So, What Exactly Is the Deal with Welsh Rarebit?!?

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i was just clued into this old movie, entitled dreams of a rarebit fiend. it's apparently about all of the crazy dreams and hallucinations that plague this guy who eats lots and lots of welsh rarebit. the wikipedia entry on welsh rarebit states that "overindulgence" in this food is notorious for causing vivid nightmares.

i'm scratching my head, wondering just what it is about welsh rarebit that would possibly cause people who eat too much of the stuff to trip. i mean, it's just melted cheese -- you don't trip out when you eat too much fondue (at least as far as i know). i presume that it may have something to do with the kind of cheese used, perhaps? i've only eaten the stouffer's frozen version of same -- and only a few times at that -- and i don't remember any trippy dreams or anything like that.

― Eisbaer, Monday, 26 March 2007 20:46 (eighteen years ago)

"just" melted cheese? maybe it grew a psychedelic mold

― m coleman, Monday, 26 March 2007 20:48 (eighteen years ago)

lactose intolerance?

― Mr. Que, Monday, 26 March 2007 20:52 (eighteen years ago)

whoever wrote the wikipedia secion on nightmares also substitutes "rabbit" for "rarebit," so I wouldn't take that bit seriously. or at least no more seriously than your run-of-the-mill "i ate spicy things before bed and then had nightmares" anecdotes.

― elmo argonaut, Monday, 26 March 2007 20:54 (eighteen years ago)

People used to think cheese was particularly hard to digest, so if you ate it before bedtime you'd have a disturbed night and have bad dreams. It's bollocks, of course.

― Noodle Vague, Monday, 26 March 2007 20:54 (eighteen years ago)

Isn't it some kind of wives' tale that eating cheese just before bed results in strange dreams? People are always saying shit like that, I don't know.

― Laurel, Monday, 26 March 2007 20:54 (eighteen years ago)

Eh, XP

― Laurel, Monday, 26 March 2007 20:55 (eighteen years ago)

I actually crave cheese before bedtime.

― Noodle Vague, Monday, 26 March 2007 20:55 (eighteen years ago)

whoever wrote the wikipedia secion on nightmares also substitutes "rabbit" for "rarebit," so I wouldn't take that bit seriously.
uh... did you read the first sentence of the article?

― bernard snowy, Monday, 26 March 2007 20:58 (eighteen years ago)

eating anything too close to bedtime can be cause for disturbance. at least of the digestive kind.

― Ms Misery, Monday, 26 March 2007 20:58 (eighteen years ago)

I crave cheese all the time. I'm lactose dependant.

I used to think this was some kind of rabbit/meat dish until I learned the truth.

― Rob Bolton, Monday, 26 March 2007 20:59 (eighteen years ago)

I think the opium eater would probably get a little more noticably altered than a rarebit fiend.

― Abbott, Monday, 26 March 2007 21:00 (eighteen years ago)

I have friends who swear by the cheese = bizarre dreams thing although I'm sure it's a load of crap. That said, I eat loads of cheese and have ridiculously weird and vivid dreams nearly every night.

― ENBB, Monday, 26 March 2007 21:03 (eighteen years ago)

playing computer games til 3 in the morning will give you far more disturbed dreams than a bit of cheese on toast

― Noodle Vague, Monday, 26 March 2007 21:03 (eighteen years ago)

There is no correlation between my diet and my dreams, unless I just ate psilocybin.

― Abbott, Monday, 26 March 2007 21:05 (eighteen years ago)

i actually was kind of thinking that maybe there was some kind of funky mold on the cheese used for rarebit. the rarebit i had was made of cheddar -- and no funky dreams -- but traditional rarebit uses this kind of cheese, which is in turn used for this rather silly and dangerous annual festival in the cotswalds.

i've never had any weird dreams if i eat immediately before i sleep, either. maybe it's just my metabolism.

― Eisbaer, Monday, 26 March 2007 21:31 (eighteen years ago)

wasn't mary shelley meant to've eaten a ton of cheese before going to sleep and dreaming dr frankenstein?

― emsk, Monday, 26 March 2007 21:36 (eighteen years ago)

Maybe not

― Noodle Vague, Monday, 26 March 2007 21:50 (eighteen years ago)

Oh, for the love of god... ARGH!!!

Anyway, I love Welsh Rarebit and I have only discovered this recently. How can I make it without an oven?

― Masonic Boom, Tuesday, 27 March 2007 10:34 (eighteen years ago)

My mum always told me eating cheese just before you go to bed makes you dream

― Tom D., Tuesday, 27 March 2007 10:38 (eighteen years ago)

I had no idea merkins called grilling 'broiling'

is this true in the 'questioning someone intensively' sense too?

