Throwback Thursday: Welsh Rarebit

Welsh Rarebit actually was once called Welsh Rabbit. If you follow the lore of the dish you will find that once upon a time, in the early 18th century, Welsh peasants were supposedly somewhat peeved that they could not afford to eat the rabbits that their masters and mistresses enjoyed at their groaning dinner tables. So they made do with what they had, and made a nice cheesy sauce with a good dose of flavour, and called it their own kind of Welsh Rabbit. Maybe it’s apocryphal but it’s a good story and there aren’t many 18th century Welshmen around to contradict me.

The origins of the term “Welsh Rabbit” have been traced to 1725 and the same dish, but called “Welsh rarebit”, only appears in 1785, with Britannica.com observing that there is no known use of the word “rarebit” outside of this dish, then or now.

It is generally described as toasted bread with a cheese sauce on top flavoured with stout or strong ale, mustard and Worcestershire sauce, having been made with a roux base, and finished in the oven. Given that Lea & Perrins launched their Worcestershire sauce to the British general public in 1835, that could not have been an original ingredient as early as 1725, or even in 1785, but all recipes evolve over time. Certainly today you will be hard-pressed to find a recipe without it. And Worcester, of course, is in England, not Wales, so there’s a whole story right there with the potential for war and bloodshed or at least scathing anti-Welsh barbs being countered by anti-English jokes from the other side.

As for the kind of beer that goes in it, it would seem wise to use a Welsh ale of some kind or other, but many recipes call for stout, and some specifically for Guinness, which of course is Irish. The cheese? Well now, many recipes today call for Cheddar, and Cheddar is a little village in Somerset, which of course is in England, so… oh and almost every recipe today calls for Colmans Hot English mustard.

Seeing as Welsh Rarebit hasn’t yet ignited a tribal war between Wales, England and Ireland, perhaps we could see it as a great unifier and celebrate the modern day hybrid that it has become. 

Here’s my take on how to make it, but the recipes do vary very much, with some including Cayenne pepper, others leaving out the beer and using milk or white wine, and yet others not even using a roux (flour and butter) base at all, but starting instead with simply melting cheese in a pan with wine, then adding the other ingredients.

But let’s go with the broad consensus that it should have beer, Worcestershire sauce, hot mustard and of course a good mature cheese.

(Serves 2 or 4)

Ingredients

4 slices firm bread, cut thickly

50 g butter

3 Tbsp flour

½ cup/ 125 ml strong beer or stout (I used Guinness)

1 tsp mustard powder or Colman’s Hot English prepared mustard

1 tsp Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce

1 egg yolk, beaten

300 g mature cheese such as Cheddar, grated

Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Preheat the oven to 220℃ and place a flat, heavy cast-iron pan in it to get hot. When it’s hot, put slices of bread in it and return to the oven for the underside to toast.

Don’t use a soft, commercial sliced loaf. You need something more hardy and substantial. I used The Foodie’s Wife’s Herbed Buttermilk Bread.

Melt the butter in a pan and, once melted, remove from the heat and stir in the flour until combined thoroughly.

Return to a low heat and add the beer a little at a time while stirring, until well combined.

Add the mustard and Worcestershire sauce and stir to combine. Take it off the heat for five minutes, then quickly whisk in the beaten egg.

Return to the heat and stir in the cheese a little at a time, stirring until melted and combined, and season to taste with salt and a little pepper.

Once the cheese is all incorporated, remove the pan from the oven and spoon the mixture on top of the slices, smoothing it so that it reaches all the edges. Some of the sauce dripping over the edges is a good thing.

Return to the oven until it becomes bubbly and starts to brown a little.

Drink the rest of the Guinness with it. DM

Tony Jackman is twice winner of the Galliova Food Writer of the year award, in 2021 and 2023

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This dish is photographed on a plate by Mervyn Gers Ceramics.