The Nom Report - Episode 6, Welsh Rarebit/Rabbit

This will be the last post of the archived Nom Reports.  The rest will be current, and hopefully accompanied by pictures.  With luck, Thursday will bring our attempt at a Yule Log, and the extensive Kami-costume post.  For today, the review of our attempt at Welsh Rarebit/Rabbit.

Welsh Rarebit  is a dish made with melted cheese and various other ingredients and served hot over toast.  The name Welsh Rabbit is a joke on the Welsh that a poor Englishman's meat was rabbit, but a poor Welshman's meat was cheese.  It was also said that if a Welshman went rabbit hunting, he would have bread and cheese for dinner. 

Not wanting our meal to be just bread and cheese, Regina made some Pork Schnitzel to go with it.  Mixing cultures, to be sure, but Regina is an American of the Euromutt variety, so it seems appropriate.  We started with Alton Brown Welsh Rarebit recipe.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup porter beer (We used Heineken instead)
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 6 ounces (approximately 1 1/2 cups) shredded Cheddar (We added a little extra cheese, maybe another ounce or so)
• 2 drops hot sauce (skipped this entirely)
• 4 slices toasted rye bread (We used a baguette, cause rye bread is icky)

Directions

In a medium saucepan over low heat, melt the butter and whisk in the flour. Cook, whisking constantly for 2 to 3 minutes, being careful not to brown the flour. Whisk in mustard, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper until smooth. Add beer and whisk to combine. Pour in cream and whisk until well combined and smooth. Gradually add cheese, stirring constantly, until cheese melts and sauce is smooth; this will take 4 to 5 minutes. Add hot sauce. Pour over toast and serve immediately.

Although Alton says to serve immediately, we went a different route.  First, we buttered the bread on both sides and stuck it under the broiler to let it get toasty.  Then when the sauce was done, we poured it over the bread and put it back in the oven to broil for about 5-10 minutes.  Keep an eye on it.  While the cheese was broiling, we made the schnitzel.  We'll save that recipe for the Schnitzel and Spaetzle post we need to do. 

Results?  ZOMG, it was good.  The sauce tasted like really good fondue, and the bread was both soft and crispy.  It tasted great with the pork too.  While we thought it might be fun to add somethings like bacon or scallions in the future, it's perfect just the way it is.  We highly recommend this recipe. 

A note on the beer: Alton calls for stout, but we've seen other receipes that say pale or dark beer.  We chose to go down the middle, plus Regina uses Heineken in her Mac 'N' Cheese to great success.