Cheese is probably the most popular article served from the chafing-dish. What possessor of a chafing-dish has not concocted a rarebit—and the best one ever made? Were you ever present when the process of evolving a rarebit was in progress and half the guests were not disappointed in the seasoning? For perfection in this toothsome dish, mustard is demanded by some; by others the use of this biting condiment is considered a lapse in culinary taste. The consensus of opinion, however, is in favor of paprica; and, theoretically, Mattieu Williams considers bicarbonate of soda to be demanded, not for the sake of seasoning, but as an aid to digestion.

As regards the digestibility of cheese, and, consequently, its adaptability to midnight suppers, opinions differ widely. Dr. Hoy, an excellent authority on diet, calls cheese a concentrated meat, a tissue builder,—but not itself a tissue, and so without waste elements,—a condensed, compact food product, and indigestible on account of its very compactness. Still, when the caseine, or curd, is softened and broken up by the addition of liquid and gentle heat, it is rendered more digestible; and cheese so prepared may be for some, if taken with no other nitrogenous food, an acceptable and easily digested article of diet.

Welsh Rarebit.

• 1 tablespoonful of butter.
• ½ a pound of cheese, cut fine or grated.
• ¼ a teaspoonful of salt.
• A dash of paprica.
• ½ a cup of cream.
• The beaten yolks of 2 eggs.

Method.—Melt the butter, add the cheese and seasonings, and stir until melted; then add the eggs, diluted with the cream, and stir until smooth and slightly thickened. Do not allow the mixture to boil at any time in the cooking; if necessary, cook over hot water. Serve on thin crackers, hot shredded-wheat or granose biscuit, or on bread toasted on but one side, placing the rarebit on the untoasted side.

Welsh Rarebit, No. 2.

• 1 tablespoonful of butter.
• ½ a teaspoonful of cornstarch.
• ½ a cup of thin cream.
• ½ a pound of mild cheese.
• ¼ a teaspoonful of salt.
• ½ a saltspoonful of mustard.
• A few grains of cayenne.

Method.—Melt the butter; add to it the cream in which the cornstarch has been stirred. Let cook two minutes, and add the cheese broken into bits. Stir until the cheese is melted and the mixture perfectly smooth. Add the salt, mustard and paprica, and serve at once as above.

Welsh Rarebit with Ale.

• 1 tablespoonful of butter.
• Generous ½ a pound of soft American cheese, broken into bits.
• 1/3 a teaspoonful of salt.
• 1 teaspoonful of mustard.
• A few grains of cayenne.
• ½ a cup of ale.
• 1 egg.

Method.—Put the butter into the chafing-dish (using the bath); when melted, add the cheese and ale. Mix the salt, mustard and cayenne, add the egg, and beat thoroughly. When the cheese is melted, add the egg mixture and let cook until it thickens. Serve as before.

Halibut Rarebit.

Marinate a cup of cooked halibut, flaked, with one tablespoonful of olive oil, a few drops of onion juice, one tablespoonful of lemon juice, one-fourth a teaspoonful of salt and a dash of paprica. Make a sauce of two tablespoonfuls, each, of butter and flour, one-fourth a teaspoonful of salt and half a cup, each, of chicken stock and cream. Add two-thirds a cup of grated cheese and the halibut. Serve, as soon as the fish is hot and the cheese melted, on the untoasted side of bread toasted on one side.

Oyster Rarebit.

Clean and remove the hard muscles from half a pint of oysters; parboil the oysters in the chafing-dish in their own liquor until their edges curl, then remove to a hot bowl. Put one tablespoonful of butter, half a pound of cheese broken in small bits, one-fourth a teaspoonful, each, of salt and mustard and a few grains of cayenne into the chafing-dish. While the cheese is melting, beat two eggs slightly, and add to them the oyster liquor; mix this gradually with the melted cheese, add the oysters, and turn at once over hot toast.

Sardine Rarebit.

Melt two tablespoonfuls of butter, add half a pound of fresh cheese, grated or broken into bits, and stir constantly while it melts; then add gradually the beaten yolk of an egg, diluted with two-thirds a cup of cream. Stir until smooth and slightly thickened; season with a scant half a teaspoonful of paprica, one-fourth a teaspoonful of salt and a few drops of tabasco sauce. Have ready a box of sardines, drained, broiled carefully and laid on the untoasted side of bread toasted on one side; pour the rarebit over the sardines and serve at once.

Golden Buck.

Prepare a rarebit in one chafing-dish; break some eggs into the blazer of another containing salted water just "off the boil." When the eggs are poached and the rarebit ready, place an egg above the rarebit on each slice of toast.

Yorkshire Rarebit.

Add two slices of broiled or fried bacon to each service of golden buck.

Mock=Crab Toast.

Melt a tablespoonful of butter in the blazer, turning it about so as to butter the surface thoroughly. Put in half a pound of mild cheese, grated, and stir until the cheese is melted; then add the yolks of three eggs, beaten and diluted with a tablespoonful of anchovy sauce, a teaspoonful of made mustard, two tablespoonfuls of lemon juice or vinegar and one-fourth a teaspoonful of paprica. Stir until smooth. Serve upon the untoasted side of sippets of bread toasted on one side.

Cheese Fondue.

• ¼ a pound of cheese broken into bits.
• 2 tablespoonfuls of butter.
• 1 tablespoonful of flour.
• 1 saltspoonful, each, of soda and mustard.
• ¾ a cup of milk.
• A few grains of cayenne or paprica.
• ½ a cup of stale bread crumbs.
• 3 eggs.

Method.—Sift the soda, mustard and cayenne into the flour and cook in the butter until frothy, then add the milk gradually; when the sauce boils, after all the milk has been added, put the blazer into the bath, add the crumbs and cheese, and cook and stir until the cheese is melted and the mixture becomes smooth; add the eggs, beaten until light, and serve at once.

English Monkey.

• 1 cup of milk.
• 1 egg.
• 1 tablespoonful of butter.
• 1 cup of fine bread crumbs from the centre of a stale loaf.
• ¾ to 1 whole cup of cheese.

Method.—Melt the butter, add the cheese, and stir while melting; then add the bread crumbs, which have been soaked in the milk and the egg lightly beaten.

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