Welsh rarebit is a melted cheese sauce containing a variety of ingredients traditionally served hot over slices of toasted bread. The 1941 recipe book 500 Snacks: Bright Ideas for Entertaining has a basic recipe for Welsh rarebit in the “hot entrees” section, and it includes several options to change it up a bit (more on that in a minute). I decided to use the basic recipe and eat it as a more modern snack. We scooped the melted cheese sauce up with hot soft pretzels.
Welsh Rarebit
- 2 pounds American cheese, diced
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp dry mustard
- few grains cayenne
- 1 c beer
- toast, bread croustades, or crackers
Melt cheese and butter in a double broiler, add seasonings, then beer. Stir constantly until smooth. Serve on toast, bread croustades, or crackers. Serves 8.
Results
This recipe made a perfect melted cheese dip for our pretzels. If you love melted cheese sauces, give this a try. It’s delicious. You can just slightly taste the beer if that is a concern for you. I’m curious about the other variations on the recipe, too. I think this is definitely one of those dishes that you can add a number of ingredients to make it a little fancier. Meat, green onions, peppers–there are so many possibilities. I’ll leave a copy of the recipe variations here so you can see what other offerings the recipe book included.
The cheese sauce thickened and hardened very quickly, so if you use this as a dip, you might want to keep it over heat or in a fondue pot. If you are pouring it over toasted bread slices, I think the thicker sauce would actually work in your favor. It would be less messy.
I hope you try a variation of Welsh Rarebit. It’s a versatile dish and makes a great quick and easy snack.
History in the Kitchen 