Why it works: Butter and cheese 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
Ingredients
Directions
Make the rarebit
Melt the butter in a pan.
Add the cheese and stir until nearly melted.
In a bowl, mix the beaten egg, mustard, salt, and cayenne.
Add this mixture to the cheese and stir well.
Slowly stir in the ale or beer (or milk) and Worcestershire sauce.
Cook until thickened, stirring constantly to prevent curdling.
Serve
Serve hot over toast or soda crackers.
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 + cheesetop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,962 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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Cheese + mustardtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,805 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Mustard + beertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together314 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Cheese + beertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together174 recipes
Shared aroma: 5-ethyl-3-hydroxy-4-methyl-2(5h)-furanone (spice).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cheese
- Melts into the sauce to give it body, richness and its characteristic flavor.
- Egg
- Thickens the sauce as it heats and helps bind it into a smooth, spoonable texture.
- Ale or beer
- Thins the cheese mixture and adds malty flavor and moisture.
- Butter
- Adds fat that helps the cheese melt smoothly and adds richness.
The step that matters
Cook until thickened, stirring constantly. Cheese proteins can tighten and turn grainy or curdle when overheated. Constant stirring over gentle heat spreads the heat evenly and lets the egg thicken the sauce smoothly.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, cheese, egg, pepper, beer, sauce):
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Mustardthe original
- Tomatofits about as well
- Potatofits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, cheese, egg, pepper, beer, sauce. 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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