I wonder how many folk who read these pages remember Morgan Robertson.
Poor old Morgan is dead and gone, now, but in his day he wrote some of
the best sea stories ever put into English. He used to keep bachelor
hall in a funny little studio down on 25th Street, off Sixth Avenue,
New York—and when his friends came to call his special delight was a
Welsh Rabbit. He told me how to make it, and I am trying to pass the
recipe on. The beauty of Robertson’s rabbit was that it never got
stringy.
First you put a good-sized lump of butter into a chafing dish and let
it sizzle. Add some Coleman’s mustard and paprika and stir it round
a bit. For six people I would use two pounds of cheese. Real old New
York State full cream cheese—none of this odoriferous imported stuff.
The kind of cheese they used to make down on the farm. Cut it up in
chunks and put it in the pan with a little beer (near beer will do),
or you could use milk. Keep adding a little more beer as the cheese
commences to melt and put in a little Worcestershire sauce, if you
like it. When it is well melted take a heaping tablespoonful of corn
starch, mix it with a little water, and mix it with the mess. Meanwhile
keep stirring it. Let it bubble and when it comes to the consistency
of pancake batter (meanwhile keep stirring it—you can’t stir it too
much!) it is ready to serve. And please serve it on toasted bread. If
there is anything makes me tired, it is to have Welsh Rabbit served
on crackers—it isn’t the same thing. Don’t be afraid the rabbit will
get stringy, because it won’t. Some folks put the corn starch in dry,
instead of mixing it with water. Either way is right. Season it to suit
yourself. But for the love of Mike don’t beat an egg up in it. That’s
another kind of fish entirely.