My main tip for making Welsh rarebit is to remain confident even though it sounds like you’re creating something exotic: as my Scottish particle physicist friend (cheekily) puts it, “It’s just cheese on bread” — although this recipe calls for a savory-sweet marmalade to top it all off.

Read more about British people, Welsh Rarebit and high tea here!

INGREDIENTS

Onion Marmalade

• 10ml (4 tsp) olive oil
•  2 large onions, sliced
•  5ml (2 tsp) fresh thyme, chopped
•  2 garlic cloves, chopped
•  100g (½ cup) sugar
•  60ml (¼ cup) white wine vinegar
•  salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Mushrooms

• 50ml butter
• 10 large brown mushrooms, peeled and stalked
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 5ml (2 tsp) fresh thyme, chopped
• 5ml (2 tsp) fresh rosemary, chopped
• squeeze of lemon juice
• salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Rarebit

• 60ml (¼ cup) butter, softened
• 15ml (2 tbsp) Worcestershire sauce
• pinch of paprika
• 200g mature Cheddar, grated
• 15ml (2 tbsp) milk
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 30ml (3 tbsp) beer
• 8 thick slices of crusty bread, toasted

DIRECTIONS

1 For the marmalade, heat the oil in a small pot and fry the onions, thyme and garlic until soft. Add the sugar and vinegar and simmer on low heat, stirring infrequently, until the mixture is syrupy and the onions have caramelized, about 30 minutes. Remove from the heat, season and leave to cool.

NB: The pot of onions may smell vinegary even when the onions have caramelized, but have no fear: the sweet-and-sourness is balanced by the hearty cheese and mushrooms, and it’ll taste much less vinegary than it smells while cooking on the stove. 

2 For the mushrooms, melt the butter in a pan and sauté the mushrooms for about 3 minutes. Add the garlic, herbs and lemon juice, fry for 3 more minutes, remove from the heat and season.

NB: Make more mushrooms than less, if you have a choice: they lose a lot of water and inevitably, there somehow ends up being more slices of bread than mushrooms to go around.

3 Preheat the oven on bake to about 175 °C (350 °F). Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and place an ovenproof wire rack on it.  Mix together all the rarebit ingredients, spread this mixture on the bread and put the slices on the rack.

Take the tray out when the rarebit mixture is bubbling and brown. Serve topped with the marmalade and mushrooms.

NB: My oven window was tinted brown, so I kept on wanting to take the rarebit out before it was properly browned. “You shoulda been more patient!” my mum told me over Skype when I described to her what I had made.