Ken Natton
Über Member
Right, I’m not good at precise recipes. You’ll have to accept my style is a bit more discursive. I hesitate to call this Marcus Wareing’s recipe because I don’t want to do an injustice to the man. I don’t know if you know this, but he’s a little bit good at this sort of thing. The best I can say is, I used to make Welsh Rarebit slightly differently than this until I saw him demo it. Now I make it this way in my best attempt to recreate what he did. I certainly like the result I get.
Making a roux is all about experience. If you’ve never done it before you might not find it turns out that great. You just have to persevere, everyone gets good at it if you just do it a few times. One of the things that was noticeable to me when Marcus Wareing demoed this dish is just how much effort he put into whipping the roux until it became a homogenous ball of paste you could have picked up. The other big thing is that it is absolutely essential to warm the milk separately. If you put cold milk onto a roux, don’t be surprised if the result isn’t very good. And there is something of a divided opinion about whether you should add the milk to the roux with the heat off or over a very low heat. The thing is the milk proteins react with the flour to produce the thickening effect and you have to work hard to keep the sauce smooth. Sometimes that effect might be too rapid for you to keep up with if you are doing it over heat. On the other hand, the key thing you are trying to avoid is uncooked flour in the final sauce. It produces that slightly grainy effect that is not so nice. All I can say is that it is all about experience. If you prepared to do it – and to get it wrong a few times – you will get to the point where you can do it well every time.
The bread you use is key here. I mean, you can use a generic processed bread and it will be fine – of course thicker sliced is probably better. But using a bread you know to be a good bread that you like anyway, particularly if you know that it makes great toast, is going to give the best results.
Ingredients:
Milk (pint) – I use full fat for this
Butter – what can I say, enough to make enough roux for a pint of milk, about 3 x 5mm slices of a standard pack of butter
Plain Flour – 3 good table spoons – The recipes always say equivalent amounts of butter and flour to make a roux, I always find 1 good table spoon (not heaped) equates to one slice of butter if you see what I mean
Cheese – I use a good strong cheddar, to me using a milder cheddar in a cooked cheese sauce is pointless. The Hairy Bikers did a traditional Welsh Rarebit recipe, I forget what cheese they used. In terms of amount, all I can say is a good amount. Taking my best guess, I would say I must use about 100 gramms. Grate the cheese.
Two egg yolks
English mustard – a good teaspoon
Worcester sauce – about two table spoons
Mead – about two tablespoons
(Optional) Pancetta lardons – I dunno maybe 200 gramms – again I would say this is largely up to you
Method:
1. Warm the milk and pour into a jug.
2. Give the pot a quick clean with warm water and wipe and then melt the butter in the same pot. Essential not to scorch the butter. Melt it slowly and evenly, keep swirling it round until the last bit turns to fluid.
3. Turn off the heat and add the flour. Mix the flour into the melted butter to make a roux.
4. Add the warm milk a little at a time and keep mixing. Expect to need to work hard. If you start to panic, thinking that it's breaking up and becoming unworkable, have faith. Keep adding the milk a little at a time, keep mixing it in to re-homogenise each time. At first it will get even thicker, eventually it will start to turn into a thick creamy sauce and then eventually it will come to the right consistency. If you have done it right it should be wonderfully smooth. You need it pretty thick at this stage, there are more fluid ingredients to add and the final sauce needs to be thick enough to spread on the toast.
5. Now turn on the heat and bring it back toward the boil. It will continue to thicken as it heats.
6. Just as it starts to bubble, add the cheese. Keep heating and stirring until the cheese has melted. Lumps at this stage are not a problem – they are not flour lumps they are just unmelted cheese. Give it enough time and the cheese will all melt and you will come back to a nice smooth sauce.
7. Add the two egg yolks and mix them in quickly (you don’t want them to cook before you have mixed them)
8. Add the Mustard, the Worcester Sauce and the Mead
9. (Optional) Fry the pancetta lardons in a little olive oil until they are just a little crisp. Probably best to dry them on kitchen towel before you add them to the sauce. Certainly, you don’t want to be adding too much oil to the sauce. Add the lardons to the sauce.
10. Season to taste – if you have used pancetta and it is salty, you may not need much salt. I always think this kind of sauce needs to be peppery, but that is personal taste. Nutmeg, of course, is always an option in this kind of sauce – I don’t find it to be necessary in this particular recipe.
11. Toast your chosen bread under the grill one side only – can’t make Welsh Rarebit in a toaster!
12. Spread the sauce on the untoasted side and return to the grill.
13. Toast it until the sauce is bubbling and starting to brown.
14. Probably good to leave it a few moments after taking it out from the grill if you don’t want to burn the roof of your mouth.
