Welsh Rarebit with Snowdonia Ale and Snowdonia Black Bomber Cheese

Welsh Rarebit

Originally called Welsh Rabbit or in Welsh - Caws Pobi

This is more than just cheese on toast. A fully fledged Welsh Rabbit/Rarebit is a more complicated affair.  The cheese is usually mixed with butter, mustard, beer and eggs and is usually poured over the toast rather than just grilled as you would a conventional cheese and toast.

For this recipe I have used two main local ingredients. Snowdonia Cheese Black Bomber http://www.snowdoniacheese.co.uk/ is a fabulously creamy, smooth extra mature cheddar and the Golden Pale Ale I used is called Snowdonia Ale from the Purple Moose Brewery in Porthmadog http://www.purplemoose.co.uk/ (what a great name for a brewery).

Ingredients

175g Snowdonia (Black Bomber) Cheddar Cheese

3 tbs Snowdonia Pale Ale 

30g butter

1 tsp English Mustard

1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce

2  Free range egg yolks

small pinch of salt and pepper

Place a small saucepan over a moderate heat

Add the ale and mustard, mix until blended

Add the butter, mix until melted

Add the Worcestershire Sauce

Add the cheese a bit at a time, and keep mixing until you have a smooth sauce type consistence. 

In the meantime toast some bread.  If the consistency of your sauce is slightly on the runny side (which happened to me the first time I made this) don't worry. Pour some of the Welsh rarebit onto the toast and place under the grill for a few seconds until gently bubbling, helps to set the sauce.  You might have to do this a few times to build up the layers of sauce onto to the toast.

The Welsh Rarebit is now ready to be enjoyed either on its own or with a salad.