What’s a great snack for a winter afternoon? Welsh rabbit, the homey, everyday cousin of fancy fondue and party-time nachos. It’s quick, easy, gratifying and fun to play around with.
The concept is elemental. The first rabbits recorded, in the early 18th century, were simply bread and cheese toasted separately before the fire on long forks and then slapped together to make a sort of Welsh quesadilla.
(Because nobody’s sure how the dish’s name came about, some people later decided, for no good reason, to call it “rarebit.”)
When the dish became popular in London clubs and taverns, utensils called cheese toasters showed up. The first ones were simply pans on long handles. Later cheese toasters were, in effect, chafing dishes heated with boiling water.
Now cooks could start elaborating on that melted cheese topping with all sorts of flavorings – cream, Port (for the “English rabbit”), anchovies (for the “Scotch woodcock”) and so on. Because people usually drank ale with Welsh rabbit, ale crept into the topping, and the best-known recipes call for ale and dry mustard.
In this country, Prohibitionists seem to have had a problem with the ale. At some time between the 1890s and the 1920s, a recipe arose that substituted canned tomato soup for ale, giving rise to the pink rabbit or blushing bunny of many a nursery lunch.
I take Welsh rabbit and its whole clan seriously, so I have a Welsh rabbit philosophy. Call me crazy, but I think it was a mistake for ale to get involved in the topping. Keep your ale on the side, say I, where its bittersweetness can act as a foil to the cheese, rather than turning it into a monochromatic sludge (which the sulfurous note of mustard does nothing to improve).
In my opinion, thickening a rabbit with flour usually makes it unacceptably stodgy. If your cheese topping is too runny, maybe it’s because you’ve put in too much liquid. And I find the versions made with cream and eggs a bit rich for a snack. Go ahead and serve them at dinner, and explain yourself to your doctor later.
One of the 18th century touches in rabbit-making was browning the surface of the cheese. If you were rich, you owned a utensil called a salamander, a big lump of metal on a long handle that you could heat red-hot in the fireplace and hold over your rabbit until the surface bubbled. People who didn’t have a salamander used a heated shovel.
These days, many restaurants (and some extreme-foodie kitchens) have special broilers called salamanders for browning dishes such as creme brulee. They work fine for Welsh rabbit, and so do ordinary oven broilers and toaster ovens.
I happen to believe most rabbits are improved by slight browning.
Apart from the enjoyable flavor that results, broiling guarantees that the dish is good and hot. A cold Welsh rabbit is a melancholy thing.
Melted cheese is rich and forgiving, so rabbit is hospitable to experimentation. I didn’t want to use ale, so I tried onion juice, which has a wonderfully friendly aroma (though your eyes may water as you make it). It was an elegant and satisfying combination. Plain old cheddar worked fine with onion juice, but further experimentation showed that a more aromatic cheese such as Camembert can serve even better.
Another substitute for ale is sour cream, which adds richness and a subtle tartness. Cheese and sour cream made me think of Mexican food, so how about adding salsa? Unfortunately, the result was bland and runny, not the sort of nacho-rabbit cross you might expect. Chipotle chiles, on the other hand, made a memorably hot, smoky-flavored rabbit.
While I was fooling with sour cream and chiles, I thought of making a curry rabbit, but something seemed to be missing. It was chutney, of course. The raj rabbit was born.
Finally, having had my share of blushing bunnies as a nipper, I felt entitled to add more grown-up ingredients to nudge the tomato soup version out of the nursery food category. Chives and a free hand with the Worcestershire sauce did the trick.
Still, no matter how much we experiment, we should never lose sight of what Welsh rabbit is: a quick, simple, unpretentious, immediately satisfying snack. You can play with it – throw on some bacon or chopped ham, if you want – but don’t elaborate on it too much. No long list of ingredients, please, and preferably nothing you have to make a special trip to buy. If you insist on using a rare cheese in Welsh rabbit, whip up a fondue instead.
After all, if you want to go to that much trouble, you might as well just make dinner.
