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Baked Welsh Rarebit

A baked cheese and breadcrumb gratin served as a savory topping.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Bread and butter 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 ↓

Baked Welsh Rarebit

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. In a bowl, combine bread crumbs with melted butter.

Layer

  1. In a buttered baking dish, sprinkle a layer of buttered crumbs.

  2. Cover with one-third of the cheese, then sprinkle with salt and paprika.

  3. Repeat the layers until all ingredients are used.

Bake and serve

  1. In another bowl, beat the eggs and mix in the milk.

  2. Pour the egg mixture over the layered cheese and crumbs.

  3. Bake for 25 minutes and serve immediately.

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. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Cheese + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,130 recipes

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

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

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

  5. Cheese + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,426 recipes

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

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, giving the dish its rich flavor and creamy body.
Eggs
Set when baked, binding the custard so it holds together rather than running.
Milk
Mixes with the eggs to form a liquid custard that keeps the dish moist.
Bread crumbs
Soak up the custard and form a tender, layered base that holds the cheese.
Butter
Coats the crumbs and adds richness, helping them brown lightly in the oven.

The step that matters

Pour the egg mixture over the layers and bake. Eggs set as they heat, so the custard must be fully poured over the layers and baked until just set. Overbaking can make the eggs curdle and turn the texture grainy and tough.

“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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