Chew on This | Welsh Rarebit

A young girl sits, coloring in her coloring book, wishing that the white crayon she is using would actually show up on her page. Frustrated, she places the crayon back into the box and chooses silver to represent the snow in her picture. "Ahhh, much better," she thinks.

Concentrating intently, the young girl shades the pine trees dark green and adds a hat atop the snowman's head. She's just beginning to color the snowman's scarf red when she is overcome by the delicious smell of toasted bread. Her tummy grumbles in response. 

"Mom, when's dinner?" she asks.

"It's almost ready," her mother responds. "Please come and set the table."

The young girl gets up and slowly walks into the kitchen. "What are we having? It smells good."

"Welsh Rabbit."

The girl stops in her tracks, panic crawling swiftly up her back. "What? We're having rabbit? No way! I am not eating rabbit!"

"No, no, no. I said rarebit. Rarebit. We're having Welsh Rarebit," her mother exclaims. "Not rabbit, for goodness sakes."

The girl is leery. What's rarebit? It sounds suspiciously like rabbit. Could this be a trick? Her mother didn't usually try to trick her into eating something disgusting, except the time she made peanut butter soup. That was a colossal mistake. But this Welsh Rabbit stuff, it smelled amazing. And she was hungry.

The table was set and everyone was in their place. The young girl's mother brought her plate to the table. It didn't look like rabbit. It didn't smell like rabbit, as if she would know. She clumsily cut into the bread and brought the fork tentatively to her mouth. Closing her eyes, she took a bite....

Welsh Rabbit. I mean, Rarebit. It's like a deconstructed grilled cheese with bacon. It's considered a delicious, throw together, comfort food in our family. And it conjures up sweet, sweet memories of home and travel to London, specifically Fortnum & Mason. 

Try it. It rocks. And the name could quite possibly freak your kids out. Extra bonus.

Cares

Here's our recipe:

Welsh Rarebit

(serves 4)

2 T butter

2 T flour

1 T Dijon mustard

2 t Worcestershire sauce

1/2 t seasoned salt (I use Lawry's)

1/2 t garlic powder

1/2 t salt

1/2 t pepper

1 C (8 ounces) dark beer (I used Mackeson Stout)

3/4 C heavy cream

2 C shredded sharp cheddar cheese

8 slices, toasted and lightly buttered bread

8 slices, cooked bacon

In a sauce pan over medium-low heat, melt butter and sprinkle with flour. Whisk butter and flour together for about 1 minute. While still whisking, add your Dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce, seasoned salt, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Next, slowly add your beer and heavy cream, stirring to combine all your ingredients thoroughly. Allow mixture to warm to a simmer, do not boil (it takes about 4 minutes). When ready, take your mixture off the heat and add your shredded cheddar. Whisk until smooth and creamy.


To serve, place two pieces of toast on a plate topped with a piece of bacon upon each. Pour a generous amount of sauce over the toast and bacon. Add a side salad and enjoy your delicious dinner.