Welsh Rarebit
This will be a brief post, like the dinner it was inspired by. No elaborate write-up, just a quick note of what I made tonight. I was planning to serve a bean dish made with Great Northern beans and a green veggie, and was pondering what my third item should be when I saw that I had a small loaf of slightly stale homemade bread. I didn’t think the bread would be spectacular on its own, but toasted and slathered in something, I figured it would be great. So I decided to make Welsh rarebit. I’ve always heard that Welsh rarebit – essentially cheese sauce on toast – is so-called because it was what was served if you went out rabbit hunting and didn’t catch any rabbits, but according to that Wikipedia article that explanation is a slur, implying the Welsh were never successful at killing rabbits. Well, there is a lot of Welsh in my family history and I’m sure my mother would not let me make any slurs against the Welsh (not that I would, I even wear a Welsh dragon necklace), but I’ve always liked the story because I’m for any story that involves rabbits not being killed.
The “cheese” sauce is essentially the Yeast Cheeze from Simply Heavenly! (which is in this post) using beer and non-dairy milk for most of the water. I also added some of the ubiquitous Dragonfly’s Dry, Bulk Uncheese. Here’s pretty much what I did:
Welsh Rarebit
6 Tbsp nutritional yeast
6 Tbsp all purpose flour
1/4 cup Dragonfly’s Dry, Bulk Uncheese
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt
8 oz (1 cup) beer
8 oz (1 cup) water
4 oz (1/2 cup) non-dairy milk
2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
2 Tbsp soy margarine
In a saucepan, whisk together the dry ingredients. Whisk in the beer, water, and non-dairy milk. Heat over medium heat, whisking frequently, until thickened. Remove from heat and whisk in mustard and soy margarine. Set aside.
Slice as many thick slabs of bread as you’d like. Slather with “cheese” sauce. Toast in toaster oven at high temperature (or regular oven at around 400 degrees Fahrenheit, or broil) until “cheese” is beginning to bubble. Serve with optional hot sauce.
So, you saw Gomez’s Halloween costume in my last post. I wish I had a nice picture of Torticia in her Halloween costume, but I’m afraid she thought her costume was a toy. Since the day I bought it, she’s been dragging it around the house and attacking it. She loves it. She was supposed to be a butterfly. I did manage to get this picture of the headpiece before she completely destroyed it:
But this is what happened when I put the wings on:
Well, she was cute anyway. I couldn’t very well tell her to stop loving her costume so much, right?
Mark and I were Luke and Lanet for Halloween. Luke and Lanet are our good friends and the couple hosting the party we went to. They both have iPads so Mark and I made fake iPads as props. I’m really going to have to get Lanet to do a guest post sometime because she’s a great cook. It’s always a treat to go to their house because she makes sure we vegans are well taken care of. Lanet and I are always talking about food and getting each other hyped up about kitchen appliances.
Who’s who in this crazy picture?!
It’s scary because I’m wearing pink! That only ever happens on Halloween.
Josiane Said,
November 4, 2010 @ 11:54 pm
That sounds like a delicious way to use slightly stale bread!
Dressing up as your friends is such a funny idea! Clearly, you all had fun with it. 🙂
Jackie Smith Said,
November 4, 2010 @ 11:55 pm
That picture of Torticia in her headpiece is priceless!
Zoa Said,
November 5, 2010 @ 12:46 am
I used to make Welsh rarebit all the time in my pre-vegan days, but never have since. This looks good. Well, okay, I like cooking with beer, and wine, and sherry, sake, brandy, vodka, mirin, and Triple Sec. Hm, if I ever leave bread about long enough to go stale, I’ll try it. Tortitia is adorable. Cats tearing their toys to pieces…who can resist that?
Raymond Said,
November 5, 2010 @ 5:24 am
i will definitely try this! BTW, nice clone iPad!
FoodFeud Said,
November 5, 2010 @ 7:52 am
The rarebit sounds good, though I’ve never had it. I really love the cat pictures!! Sounds like what my cat would do if I tried to dress her up – I’m sort of surprised you even got the headpiece on!
Mark Said,
November 6, 2010 @ 2:36 am
Good lord, I am a giant.
muck Said,
November 6, 2010 @ 5:24 am
WHERE DID YOU GET THAT PINK ATTIRE RENAE MYERS?
Jes Said,
November 8, 2010 @ 11:22 pm
I would so attack the wings too! 🙂 The rarebit looks good–though I wonder everyone thinks the Welsh can’t kill rabbits? Strange…!
minime Said,
November 18, 2010 @ 4:33 pm
Weeeee…kitties!
And by the way i am soooooooo happy to have found your site, i searched for spicy tofu and there you are..and i love welsh rarebit.
Oh yeah i eat food too, but i also play with it
Alex Said,
July 29, 2011 @ 5:27 am
(I’m using my amazing power to never comment on anything while it could still be considered in any way new)
Do you think there is a way to make this without the beer (or any alcohol for that matter) and still have it come out tasting good?
renae Said,
July 29, 2011 @ 7:28 am
Hi Alex,
If you like nutritional yeast sauces, yes, I think you can make it taste good – though not necessarily the same – without beer. The recipe it is based on just uses water, so you should have fine results just doing that. Beer adds a little bite you’ll be missing – you could try adding a splash of vinegar, not enough to recognize the flavor as vinegar, but just enough to make it a little sharper in flavor. But it should be flavorful enough just replacing the beer with water.