15. I like to serve it with a little rocket on top.
If there is left over sauce, great, pour it into a bowl, let it cool and stick it in the fridge. Next day you’ll be able to cut slices of it, spread it on bread you have toasted one side only, stick it under the grill and it’ll still be fabulous.
Making a roux is all about experience. If you’ve never done it before you might not find it turns out that great. You just have to persevere, everyone gets good at it if you just do it a few times. One of the things that was noticeable to me when Marcus Wareing demoed this dish is just how much effort he put into whipping the roux until it became a homogenous ball of paste you could have picked up. The other big thing is that it is absolutely essential to warm the milk separately. If you put cold milk onto a roux, don’t be surprised if the result isn’t very good. And there is something of a divided opinion about whether you should add the milk to the roux with the heat off or over a very low heat. The thing is the milk proteins react with the flour to produce the thickening effect and you have to work hard to keep the sauce smooth. Sometimes that effect might be too rapid for you to keep up with if you are doing it over heat. On the other hand, the key thing you are trying to avoid is uncooked flour in the final sauce. It produces that slightly grainy effect that is not so nice. All I can say is that it is all about experience. If you prepared to do it – and to get it wrong a few times – you will get to the point where you can do it well every time.
The bread you use is key here. I mean, you can use a generic processed bread and it will be fine – of course thicker sliced is probably better. But using a bread you know to be a good bread that you like anyway, particularly if you know that it makes great toast, is going to give the best results.
Ingredients:
Milk (pint) – I use full fat for this
Butter – what can I say, enough to make enough roux for a pint of milk, about 3 x 5mm slices of a standard pack of butter
Plain Flour – 3 good table spoons – The recipes always say equivalent amounts of butter and flour to make a roux, I always find 1 good table spoon (not heaped) equates to one slice of butter if you see what I mean
Cheese – I use a good strong cheddar, to me using a milder cheddar in a cooked cheese sauce is pointless. The Hairy Bikers did a traditional Welsh Rarebit recipe, I forget what cheese they used. In terms of amount, all I can say is a good amount. Taking my best guess, I would say I must use about 100 gramms. Grate the cheese.
Two egg yolks
English mustard – a good teaspoon
Worcester sauce – about two table spoons
Mead – about two tablespoons
(Optional) Pancetta lardons – I dunno maybe 200 gramms – again I would say this is largely up to you
Method:
1. Warm the milk and pour into a jug.
2. Give the pot a quick clean with warm water and wipe and then melt the butter in the same pot. Essential not to scorch the butter. Melt it slowly and evenly, keep swirling it round until the last bit turns to fluid.
3. Turn off the heat and add the flour. Mix the flour into the melted butter to make a roux.
4. Add the warm milk a little at a time and keep mixing. Expect to need to work hard. If you start to panic, thinking that it's breaking up and becoming unworkable, have faith. Keep adding the milk a little at a time, keep mixing it in to re-homogenise each time. At first it will get even thicker, eventually it will start to turn into a thick creamy sauce and then eventually it will come to the right consistency. If you have done it right it should be wonderfully smooth. You need it pretty thick at this stage, there are more fluid ingredients to add and the final sauce needs to be thick enough to spread on the toast.
5. Now turn on the heat and bring it back toward the boil. It will continue to thicken as it heats.
6. Just as it starts to bubble, add the cheese. Keep heating and stirring until the cheese has melted. Lumps at this stage are not a problem – they are not flour lumps they are just unmelted cheese. Give it enough time and the cheese will all melt and you will come back to a nice smooth sauce.
7. Add the two egg yolks and mix them in quickly (you don’t want them to cook before you have mixed them)
8. Add the Mustard, the Worcester Sauce and the Mead
9. (Optional) Fry the pancetta lardons in a little olive oil until they are just a little crisp. Probably best to dry them on kitchen towel before you add them to the sauce. Certainly, you don’t want to be adding too much oil to the sauce. Add the lardons to the sauce.
10. Season to taste – if you have used pancetta and it is salty, you may not need much salt. I always think this kind of sauce needs to be peppery, but that is personal taste. Nutmeg, of course, is always an option in this kind of sauce – I don’t find it to be necessary in this particular recipe.
11. Toast your chosen bread under the grill one side only – can’t make Welsh Rarebit in a toaster!
12. Spread the sauce on the untoasted side and return to the grill.
13. Toast it until the sauce is bubbling and starting to brown.
14. Probably good to leave it a few moments after taking it out from the grill if you don’t want to burn the roof of your mouth.
15. I like to serve it with a little rocket on top.
If there is left over sauce, great, pour it into a bowl, let it cool and stick it in the fridge. Next day you’ll be able to cut slices of it, spread it on bread you have toasted one side only, stick it under the grill and it’ll still be fabulous.
