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 Rarebit
Ingredients
Directions
Make the cheese sauce
Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat.
Stir in the corn starch and gradually add the cream, stirring constantly for 2 minutes.
Add the grated cheese and stir until melted.
Serve
Serve the cheese mixture poured over the untoasted side of the toasted bread.
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.
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Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Cheese + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,130 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,962 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + corntop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,345 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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 the rich, savory flavor and body of the rarebit.
- Cream
- Forms the liquid base of the sauce, adding moisture and a smooth, rich texture.
- Corn starch
- Thickens the cream as it heats, giving the sauce body so it clings to the toast.
- Butter
- Adds fat and flavor to the sauce and helps it stay smooth as it melts.
- Bread
- Provides a crisp, toasted base that holds the sauce without soaking through.
The step that matters
Stirring the cream into the starch. Corn starch clumps if added to hot liquid without constant stirring. Keep stirring as the cream is added so the starch disperses evenly and the sauce thickens smoothly.
“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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