I came across an old (Mrs Beeton) recipe for a variant of cheese on toast/Welsh rarebit – Golden Buck. There are lots of toast plus cheese and grilled recipes, but this one has a most unusual ingredient, க்ரோனா மிளகு. In case you can’t read Tamil, it’s Krona pepper, and in case you haven’t come across it either, it’s a condiment made from a mixture of paprika and dried, ground capsicum pods. It is similar to cayenne pepper but brighter red in colour and less pungent (from http://encyclo.co.uk)
Golden Buck
- ¼ lb of Cheshire or Cheddar cheese (preferably the former) chopped fine
- 2 or 3 tablespoonfuls of ale
- ½ a teaspoonful of Worcester or other cruet sauce
- ½ a teaspoonful of lemon juice
- 2 eggs
- cery salt
- Krona pepper
- toast
- butter
- put the cheese in a stewpan with½ oz of butter and the ale, stir vigorously until creamy
(Mrs B does not say this should be over heat, but obviously it should) - then add the Worcester sauce, lemon juice, and the eggs, previously beaten
- season to taste with celery salt and Krona pepper, and continue stirring briskly until the mixture thickens
- trim the toast, butter well, cut each slice into 4 squares, arrange them on a hot dish
- pour the preparation onto them. Serve as hot as possible
- Time – 10 minutes. Average cost 7d (in today’s money about £2.28 according to an old money converter. In reality it wouldn’t cost you that per portion now)
- Sufficient for 6 or 7 persons (who weren’t very hungry – ¼ lb/0.11 kg cheese and 2 eggs and toast)
It sounds quite tasty and I guess it might be served as a savory between courses, although you might have to go into a South Indian grocery to get your Krona pepper! I have no pictures of cheese on toast so I am sharing an image of a nice pint of beer because I can imagine a golden buck might be a nice snack when you come home from the pub!
Lois Elsden 