Onion bunny
A warming, aromatic snack for a winter’s afternoon. Have a little green salad with it if you want something more like a meal.
1onion
1baguette
2tablespoons butter
8ounces Camembert, rind removed, chopped
Pepper
Chop the onion into 6 to 8 pieces and puree them in a food processor. When completely smooth, transfer the puree to a fine strainer or double layers of cheesecloth and squeeze out all the juice; you should have about one-half cup juice. Discard the onion solids.
Cut the baguette crosswise into two 5-inch pieces. Split each piece in half lengthwise to make 4 long pieces and toast them.
Put the butter in a small skillet and melt it over medium heat. Add the onion juice and cheese and heat, stirring constantly, until the cheese is melted and the mixture is smooth, about 2 minutes. Stir in pepper to taste.
Let the cheese mixture cool for 2 to 3 minutes to firm up slightly. Ladle it onto the flat sides of the toasted baguette pieces, place on a foil-lined baking sheet with sides and broil until the tops bubble and are lightly browned, about 1 minute. Serve hot.
Makes 2 servings. Each serving: 751 calories; 33 grams protein; 59 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams fiber; 42 grams fat; 25 grams saturated fat; 112 milligrams cholesterol; 1,647 milligrams sodium.
Blushing bunny Welsh rabbit
“Blushing bunny” – and even more, the alternate names “rinktum ditty” and “rumtum tiddy” – reflect the long popularity of this dish in the nursery. Chives, minced onion and a decided dose of Worcestershire give it a more grown-up effect, though this will always be comfort food.
8ounces good-quality cheddar cheese, chopped
1103/4-ounce can condensed tomato soup
1teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
2tablespoons minced onion
1/8teaspoon pepper
4thick slices whole-grain bread
1tablespoon snipped chives
Put the cheese, tomato soup, Worcestershire sauce, onion and pepper in a skillet. Stir over medium heat until the cheese is thoroughly melted.
Remove the skillet from the heat for 1 to 2 minutes for the cheese mixture to firm up slightly. Ladle the mixture onto the slices of toast and broil until the tops start to bubble – but don’t let them brown. Garnish with the chives. Serve hot.
Makes 2 servings. Each serving: 789 calories; 39 grams protein; 68 grams carbohydrates; 7 grams fiber; 41 grams fat; 25 grams saturated fat; 119 milligrams cholesterol; 2,033 milligrams sodium.
3ounces sour cream
1canned chipotle pepper, with adobo sauce
8ounces good-quality Jack cheese, chopped
1tablespoon butter
4thick slices country white bread, toasted
Place the sour cream and chipotle in a food processor and puree until smooth.
Put the cheese, butter and chipotle mixture in a skillet. Stir over medium heat until the cheese is thoroughly melted.
Remove the skillet from the heat for 1 to 2 minutes until the cheese mixture firms up slightly. Pour the cheese mixture onto the slices of toast and broil until the tops start to bubble, about 1 minute.
Makes 2 servings. Each serving: 797 calories; 37 grams protein; 46 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams fiber; 52 grams fat; 31 grams saturated fat; 135 milligrams cholesterol; 1,134 milligrams sodium.
8ounces white cheddar cheese, chopped
1tablespoon butter
1/4cup sour cream
1/4cup chutney such as Major Grey’s
1/2teaspoon curry powder
4pieces nan (available at Trader Joe’s and most grocery stores), toasted
1tablespoon cilantro leaves
Put the cheese, butter, sour cream, chutney and curry powder in a skillet. Stir the mixture over medium heat until the cheese is thoroughly melted. Remove the skillet from the heat for 1 to 2 minutes until the cheese mixture firms up slightly.
Pour the cheese mixture onto the slices of toast, and broil until the tops start to bubble and are slightly browned, about 1 minute. Garnish with cilantro leaves. Serve hot.
Makes 2 servings. Each serving: 823 calories; 37 grams protein; 51 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams fiber; 54 grams fat; 32 grams saturated fat; 147 milligrams cholesterol; 1,057 milligrams sodium.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
