Food
Bee Wilson on Welsh (and English) rabbit
Published 21 October 2002
Welsh rabbit: the dish that straddles the British class system
It is always rather moving when the French develop an enthusiasm for some British speciality or other, whether it is Marks & Spencer or bitter Scottish marmalade (endearingly referred to as "le dundi"). These crazes give us hope that we are not as unstylish as we feared. For the past few years, as Victoria Moore has already written on these pages, the restaurants of Paris have been avid for "le crumble", made in all kinds of delicate forms and flavours unimagined in these isles. When French anglomania reached a peak in the early decades of the 20th century, Parisian dandies would flock to the Criterion restaurant opposite the Gare Saint-Lazare to drink pewter mugs of English ale and shout for platefuls of their favourite cheesy delicacy, which they sometimes called "lapin gallois" and sometimes simply "le welsh".
The French love of Welsh rabbit (which goes all the way back to Brillat-Savarin) is not so surprising when you consider that the components of the topping are more or less the same as a Swiss fondue. In both cases, cheese is heated with a liquid and other flavourings until the casein protein of the cheese disperses in a homogenous, oozing and richly delicious mixture. What distinguishes the two is the kind of cheese, flavourings and liquid used, though on this question, as on so many others concerning Welsh rabbit, agreement is hard to find.
In 1747, Hannah Glasse gave four different recipes for cheesy "rabbits". One was Scotch rabbit (just toasted bread with butter and cheese). Another was Welsh rabbit (the same, but with the addition of mustard). Then, there were two English rabbits, altogether more imperial, involving wine and chafing dishes. Glasse did not include a recipe for Welsh rabbit made with ale, which some would regard as the definitive version.
Nor did she explain why it is called "rabbit". The usual explanation is that the name was first used to imply a pseudo-meat, a cheap substitute such as " mock turtle soup" or "Scotch woodcock". "Welsh rarebit" seems to have come only later, a polite revision of the original rabbit. Welsh rabbit with an egg on top becomes a masculine "buck rabbit", which is an interesting inversion of croque-madame, where the egg makes the cheese womanly.
There can be few dishes which have straddled the spectrum of classes and peoples in the British Isles so completely as Welsh rabbit. In its humblest Welsh form, made with beer or milk, it is a solid, warming working man's meal, to be eaten in large portions at the end of a day's toil. In its poshest English form, made with wine, and the bread moistened with wine in medieval fashion, it is a flimsy savoury to be nibbled at the end of a full dinner. Here are two versions, so you can see which you and your constitution prefer.
English rabbit, after a version from 1830
For each slightly effete person, you need 1 thin slice of bread, sprinkled with wine, 60g grated cheese (Gruyere and Emmental are good here), 15g butter, 1 tbsp more of wine and 1 tsp of Dijon mustard. Grill the soaked bread, dotted with butter, turning it once. Meanwhile, gently heat together the cheese, butter, wine and mustard until the cheese melts and all is amalgamated. Stir until smooth, then pour over the grilled winey bread and eat in gentlemanly fashion, with a dusty claret.
Welsh rabbit
For each hale and hearty person, you need 2 thick slices of bread, 120g grated Welsh cheddar, a large tablespoon of milk or ale, a knob of butter, a little mustard and Worcester sauce. Toast the bread. Meanwhile, mix all the other ingredients together, slather on the toast, grill until golden and devour with more ale and ribald Welsh chat, with crunchy apples to follow.
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