AlwaysLearning: Welsh Rarebit

The Gluttoness — September 03, 2009

Welsh Rarebit from The ChipShop on Atlantic Avenue, in Brooklyn Heights.

Welsh Rarebit. If you just heard the name, you would probably expect a plate filled with some kind of rare meat. The reality couldn’t be farther from that. In honor of National Welsh Rarebit Day…

What it is: Welsh Rarebit consists of toasted bread topped with a savory sauce made with melted cheese. The sauce is typically made with Cheddar cheese, although some recipes call for the addition of dark beer, mustard, cayenne pepper and/or Worcestershire Sauce. The cheese-covered bread is then broiled and served very hot so that the cheese is bubbling and golden brown. There are many variations of the original dish. One, the Buck Rarebit, calls for topping Welsh Rarebit with a poached egg.

Where it’s from: This traditional British dish dates to the 18th century, perhaps as early as 1725. The name is thought to be a corruption of the word, ‘rabbit,’ the theory being that rabbit was the food of the poor and that the Welsh, who were notoriously poor, couldn’t even afford that. As such, instead of eating meat with bread, cheese became the ‘meat’ component of the dish. In 1785, by virtue of a misnomer in A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, the name of the dish evolved into “Welsh Rarebit.”

Where to eat it in New York City: Where better to enjoy a classic British dish than surrounded by maps of the Tube, Beatles posters, and plates commemorating Princess Diana in one of New York’s most traditional British gastropubs, The ChipShop (Brooklyn Heights restaurant page, Park Slope restaurant page). The restaurant is best known for a lengthy list of beers-on-tap and deep-fried treatments of pizza, Twinkies and Haddock (for a phenomenal Fish & Chips). But their “English Menu” is full of other British favorites like Scotch Eggs, Haggis, and of course, Welsh Rarebit.

The ChipShop’s glossary defines Welsh Rarebit as “cheddar cheese, heavy cream and mustard on bread and baked—served with tomato.” The folks there identified the mustard as Colman’s and noted that eggs are also used in the sauce. At the restaurant, the slice of thick, crisp white bread arrives browned and bubbling, adorned with a halved slice of tomato. It’s part open-faced grilled cheese, part Croque Monsieur (minus the ham). It’s like a savory, cheesy French Toast. The exterior crust has a hearty crunch, but the heavy dressing of cheese sauce soaks the bread’s innards and oozes from the sliced center.

Welsh Rarebit is comfort food at its finest. It’s no surprise that this decadent dish was a food staple eaten by the poor as it definitely helps you to escape from your financial burdens, at least momentarily, even longer when accompanied by a cool pint.

AlwaysPartying: National Julienne Fries Day

The Gluttoness — August 12, 2009

(Photo courtesy Wined & Dined) Chargrilled Burger w/Roquefort Cheese & Shoestrings $17.

It’s National Julienne Fries Day (aka another reason to celebrate French fries of any shape and size) and to celebrate this food holiday, we encourage you to brave the crowds at that favorite Manhattan gastropub, The Spotted Pig (restaurant page) for some of the best shoestring fries New York City has to offer. The mountainous, intertwined heap of long, thin crispy matchstick potatoes are seasoned with rosemary. They manage to upstage what is arguably one of the most enjoyable burgers in town, especially if you’re a fan of stinky Roquefort.

It’s difficult not to devour handfuls of these fries by themselves, but they also make for the ultimate burger topping. Take a cue from Bobby Flay’s “crunchied” burger option at Bobby’s Burger Palace and make the ultimate Spotted Pig burger maneuver: “Frenchify” your Spotted Pig patty with these skinny spuds. When it comes to shoestring fries, it doesn’t get any better than this.

AlwaysPartying: Poutine Tasting (Park Slope, Brooklyn)

Josh Kaplan — June 26, 2009

Wednesday night at the Australian Park Slope gastropub, Sheep Station, Chef Martine Lafond (a Quebec transplant) held a Poutine tasting in honor of “La St. Jean Baptiste,” (Saint Jean Baptiste Day, June 24th), a national holiday of Quebec that celebrates French Canadian culture.

Poutine has been on the rise around the city. Draft Barn threw a disco fry tasting this week. TPoutine is supposed to open on Ludlow soon. Even the swanky Hotel Griffou makes poutine with duck confit. This Canadian junk food classic, (French fries cheese curds and gravy) is said to have its etymological roots in the Quebecois slang, “une maudite poutine,” which describes what it resembles, “an unholy mess.”

Of the three poutines at the tasting —Classic, Chicken and Peas, and Italian— the first (above) was the best. Fries were bathed in a straightforward pan gravy and topped with five curds— salty, chewy bites reminiscent of mozzarella balls. There just weren’t enough curds.

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Menus Made Simple: Double Crown

The Gluttoness — November 18, 2008

The cuisine at AvroKO’s newest restaurant, Double Crown, is described as a celebration of the food that emerged during nineteenth-century British colonialism in the Far East. The result appears to be an amalgamation of global cuisines, making the eclectic menu particularly interesting and definitely worthy of translation:

• Whitebait: young fish that are tender and entirely edible; often times used in reference to Herring
• Piccalilli: pickle relish of chopped vegetables and spices depending on region
• Labne: very thick, strained yoghurt cheese
• Pomelo: sweet, large citrus fruit that looks like a grapefruit on steroids
• Shrimp Floss: shrimp meat that is thinly sliced and fried
• Tatsoi: dark green plant with spooned leaves that form a thick rosette, subtle favor and soft texture
• Scotch Egg: a hard/soft-boiled egg that is wrapped in sausage, coated in breadcrumbs and then deep-fried
• Goan Curry: sauce inspired by the fusion of Indian, Arab and Portuguese culinary traditions with coconut as the primary flavor
• Red Lentil Dhal: vegetarian stew seasoned with coriander, cumin, cardamom and chili
• Laksa: spicy noodle soup, indigenous too many Far Eastern cultures, each with their own variety

AlwaysInvestigating: The Libertine

The Gluttoness — September 29, 2008

Thompson Hotels have a proven reputation to create buzz upon their arrival, which is why Chef Todd English chose to put his latest restaurant, The Libertine, in the new Gild Hall Hotel downtown. The nearby Wall Street location has informed the manly, library-inspired decor, making for a dressed up English tavern with tons of wood and framed vintage photographs. While the gastropub vibe has classic pub fare to match, The Libertine is admittedly anti-establishment. The concept of The Libertine represents attitude and rebellion, and within that framework, the restaurant embraces non-traditional dining. The kitchen follows suit, throwing custom out the window in their very respectable refusal to have chicken on the menu.

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