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Welsh Rarebit

A toasted bread topped with a cheese and mustard mixture, baked until browned.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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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

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the toast

  1. Remove the crust from the stale bread and toast it lightly.

Make the topping

  1. In a bowl, mix the grated cheese, butter, mustard, pepper, beaten egg, bread crumbs, and salt.

  2. Spread the cheese mixture thickly over the toasted bread.

Bake and serve

  1. Place the toast on the upper grating of a 400°F (200°C) oven until nicely browned.

  2. Serve immediately while very hot.

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. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Cheese
Melts and browns to form the rich, savoury topping.
Egg
Binds the cheese mixture and helps it set as it heats.
Butter
Adds fat that keeps the topping smooth and rich as it melts.
Stale bread
Forms a sturdy base that holds the topping without going soggy.
Bread crumbs
Thicken the cheese mixture so it stays put on the toast.

The step that matters

Bake until nicely browned and serve immediately. Cheese proteins and fat melt, bubble and brown under high heat, but the topping firms and turns stiff as it cools, so it should be served while very hot.

Swap the mustard

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

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

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