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Welsh Rare-bit, or Rabbit

A baked rabbit dish made with butter, cheese, bread crumbs, milk, eggs, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread 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 ↓

Welsh Rare-bit, or Rabbit

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the mixture

  1. Cut the butter and cheese into small pieces and place them in a large bowl with the bread crumbs.

  2. Pour the scalding milk over the mixture.

  3. Add the beaten egg yolks and salt, then mix well.

  4. Cover the mixture.

  5. Place it on the back of the stove.

  6. Stir occasionally until dissolved.

Bake and serve

  1. Fold in the beaten egg whites until stiff.

  2. Pour the mixture into a buttered pie plate.

  3. Bake at 400°F (200°C) for about 20 minutes.

  4. Serve immediately, with mustard if desired.

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. Butter + breadtop 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. Bread + cheesetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,130 recipes

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

  4. Butter + cheesetop 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

Eggs
Beaten yolks thicken the sauce, while whipped whites lighten it and help it rise in the oven.
Cheese
Melts into the mixture to provide rich flavour and a smooth, creamy body.
Sweet milk
Forms the liquid base that the cheese melts into, giving the mixture a smooth, pourable texture.
Bread crumbs
Absorb liquid and add body, giving the mixture substance and a soft texture.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, carrying flavour and giving a smooth mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Stir until the cheese has fully dissolved. Cheese that is heated too hard or too fast can turn grainy or oily. Gentle, occasional stirring over low heat lets the proteins melt evenly into a smooth sauce before the eggs are folded in.

“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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