Why is cheese on toast called Welsh Rabbit / Rarebit?
Welsh Rarebit is basically cheese on toast (with a few other ingredients added in nowadays). It started out as toasted cheese on toasted bread according to the earliest recipes. But why is it called Welsh Rabbit? Or is it Welsh Rarebit? And of course, if you are going to make it, what sort of cheese should you use? Let’s dive into the history of Welsh Rabbit/Rarebit and make the oldest recipe I could find from 1747.
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Sources
Boorde, Andrew. The Fyrst Boke of the Introduction of Knowledge Made by Andrew Borde, of Physycke Doctor. A Compendyous Regyment; or, a Dyetary of Helth Made in Mountpyllier. London: N. Trübner & Co., 1870.
Byrom, John. The Private Journal and Literary Remains of John Bryom. Vol. 1 Part 1. Remains Historical and Literary Connected with the Palatine Counties of Lancaster and Chester XXXII. Manchester: Chetham Society, 1854.
———. The Private Journal and Literary Remains of John Bryom. Vol. 1 Part 2. Remains Historical and Literary Connected with the Palatine Counties of Lancaster and Chester XXXIV. Manchester: Chetham Society, 1855.
Davidson, Allan. The Oxford Companion to Food. 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.
Freeman, Bobby. Traditional Food from Wales. New York: Hippocrene Books, 1997.
Glasse, Hannah. The Art of Cookery, Made Plain and Easy; Which Far Exceeds Any Thing of the Kind Ever yet Published. London: Printed for the author, and sold at Mrs. Ashburn's, a china shop, the corner of Fleet-Ditch, 1747.
Graham, Peter. Classic Cheese Cookery. London: Penguin, 1988.
Hall, Augusta. Good Cookery Illustrated. And Recipes Communicated by the Welsh Hermit of the Cell of St Gover, with Various Remarks on Many Things Past and Present. London: Richard Bentley, 1867.
Oesterley, Hermann, ed. Shakespeare's Jest Book. A Hundred Mery Talys, from the Only Perfect Copy Known. London: John Russell Smith, 1866.
Oxford English, Dictionary. Welsh Rarebit, N. Oxford University Press, 2023.
00:00 Intro
00:37 Welsh Rarebit or Welsh Rabbit
03:34 What is Welsh Rabbit?
07:53 Why is it called Welsh Rabbit?
09:27 What sort of cheese is used in Welsh Rabbit?
11:12 Thanks for watching
#cheese #welshrabbit #welshrarebit #history #cheesehistory
