The flavours in my beer bread caramelized onion grilled cheese sandwich reminded me a lot of the flavours in Welsh rarebit. Welsh rarebit is a melted cheddar cheese sauce that commonly contains ale, Worcestershire sauce and mustard and it is served warm over toast. After thinking about Welsh rarebit, I just had to make some using the beer bread for even more beer flavour! I have tried a few recipes and so far this modification of Alton Brown’s Welsh rarebit recipe is my favourite. It starts out by making a simple roux with butter and flour and then Worcestershire sauce and mustard are added for the flavours. The roux is then turned into a bechamel sauce by mixing in ale and cream instead of milk and finally the cheddar cheese is melted in. The cheese sauce is then poured over the toast and it can be served just like that but I prefer to take one extra step and broil it until the cheese sauce gets all bubbly and golden brown.
Welsh Rarebit
ingredients
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce (a vegetarian one for vegetarian)
- cayenne pepper to taste
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 cup stout or porter beer (such as Guinness)
- 1/2 cup cream
- 1 1/2 cup cheddar cheese (grated)
- 4 slices bread (toasted) – use beer bread for even more beer flavour
directions
- Melt the butter in a small sauce pan over medium heat.
- Add the flour and cook for 2 minutes while continuously stirring.
- Mix in the mustard, Worcestershire sauce, cayenne, salt and pepper.
- Mix in the beer followed by the cream.
- Mix in the cheese and let it melt mixing until the sauce is smooth.
- Pour the cheese sauce over the toast and broil until the cheese is bubbling and golden brown.
looks delicious.
Well you know (the name of) this dish is the subject of raging controversy, don’t you? – so batten down the hatches!
It’s RABBIT. Welsh RABBIT. The name is a joke at the expense of unsuccessful hunters. The “rarebit” part came about when confused non-Welsh didn’t “get it”.
Can I still have some?
It looks so decadent and delicious, Kevin!
I’m a complete sucker for both bread and cheese.
This is sinfully good 🙂
Hahaha, who knew “Cheese on Toast” had a fancy name?
Love it! Your version looks yummm. 🙂
Try Fergus Hendersons version from "Nose to Tail Eating" Its a much more savoury version using stout beer, and its wonderfully heartening.
Every Welsh Rarebit recipe I've ever seen involved beer mixed with the cheese. I've always felt that the beer makes the difference between a proper Welsh Rarebit and just a decent grilled cheese.
Whenever I am looking for a recipe I look under images and start with the one that looks that best. Through this process I have found your website at least 5 times, and so far all delish. Thanks so much!
(I think that with tomato it's blushing bunny and with turkey its hot brown, could be totally wrong though)
It's posts like these that make me re-think my vaganism lol 😉
This looks awesome! I love the idea of beer bread too. Yum!
wow….what a great blog! just found you!