Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Welsh Rarebit
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Make the sauce
Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat.
Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute.
Gradually add the milk, stirring constantly until thickened.
Add the cheese, Worcestershire sauce, mustard powder, salt, and pepper; stir until the cheese melts.
Serve
Pour the cheese mixture over the toasted bread and serve hot.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Cheddar cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,436 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cheddar cheese
- Melts into the sauce to give it rich flavour and a thick, stretchy body.
- Butter
- Carries the flour and adds richness to the base of the sauce.
- All-purpose flour
- Thickens the butter and milk into a smooth sauce as it cooks.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid that the flour thickens into a creamy sauce.
The step that matters
Add the milk gradually while stirring. Adding milk slowly while stirring keeps the flour evenly dispersed, so the sauce thickens smoothly without lumps.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cheddar cheese, butter, flour, milk, sauce, pepper, bread):
- Capsicumfits better
- Potatofits better
- Tomatofits about as well
- Mustardthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cheddar cheese, butter, flour, milk, sauce, pepper, bread. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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