Name: Welsh Rarebit
Ingredients: thin slices of bread; butter; boiling water; coarse sea salt; rich, new cheese

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 ↓

Welsh Rarebit

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the toast

Cut the bread into thin slices and shape them into diamonds or squares.
Toast the bread slices until golden, then lightly butter them.
Using a teaspoon, dip boiling water onto the unbuttered side of the toast to moisten slightly.

Assemble and serve

Place each slice on a hot plate, one for each person.
Sprinkle with a little coarse sea salt.
Melt the cheese in a cup and pour enough over the toast to cover.
Serve immediately to prevent the cheese from hardening and the toast from cooling.

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.

Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Bread + cheesetop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,130 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,962 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

Bread: Provides a crisp, sturdy base that holds the melted cheese topping.
Butter: Adds richness and helps the toast brown and taste savoury.
Boiling water: Moistens the unbuttered side of the toast so it softens slightly under the cheese.
Cheese: Melts into a smooth, savoury topping that gives the dish its main flavour and body.