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Welsh Rarebit, No. 2

A savory cheese and egg mixture served warm over toast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Cheese and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,962 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Welsh Rarebit, No. 2

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Determine the number of guests and weigh the eggs.

  2. Measure 1/3 the weight of the eggs in cheese and 1/6 in butter.

Make the rarebit

  1. Beat the eggs well in a saucepan.

  2. Add the butter and grated or finely chopped cheese to the eggs.

  3. Place the saucepan on the heat and stir until the mixture thickens.

  4. Season with salt and a generous amount of pepper, then serve in a warm dish.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Cheese + peppertop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,861 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Egg + cheesetop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,253 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set and thicken when heated, giving the rarebit its body and structure.
Cheese
Provides rich flavour and, melted into the eggs, adds body and a creamy texture.
Butter
Adds fat for smoothness and richness, helping the mixture stay silky.

The step that matters

Stir over the heat until the mixture thickens. Egg proteins set gradually as they warm. Heating too fast or leaving the mixture unstirred can overcook the eggs, causing curdling and a grainy texture instead of a smooth, thick sauce.

“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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