beer, stout or milk to moisten but do not make it too wet!
Stir over a low heat until it has melted into a thickish paste then stop stirring and give it a good swirl around in the pan.
Under the grill lightly toast your slices of bread on both sides then spread the rarebit over spreading it right to the edge, this way it stops the crusts from burning. Grill until melted and bubbling. Divide on to plates and as in Jamie Oliver style criss-cross the topping with a knife and drizzle with Worcestershire sauce.
Enjoy!