The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1888-01-14
THE WELSH RAREBIT.
A FASHION OF APPETITE THAT
THRIVES AGAINST OPPOSITION.


The Eaters Go On Needless of the Fright
full Forebodings of Anxious Friends
TIE Cooks Methods-Not So Hard to
Digest.
The curious thing about all these late
diners up town is that you can nearly
always tell what they are going to eat be-
fore they order it. In Sixth avenue the
main restaurant is famous for its deviled
crabs, and that's what those who go there
will be apt to order In the other places
the chances are mainly in favor of Welsh
rarebits. If not rabbit or a ''crab, !"
beefsteak is the rule, but the rabbit is in
most demand. Welsh rarebit is what the
men eat aboard the ocean steamships
after the ladies have gone to bed and the
night is well spent. 1t is the commodity
most called for late at night at the clubs.
Just so at stag card parties all ovo~ town,
the host whose kitchen can turn out the
incest rarebit late at night is apt TO be
praised the most in his own circle.
1t is no new craze, this taste for the
Welsh rarebit; it has been fashion of ap-
petite for years, and may be regarded as
a fixed one. 1t thrives against the most
violent opposition. Half the men and all
the women who don't eat Farebit look on
with more OF less alarm in their faces, and
either advise the rarebit eater not to in
dulge his passion or eXclaim, almost al
ways in the same words, ''I'd die il
should eat thatr' But the eaters go on,
needless of the frightfuI forebodings of
those who don't eat their favorite dish,
putting down the unprepossessing food
night after night with accompanying Ii
bations of Bass ale, sherry, lager, cham
payne or those mixed mucilaginous and
syrupy blendings called cocktails They
neither fall dead nor are carried home in
agony, although it is safe to say that they
half expect some disagreement between
themselves and their food each time they
eat rarebit.
THE COOKS METHODS.
Welsh rarebits are differently made by
different cooks, but the best results are
obtained in this way: Take old dry cheese
of any sort that has tang to it, CRATE it
thoroughly, pepper and salt it very well,
put in a big lump of butter and add just
a little fresh mustard. Stir this up and
put it on very hot frying pan, having a
hot fire ready. At this point cooks differ.
Some pour in little boiling water, but
the majority use little old ale instead,
the object in both cases being to facilitate
the melting of the cheese SO that it will
run together. The cheese in the pan must
liquid when it must be poured over
buttered toast. It should be served on
very hot plate and eaten at once. Even
then the last Of it will get slightly tough
and rubbery.
DR.. A r. Wilson was talking of this
the other night He knows as many of
the gourmets and good fellows generally
as any physician in town, and he says he
has heard a score remark how wonder
f1Ilif 10 hot ho oof
don't kill them, or even hurt them at all.
"And yet, D." he says, 81 never had a pa
tient with whom they disagreed. / never
yet have had TO caution one not to eat
rarebitS, and, on the other hand, have
once in my practice prescribed the eating
of them to patient. The Welsh rarebit
is very interesting dish. 1t seems from
it's appearance and condition and texture
as though it must be very unwholesome
and yet / cannot say that it is. have
even known it to be eaten and completely
digested in that stringy condition in which
1t gets when cooling, and in which it is
like a mass of flannel OF perhaps soft
glue would be better comparison. In
our practice we have a way of discovering
how certain dishes act after they are
eaten. You would suppose a man weuld
carry Welsh rarebit around with him
undigested several days, yet / have known
a trace being left in the stomach next
morning. 1t takes good digestion to do
this, but apparently no extraordinary di-
gestive power is required. Most anybody
can do it, as the magicians say when
they exhibit an especially difficult trick
THE DRINKING DONE.
The doctor does not think the poached
egg on top of the rarebit, put there to
make what is called golden buck of the
dish, makes any difference against it or in
it's favor. AS to the drinking that is done
with the eating of rarebits, the sum of his
experience is that the best drinks to take
are those that are smallest, provided they
are not too strong. A glass of ale is bet
ter than a bottle, and ale is perhaps the
best drink of all, better than champagne
or strong liquor. It is slightly squirting
to the digestive organs, and does no harm
so long as the food is not drowned in it
so as to dilute the gastric juices too much.
DIR. Smithers, over on the west side, is
very often appealed to by club men and
brokers who have been run down by high
living, and hope, with his aid, to get well !
and go at it again. He has pronounced
opinions OH the Welsh rarebit. "They
are not good, he says, ''they are so hard
to digest. The reason that some persons |
can eat them with impunity is that some
secrete the gastric juices much more rap
idly than others. All eating at night is
bad for professional men. Men who work
with their heads should eat their heaviest
meal in the middle of the day. 1 account |
for the nervous and brain troubles so COM
mon just now by the general habit of din
ing at and o'clock. The trouble with
the eating just before going to bed is that |
it congests the liver and sends the blood |
rushing to the head, causing troubled and |
broken sleep. Rarebits aren't so bad as
fried oysters. Fried oysters are about the |
worst things men eat late at night
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