Welsh Rabbit - Friday update

It kept raining today.  Then it started to hail.  HAIL!  In Los Angeles.  Armageddon is right around the corner.  

Since yesterday's post about the legends of Welsh Rabbit, I got a hankering.  Plus, I felt guilty writing about something that I hadn't recently eaten or made.  So, off I headed to Andrew's Cheese Shop when the bell rang at the office for a high quality cheddar and a little inspiration.  He was a bit surprised that I was making Welsh Rabbit.  Why?  I said.  Turns out, in his opinion people don't make it any more.  I suggested that he re-introduce it during one of his Grilled Cheese nights, where he pairs all sorts of grilled cheese with all sorts of beers.  It's perfect - cheese and beer in one bite.  He said he'd think about it.  We'll see...

So, updates to the recipie posted last night...
#1 - Be careful when grating your cheese!  I cannot emphasize enough how much you do not want grated fingernail and thumb in your dinner!  I managed to avoid any thumb, but there might have been some fingernail.  Patience people!  It will all get done, and in less than 20 minutes start to finish.
#2 - I don't actually have anything bad to say about 2 Tablespoons of butter.  I just wanted to show you my cute cow butter holder.  It's one of the few things I've managed to hang onto since my early bachelorette days.  Moo.
#3 - Flavoring and texture.  You might be better off with just 2 Tablespoons of flour.  Three Tablespoons make for a really, really thick sauce (and probably precipitated the need for more beer.  See #4)  Also, I tasted a little more mustard than I would have liked in the final product.  Maybe reduce dried mustard to  1/4 teaspoon and increase the Worcestershire sauce to 2 1/2 tablespoons.  But, perhaps that's just me.
#4 - I found that there was no way that 1/2 cup of beer was going to be enough to give the cheese sauce enough fluidity to spread over our extra thick sliced toast.  I added another 1/4 cup, and then another 1/4 cup.  So, in the end, about one cup  of beer seemed to do the trick.  We used a great British dark ale, courtesy of Andrew's newly instated liquor sales license.  Yay Andrew!  Even with the cup in the sauce, there was enough left over for us to each enjoy a small glass of this rich, hoppy, brew with just a hint of sweetness.  I wish I had a better taste vocabulary for beer.  In any case, it was really good.
#5 - Try to find a nice loaf of bread, and slice it yourself.  Darling Husband was in charge of slicing, and he went with one inch slices.  Toasted to crispy but not too dark it served as the perfect platform.

At the end of the day, Darling Husband and I enjoyed a great dinner of cheese, bread and beer.  A perfect food.  And - to add to the success, DH remembered the smell and taste of our concoction from his childhood when his dad (the Scot) would whip up a batch of this easy, cheap (well, not so cheap with fancy imported beer and cheese, but you get the idea) snack.  When you can tap into someone's olfactory memory, I'd say that's a job well done.  Look at that gooey goodness!  What's weird is that the flavors of Worcestershire, beer and mustard blend so well with the cheese that what you have at the end is an all new flavor.   I'm still working on what the profile is, but it is rich.  The mustard is crucial to keeping it from tasting flabby, and the Worcestershire adds it's magical blend of herbs and spices to make this cheese sauce so much more.  Who needs rabbit (or filet mignon for that matter) when you have cheese and bread?

I had bought some broccoli, but somehow it never made the steamer...

Welsh Rabbit - all the cheese, none of the bunny fur!

The rain is still coming down in Los Angeles, and my poor dog is terrified of thunder and wind - both of which we seem to have an endless supply of at the moment.  Did you hear we've had tornados?  Time for comfort food.

To mix things up a little, how about Welsh Rabbit?  Also known as Welsh Rarebit, it's basically cheese sauce on toast, but it's so much more!  There are many legends associated with this simple fare.  1) When my mom used to make it when I was a kid, I just thought that we were eating the vegetarian version, and that the glamorous Welsh used to have chunks of rabbit in their cheese sauce.  2) According to Mick, the British proprietor of our favorite local cafe, the name is a total slur on the Welsh, who the English perceive as inferior due to their coal mines and propensity for words with too many w's, and y's (see Aberystwyth).  His version contends that the Welsh were so poor, that they couldn't even afford rabbit - which used to be one of the cheapest proteins available.  They were so poor, they could only afford cheese and bread.  3) Another version says that Welsh rabbit hunters, after a successful rabbit hunt, would eat this fortified cheese toast upon returning home - thereby negating Mick's version of the legend.  4) Of course, there is another version where unsuccessful Welsh rabbit hunters have to eat cheese toast because they aren't very good hunters.  5) A really twisted version claims that a Welsh chef tried to pass off cheese toast as rabbit to unsophisticated Welsh diners.  While I have actually never eaten rabbit, I might argue that melty cheese toast is easier to prepare and perhaps tastier than rabbit.  Also, since Darling Husband is 50% Welsh, I'm not allowed to be to antagonistic toward  this noble people.

Legend aside, it is a perfect meal for a cold winter night.  Here's a recipe for Welsh Rabbit from Laura Werlin's fantastic book The New American Cheese:

Melt 2 Tbsp butter over medium heat in a medium size saucepan.

Add 3 Tbsp flour and stir for 1 minute

Add 1/2 cup beer and stir until the bubbles start to cook out, about 30 seconds

     (I would suggest a more flavorful, darker beer.  Alternately, my mom used milk.  Less body, but better for kids...)

Add 6-7 ounces of grated cheddar cheese, 2 tsp Worcestershire, 1/2 tsp dry mustard and a dash of cayenne.

Stir constantly until the cheese melts.

Toast up 4 thick slices of substantial bread (Wonderbread will not work!)

Toast on plate, cheese sauce on toast.  If you're trying to eat veggies with all your meals, add a tomato.

*You can always try other cheeses - whatever you have.  Try Gouda or Emmenthaler for some happy melting.  A little fortified Sherry could be tasty too.  If you use white cheese, a little Paprika would add color. a tablespoon of Dijon mustard could be a nice alternate if you don't have any dry mustard in the house.

That's it!  Easy enough for a Welshman to do it.

Sweet dreams!  May your dreams be full of cheese and sweet bouncing bunnies!