― Grandpont Genie, Tuesday, 27 March 2007 10:39 (eighteen years ago)

Ha ha ha, hard-broiled detectives, I love it.

― Masonic Boom, Tuesday, 27 March 2007 10:39 (eighteen years ago)

In US "grilling" = "barbecuing", no?

― Colonel Poo, Tuesday, 27 March 2007 10:44 (eighteen years ago)

not really -- barbeque is classically meat sloooow-cooked over hot-coals in a pit -- tossing a piece of tuna on the grill is not BBQ

― m coleman, Tuesday, 27 March 2007 11:03 (eighteen years ago)

also "we" don't call broiling grilling -- the former is cooking under a broiler, the latter on top of a grill

― m coleman, Tuesday, 27 March 2007 11:04 (eighteen years ago)

sorry I'm feeling pedantic and hungry rite now -- a dangerous combo

― m coleman, Tuesday, 27 March 2007 11:06 (eighteen years ago)

I don't like the term grilling for the use of a top down heat source, it is most unsatisfactory, grilling implies contact with the heat source. Broil is not great either. Stick it under the salamander is the best I can do.

― Ed, Tuesday, 27 March 2007 11:08 (eighteen years ago)

What about 'toast this'? The verb 'toast' may be the appropriate term for salamander-style non-contact cooking.

― moley, Tuesday, 27 March 2007 12:12 (eighteen years ago)

toast I like.

― Ed, Tuesday, 27 March 2007 12:14 (eighteen years ago)

Toasting is only for bread, drinks and heretics.

― Masonic Boom, Tuesday, 27 March 2007 12:25 (eighteen years ago)

What is happening to the cheese on cheese on toast?

― Ed, Tuesday, 27 March 2007 12:26 (eighteen years ago)

Welsh Rarebit used to be my father's one dish. He did it well. You have to use beer and Colman's dry mustard. I haven't had a good one in ages. The last one I had wasn't quite right.

― Beth Parker, Tuesday, 27 March 2007 12:28 (eighteen years ago)

is this something I could prepare in a toaster oven?

― elmo argonaut, Tuesday, 27 March 2007 12:30 (eighteen years ago)

Now I am really craving Welsh Rarebit. Wonder if I can get Ed to make it.

― Masonic Boom, Tuesday, 27 March 2007 15:59 (eighteen years ago)

This is a thing like haggis or poutine (sp?) that until I see it, my belief in it is distant. The imaginary foods sound good tho (save the haggis).

― Abbott, Tuesday, 27 March 2007 19:55 (eighteen years ago)

I forgot how much I used to crave this. Even if I never had one that quite matched how awesome I wanted it to be.

― Casuistry, Tuesday, 27 March 2007 20:13 (eighteen years ago)

I'm going to eat a stick of cheese at 1 am and see what happens.

― The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall, Tuesday, 27 March 2007 20:33 (eighteen years ago)

Ed seems like a guy who could whip up an awesome rarebit. You'll have to dress in neon lederhosen to eat it, though.

― Beth Parker, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 02:00 (eighteen years ago)

I'm going to eat a stick of cheese at 1 am and see what happens.

report back to us!!

This is a thing like haggis or poutine (sp?) that until I see it, my belief in it is distant.

i can attest that haggis is indeed quite real -- they even have "haggis in a can" (it looks kinda like corned beef hash). i never had the balls to actually try the shit, though ;__;

― Eisbaer, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 02:34 (eighteen years ago)

[i]In US "grilling" = "barbecuing", no?

it's also this ...

http://www.nellyweb.net/gallery/appearances/trl111605/010.jpg

... though y'all know that already.

― Eisbaer, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 02:36 (eighteen years ago)

anyway, w/t going into this broiling/grilling thing -- can't you just melt the cheese in a fondue pot or something, and then pour it on the toast?

― Eisbaer, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 02:37 (eighteen years ago)

my mother made this for my father regularly, i recall it had cheese and corn starch and then for some reason he would put mustard on top of the cheese after spreading it over the toast. I found it disgusting.

― keythkeyth, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 02:51 (eighteen years ago)

so glad i'm not british sometimes when i read things like this.

― the table is the table, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 03:33 (eighteen years ago)

It's the cheese though isn't it? Cheese causes cheese dreams.

― moley, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 13:05 (eighteen years ago)

http://www.britishcheese.com/news.cfm?page_id=240

The in-depth Cheese & Dreams study, a first of its kind, reveals that eating cheese before bed will not only aid a good night’s sleep but different cheeses will in fact cause different types of dreams.

― The Wayward Johnny B, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 13:30 (eighteen years ago)

I love the fact that I live in a country where people actually undertake scientific studies of the effects of different cheeses on dreams.

