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Welsh Rarebit

A cheese-based sauce served over toasted bread.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Cheese and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,130 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Welsh Rarebit

Ingredients

Directions

Make the rarebit

  1. Heat the beer in a saucepan.

  2. Beat in the grated cheese until melted.

  3. Add the egg yolks, cornstarch, mustard, red pepper, and salt; mix well.

Serve

  1. Dip slices of toasted bread in the hot beer mixture.

  2. Place the dipped bread in a deep platter and pour the Rarebit over it.

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

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

  2. Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

  3. Cheese + mustardtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,805 recipes

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

  4. Beer + mustardtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together314 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Beer + cheesetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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 a rich, smooth sauce that forms the body of the rarebit.
Egg yolks
Thicken the sauce as they heat, giving it a creamy, cohesive texture.
Cornstarch
Stabilises the sauce so it thickens smoothly and holds together without breaking.
Beer
Thins the cheese into a pourable sauce and adds a malty, slightly bitter flavour.
Mustard
Adds sharpness that balances the richness of the cheese and egg.

The step that matters

Adding the egg yolks. Egg yolks thicken when heated, but if the mixture is too hot they can scramble and turn grainy. Keep the heat low and stir constantly so the sauce stays smooth.

Swap the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beer, cheese, egg, pepper, bread):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Tomatofits about as well
  3. Mustardthe original
  4. Asparagusfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against beer, cheese, egg, 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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