Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
John Chamberlin's Welsh Rarebit
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the cheese
Grate the cheese into a bowl.
Mix the cheese with butter, mustard, cream, cayenne, and black pepper until smooth.
Optionally, add ale, porter, beer, or champagne.
Make the rarebit and serve
Dip the toast briefly in boiling water.
Place the toast in a 400°F (200°C) oven.
Transfer the cheese mixture to a saucepan.
Stir over gentle heat until melted.
Quickly pour the melted cheese over the toast.
Serve.
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 + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,962 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
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).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cheese
- Melts into a smooth, rich sauce that forms the body of the dish.
- Butter
- Adds fat that keeps the melted cheese smooth and glossy rather than grainy.
- Cream
- Adds moisture that loosens the cheese mixture for a silkier, pourable sauce.
- Made mustard
- Adds sharp, acidic flavour that cuts through the richness of the cheese.
- Toast
- Provides a sturdy base that holds the melted cheese topping.
The step that matters
Melting the cheese over gentle heat. High heat makes cheese proteins tighten and fat separate, leaving the sauce grainy and oily. Gentle, steady heat keeps it smooth and cohesive.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cheese, butter, cream, pepper, beer):
- Potatofits about as well
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Mustardthe original
- Onionfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against cheese, butter, cream, pepper, beer. 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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