Deganwy (Wales) Recipe: Welsh Rarebit

A delicious Welsh Rarebit I enjoyed in a Cotswold pub.

Ah, British food. Fish and chips. Yorkshire pudding. Sausages with no spices. Overcooked burgers. Beans on toast. Bangers and mash. So many possibilities. So much blandness.

Firmly residing in the bland category is Welsh Rarebit, but with the possible redemption of cheesy goodness. Essentially, it is just cheese on toast, but fancified up a bit. It seemed like one of the better British food options and one I could make in an Airbnb kitchen with limited tools and ingredients. I'd never had Welsh Rarebit before, but I eagerly dove into researching its history and variety of recipes.

Key ingredients for Traditional Welsh Rarebit.

The name Welsh Rarebit is a corruption from the original "Welsh Rabbit." It was likely meant as an insult to the Welsh people, as in, "The closest thing to rabbit meat the Welsh can afford is cheese on toast." It has never had rabbit in it. Recipes vary, but many use butter and flour to make a roux, beer or wine, Worcestershire sauce, and mustard along with cheddar cheese to make the sauce. If it sounds a lot like fondue, it essentially is.

I first tried a recipe titled Traditional Welsh Rarebit as I wanted to get as close to the original as possible. I should have read the recipe more carefully before trying it, as it now seems obvious that 2.5 tablespoons of beer and .5 teaspoons of Worcestershire would not make a sauce. It, in fact, made this glop of separated cheese and oil in the pan. Once it was spread on toast and run under the broiler, it was still pretty good, but not exactly what I was hoping for:

So much for tradition. Instead, I turned to a culinary expert I can always trust: Alton Brown. His Welsh Rarebit recipe was not so traditional, but so much tastier. It actually made a sauce instead of separated glop! The only change I made to the recipe was to use milk instead of cream as it was what I had on hand. Is it different from fondue? Not really, but it was very tasty, and Brad approved, as you can see below.

Try this easy to make and glop-free recipe below or you can download a PDF of the recipe to save or print here.

Welsh Rarebit

Recipe courtesy of Alton Brown

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

• 1/2 cup dark beer, such as porter

• 3/4 cup heavy cream

• 6 ounces (1 1/2 cups) shredded cheddar cheese

• 2 drops hot sauce

• 4 slices toasted rye bread

Directions:

• Melt the butter over medium-low heat in a small saucepan. Whisk in the flour and cook, whisking constantly, for 2 to 3 minutes, being careful not to brown the flour.

• Whisk in mustard, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper until smooth. Add the beer and whisk to combine. Pour in the cream and whisk until well combined and smooth. Gradually add the cheese, stirring constantly, until the cheese melts and sauce is smooth, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the hot sauce. Pour over toast and serve immediately.