TOASTED CHEESE, or SCOTCH RARE-BIT
Origin: London, England
Source: Isabella Beeton, 1861
Ingredients
- A few slices of rich cheese
- toast
- mustard, and pepper
- HOT-WATER CHEESE-DISH.]
Instructions
- Cut some nice rich sound cheese into rather thin slices;
- melt it in a cheese-toaster on a hot plate, or over steam, and, when melted, add a small quantity of mixed mustard and a seasoning of pepper;
- stir the cheese until it is completely dissolved, then brown it before the fire, or with a salamander.
- Fill the bottom of the cheese-toaster with hot water, and serve with dry or buttered toasts, whichever may be preferred.
- Our engraving illustrates a cheese-toaster with hot-water reservoir: the cheese is melted in the upper tin, which is placed in another vessel of boiling water, so keeping the preparation beautifully hot.
- A small quantity of porter, or port wine, is sometimes mixed with the cheese; and, if it be not very rich, a few pieces of butter may be mixed with it to great advantage.
- Sometimes the melted cheese is spread on the toasts, and then laid in the cheese-dish at the top of the hot water.
- Whichever way it is served, it is highly necessary that the mixture be very hot, and very quickly sent to table, or it will be worthless.