A black metal skillet with a spatula ready to flip a Welsh rarebit grilled cheese sandwich.

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Welsh Rarebit Grilled Cheese

This Welsh rarebit grilled cheese is a grown-up take on our favorite gooey, melty open-face sandwich. It's made with mustard, ale, and sharp Cheddar and comes together oh so smoothly.

Prep Time5

Cook Time17

Total Time22

Course: Mains

Cuisine: British

Servings: servings

Calories: 654

Ingredients

▢ 4 slices ciabatta or sourdough bread
▢ 2 tablespoons (1 oz) unsalted butter, plus more for buttering the bread
▢ 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
▢ 1/2 cup ale, at room temperature
▢ 1 teaspoon dry mustard
▢ 1 1/2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar
▢ 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
▢ Pinch ground cayenne pepper, or more to taste

US - Metric

Instructions

In a small saucepan over low heat, combine the butter and flour and stir constantly until the butter is melted and the mixture forms a paste, which ought to take just a couple minutes. Continue to cook, still stirring constantly, for another minute to ensure the resulting sauce doesn't have a floury taste.
Gradually pour in the ale and continuously stir until the mixture thickens, anywhere from almost immediately to a few minutes later.
Add the mustard, cheese, Worcestershire sauce, and cayenne pepper and stir until the cheese has completely melted, 2 to 5 minutes. The sauce will begin to pull away from the sides of the pan. Keep stirring until the cheese has completely melted. Remove the pan from the heat.
Butter 1 side of each bread slice. Arrange 2 slices, butter side down, in a large heavy skillet, preferably cast-iron, off the heat. Top each slice with enough cheese sauce to cover the bread and then gently place the remaining 2 slices of bread on top, buttered-side up. (Some of the cheese sauce is probably going to squish out into the pan. That's okay. It will crisp nicely.)
Reduce the heat to medium and cook until the bread is golden brown on the first side, about 4 minutes. Then grab a large spatula and carefully—we do mean carefully—flip the sandwiches. This may get a little messy. The cheese sauce is quite runny and chances are it will leak out of the bread and into your skillet. Any spilled sauce forms a delicious cheese crisp.
Cook until the other side is golden brown, about 2 minutes.
Transfer each grilled cheese sandwich to your cutting board and let cool for a few minutes before cutting in half—preferably on the diagonal—and serving. Any leftover cheese sauce can be covered, tossed in the fridge, rewarmed another day, and spooned over steamed broccoli or cauliflower or used to make Welsh rarebit (see Variation below). Originally published October 5, 2015.

Notes

Welsh Rarebit Variation

For a more classic Welsh rarebit, make the cheese sauce as directed. Omit the whole notion of making grilled cheese and instead generously slather the cheese sauce over a slice of toast and run it under the broiler until bubbly. Serve with a knife and fork.

Nutrition