Welsh rabbit contains no rabbit and is not Welsh in origin; instead, it is a dish of melted cheese poured over toast, invented by the British and given its name to mock the Welsh, who were supposedly so gullible that they would accept such a dish as real rabbit. The dish was first referred to in the early eighteenth century, but within sixty years the humourous impulse behind its name had been largely forgotten; accordingly, the absurdity of referring to cheese toast as rabbit was accounted for by the suggestion that the name was actually Welsh rare-bit, as if it were a rare bit of food. This well-intentioned explanation caught on, promoted, no doubt, by the Welsh themselves and by restaurateurs who feared that a customer might order Welsh rabbit and actually expect to receive a rabbit. Other dishes, less well-known, have also acquired names intended to mock the inhabitants of some country or city. Glasgow capon, for instance, is the name of a dish made from herring, not poultry, which appeared at the beginning of the eighteenth century. At the end of that century, German duck appeared, the name of a sheep’s head boiled with onions. Most recently, probably in the nineteenth century, Cape Cod turkey became the name of a baked codfish.
A mixture of molten cheese, blended with ale or beer, along with an assortment of flavorings, and presented on a slice of toasted bread. Occasionally, milk is employed as a substitute for the customary ale or beer. Despite “rabbit” being the accurate term that was initially employed, “rarebit” is a phrase that is frequently utilized as well.