About MissCakeBaker

I spend the week running in heels and the weekends in my apron.

Sunday 20 February 2011

Welsh Rarebit Muffins




These savoury muffins are from one of my favourite Nigella books, Nigella Eats. I wanted to make something for breakfast this morning and I love Welsh Rarebit. Apparently Welsh Rarebit, or Rabbit as it was originally known, goes back to 1725. It is thought that Welsh Rabbit was an ironic term used when the Welsh were notoriously poor: only better-off people could afford butcher's meat, and while in England rabbit was the poor man's meat, in Wales it was cheese. Apparently there was an English Rabbit, an Irish and a Scotch Rabbit - I'm not sure what they were but I'm going to try and find out.

These muffins contain the cheese and Worcestershire sauce of the original recipe but not the ale. We ate them with some really crispy bacon - delicious. I think a few pieces of chopped up bacon might be quite a nice addition to the top in hindsight.

The recipe can be found here.

7 comments:

  1. Your muffins look wonderful - I must try them soon, I love those flavours.

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  2. Do like the idea of these rarebit muffins especially using a bit of rye flour. Also intrigued now about the Scottish and Irish rabbits.

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  3. haven't made with rye
    looks healthy and delicious

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  4. Glad that I find your blog. Your cooking is fantastic. These rarebit muffin look delicious. Will bookmark this recipe and try making these too.

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  5. I love all Nigella recipes. Although, rabbit is something I have never attempted to bake or cook with! These look very nicely cooked; all golden.

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  6. Choclette - I've been trying to find out about the Scottish and Irish rabbits! The most I can find out is about 'rarebits' which I think will be the same thing. So, in a Scottish Rarebit the cheese mixture is browned on both sides before being placed on the toast. An English Rarebit involves soaking the bread in red wine before adding the cheese mixture. An Irish Rarebit involves using, no great surprise here - Guiness - instead of the usual ale. I'm not sure how accurate all of the above are but a few internet searches come back with the same recipes!

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  7. I love savoury muffins and these look great, I will have to try and make them! When I was living in Australia I worked in a cafe and the chef would make sundried tomato, spinach and chedder muffins and they were my favourite. Very nice blog you have here!

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