― Masonic Boom, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 13:31 (eighteen years ago)

While 75% of men in this category experienced odd and vivid dreams, a massive 85% of females who ate Stilton had some of the most bizarre dreams of the whole study – although none were described as bad experiences. Highlights included talking soft toys, lifts that move sideways, a vegetarian crocodile upset because it could not eat children, dinner party guests being traded for camels, soldiers fighting with each other with kittens instead of guns and a party in a lunatic asylum.

someone to make .jpeg pls!!!

― Masonic Boom, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 13:34 (eighteen years ago)

so that laser cats SNL skit was a stilton-induced nightmare?

― Will M., Wednesday, 28 March 2007 16:42 (eighteen years ago)

Now I am really craving Welsh Rarebit.

Meeeeeee too. Bread + cheese = love.

― Jenny, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 16:49 (eighteen years ago)

I had rarebit as afterbar food on New Year's Eve. One of my friends made it in the oven and it was delicious. I also had the worst hangover of my life but I don't think the rarebit could have been expected to prevent that.

― Jordan, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 16:53 (eighteen years ago)

oh man, double gloucester is the best cheese ever. i may have to experiment with it late one night and see what dreams may come.

― get bent, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 16:53 (eighteen years ago)

I just wonder how they did a control group - did they feed them a lump of processed food product that was not actually cheese? I wonder if peoples' dreams were changed by the expectation that stronger cheese would give stronger dreams.

― Masonic Boom, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 16:56 (eighteen years ago)

I had a pretty good Welsh rarebit over in London earlier this month. High-end cheese was the answer, I think.

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 16:56 (eighteen years ago)

I bet that was from Medcalfe. They promted my current Rarebit mania.

::drools::

― Masonic Boom, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 16:57 (eighteen years ago)

american grilled cheese sandwich is a travesty of language - not the thing bc that is NUM - however it is clearly FRIED not GRILLED

― emsk, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 17:00 (eighteen years ago)

I can whip up botha good rarebit and a fine croque monsieur.

this is, as far as I'm concerned THE welsh rarebit:

knob of butter
1 tbsp flour
1tsp english mustard powder(none of your tasteless american stuff, but that's a whole 'nother thread)
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
200ml Guinness (original or export (Jamaican or Nigerian too) not draught, fool)
a long splash of worcestershire sauce
450g of mature strong cheddar cheese, grated
4 pieces of toast

Melt the butter and stir in the flour till it smells biscuity but is not browning
add the mustard and cayenne powders and then slowly add the worcestershire sauce and guiness, stirring all the time
Then add the cheese and melt till one consistency, remove from the heat and pour out into a shallow container and alllow to set
spread on toast 1cm thick and place under the grill (salamander, top down flamey thing)
Eat when bubbling golden brown

― Ed, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 17:01 (eighteen years ago)

unless you grill it (which i've done, but you don't get the nummy buttery bread)

― get bent, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 17:01 (eighteen years ago)

xpost

the croque monsieur/madame is a thing of beauty

― get bent, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 17:02 (eighteen years ago)

That is the St John recipe, I'm fairly sure it is the one they use at medcalf.

― Ed, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 17:02 (eighteen years ago)

Even though there was a delay of several hours between eating the blue cheese and going to bed, I had odd dreams last night. I'm sure it's related.

― Masonic Boom, Thursday, 29 March 2007 10:32 (eighteen years ago)

[iThe in-depth Cheese & Dreams study, a first of its kind, reveals that eating cheese before bed will not only aid a good night’s sleep but different cheeses will in fact cause different types of dreams.[/i]

My mum was right then!

― Tom D., Thursday, 29 March 2007 10:38 (eighteen years ago)

one month passes...

My husband made an excellent Rarebit last night, and we gorged.
Sad to say, I did have a terrible nightmare that kept me up with the dreads for two hours. Urgh.

― Beth Parker, Thursday, 3 May 2007 14:06 (eighteen years ago)

Here's the recipe he must have used. I found it on the computer desktop. Who knows how long it takes—apparently he felt he'd copied-and-pasted enough.

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup porter beer
3/4 cup heavy cream
6 ounces (approximately 1 1/2 cups) shredded Cheddar
2 drops hot sauce
4 slices toasted rye bread

In a medium saucepan over low heat, melt the butter and whisk in the flour. Cook, whisking constantly for 2 to 3 minutes, being careful not to brown the flour. Whisk in mustard, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper until smooth. Add beer and whisk to combine. Pour in cream and whisk until well combined and smooth. Gradually add cheese, stirring constantly, until cheese melts and sauce is smooth; this will take

― Beth Parker, Thursday, 3 May 2007 14:08 (eighteen years ago)

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