Toast and Cheese.—(No. 539.)
“Happy the man that has each fortune tried, To whom she much has giv’n, and much denied; With abstinence all delicates he sees, And can regale himself on toast and cheese.” King’s Art of Cookery.
Cut a slice of bread about half an inch thick; pare off the crust, and toast it very slightly on one side so as just to brown it, without making it hard or burning it.
Cut a slice of cheese (good fat mellow Cheshire cheese, or double Gloster, is better than poor, thin, single Gloster) a[331] quarter of an inch thick, not so big as the bread by half an inch on each side: pare off the rind, cut out all the specks and rotten parts,331-* and lay it on the toasted bread in a cheese-toaster; carefully watch it that it does not burn, and stir it with a spoon to prevent a pellicle forming on the surface. Have ready good mustard, pepper and salt.
If you observe the directions here given, the cheese will eat mellow, and will be uniformly done, and the bread crisp and soft, and will well deserve its ancient appellation of a “rare bit.”
Obs.—One would think nothing could be easier than to prepare a Welsh rabbit; yet, not only in private families, but at taverns, it is very seldom sent to table in perfection. We have attempted to account for this in the last paragraph of Obs. to No. 493.