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Welsh Rare-bit, or Rabbit

A baked cheese and bread crumb mixture with butter, eggs, and milk.

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.

Combine

  1. Cut the butter and cheese into small pieces.

  2. Place the pieces in a large bowl with the bread crumbs.

  3. Pour the scalding milk over the mixture.

  4. Add the beaten egg yolks and a pinch of salt, then mix well.

Melt and thicken

  1. Cover the mixture.

  2. Place the covered mixture on the back of the stove.

  3. Stir occasionally until dissolved.

Bake and serve

  1. Fold in the beaten egg whites until stiff.

  2. Pour into a buttered pie plate.

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

  4. Serve immediately after removing from the oven.

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
Yolks thicken the sauce, and whites folded in lighten it and help it set and rise.
Cheese
Provides fat and rich flavor, and melts into a smooth, creamy sauce.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, helping the cheese melt smoothly and giving a tender texture.
Milk
Provides the liquid base that melts the cheese and keeps the mixture moist and smooth.
Bread crumbs
Add body to the mixture and help it hold together as it thickens.

The step that matters

Fold in the beaten egg whites until stiff. Folding gently keeps the air in the whites, which lightens the sauce and helps it puff and set in the oven. Overmixing deflates the foam and leaves a dense result.

“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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