Traditional Welsh Rarebit Recipe - Culinary Ginger (2024)

FAQs

What is the difference between Welsh rarebit and Scottish rarebit? ›

The Welsh rarebit recipe was made by slightly toasting bread, then melting either Cheshire or Gloucester cheese atop the bread and adding pepper and mustard. The Scotch version melted the cheese in a small dish with the pepper and mustard, mixed them together and then browned the mixture. It was served with toast.

Put the cheese, mustard, Worcester sauce and Tabasco sauce in and stir until melted. Beat in the egg yolks and flour and gently cook for a further 2 minutes. Evenly spoon over the bread and bacon then spoon the cheese mix all over and bake for 5 minutes until golden and bubbly.

This classic Welsh rarebit makes a great lunch or brunch dish. You can use your favorite local beer, mustard, and any strong Cheddar cheese in this recipe. If you don't like beer, you can replace it with milk; it will still taste great!

Cheese on toast is made by grilling slices of pure cheese on toasted bread whereas welsh rarebit is a grilled cheese based sauce made from cheese, flour, beer and often added egg.

But while Welsh rarebit is known as late-night bachelor nightmare food (a description that I can say, completely unsarcastically, makes me super-excited to eat it), there are also many rarebit variations that (thankfully?) don't seem to have the same nightmare-inducing qualities and are mighty delicious.

We've discontinued our Welsh Rarebit, Robert. We're glad you enjoyed it though and will take note that you'd like to see it back!

Toastie Welsh Rarebit! Rich cheesy sauce served with slices of toasted bread with a salad of nettles, alexanders, sea radish and sorrels dressed with vinaigrette.

Put buttered bread slices on griddle (butter side down). Add cheeses on one bread slice and move bread around on griddle as cheese melts. Check color of bread slices - when golden brown, join bread. Butter top of sandwich lightly again, flip, butter new top of sandwich.

Classic Welsh, Buck Rarebit or Elegance. Elegance being Classic Welsh with addition of poached egg and rashers of bacon. Buck being just the egg added. Which ever you have you will not be dissappointed.

The Hot Brown is a variation of the classic Welsh Rarebit, but it's bumped up with added turkey and bacon.

What is the best ale for Welsh rarebit? ›

My favourite is a golden ale, which brings a fantastic hoppy, boozy flavour, without being domineering. Stout or Guinness can be a delicious addition to a Welsh rarebit, but they can be potent: cut them with milk (75g of each) to prevent the sauce becoming overwhelming.

It's a simple but outstanding dish. The rarebit keeps in the fridge brilliantly for around a week too and can be used on toast!

The Cheese Sauce

“It's typically a cheese sauce, like a bechamel or mornay, and you can flavor it from that point however you wish.” Common inclusions in recipes for rarebit are elements that deepen and enhance the cheese sauce flavor such as beer, Worcestershire, mustard, cayenne, or nutmeg.

Welsh rarebit, a traditional British dish consisting of toasted bread topped with a savory cheddar cheese sauce that typically includes such ingredients as beer or ale, Worcestershire sauce, cayenne, mustard, and paprika. If an egg is served atop the dish, it is called buck rarebit.

Welsh rabbit and rarebit are the same dish – hot cheese served on toast – but the original 18th-century name was supposed to be a joke (there was no rabbit in it at all) so it became known as rarebit. This recipe, a Scots version, is based on one in Margaret Dods' The Cook and Housewife's Manual, published in 1828.

Kentish Rarebit was a popular snack with fruit pickers in Kent's orchards. You can make this simple dish yourself by mixing cheese and sliced apple, layering on bread and popping it under the grill.