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Welch Rarebit

A cheese-based sauce served over toasted bread.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and butter 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 ↓

Welch Rarebit

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Grate or break the cheese into small pieces.

  2. Combine the cheese and milk in a double boiler.

Make the sauce

  1. Mix the mustard, salt, and pepper, then add the egg and beat well.

  2. When the cheese is melted, stir in the egg and butter.

  3. Cook for two minutes, or until it thickens slightly but does not curdle.

Serve

  1. Pour the mixture over toasted slices of bread.

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. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  2. Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

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

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

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

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

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

  5. Cheese + creamtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,655 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

Cheese
Melts into the sauce to provide rich flavour and body.
Egg
Thickens the sauce as it cooks and adds richness and structure.
Cream or milk
Forms the liquid base that melts the cheese into a smooth sauce.
Butter
Adds fat for a smoother texture and richer mouthfeel.
Mustard
Adds sharp, tangy flavour that balances the richness of the cheese.

The step that matters

Cook gently until it thickens slightly but does not curdle. Egg proteins set with gentle heat and can scramble or curdle if the mixture gets too hot or cooks too fast, so a double boiler and steady stirring keep the sauce smooth.

Swap the mustard

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against cheese, cream, butter, egg, pepper. 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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