Everything savoury is improved with marmite.
For the record, in the actual episode, there’s argument about origins and naming (see @Mangetout’s excellent post), and his show didn’t always make a clear distinction between food history myth and reality. And I certainly don’t want a doom-ridden person of Welsh descent targeting ME as a result!
The description in my link is barely a paragraph, and I pass all blame onto Alton Brown and Food network!
I have great memories of Welsh rarebit; my mum used to make it. I haven’t
had any for ~50 years or so. I have no memories of how she made it, and
unfortunately it’s too late to ask now and I didn’t think to take any of her recipes
from the house, 
(I wouldn’t have thought she’d’ve put beer in it !)
But… apparently you can buy it in sliced form from ALDI !
I might give that a try and report back. Watch this space → " "
SLICED??
This can’t be right. Is this like cheese in a can?
Also… 99p!?! That must be the last food stuff on earth that costs under £1.
Almost everything is improved with bacon. 
The most important factor IMO is the choice of beer (if you’re to use beer). Lager or IPA will taste horrible.
A sweetish brown ale or mild or red ale is best I think. Maybe a porter - not highly hopped. It may not be a coincidence that these styles of beer seem to occur traditionally in Wales.
We’re going to be in Wales for a couple weeks next year - I’ll have to see if I can find it on a restaurant menu somewhere.
I just bought a four-pack of Guinness Stout at my local HEB. Do you think that will be okay? I hope it keeps a long time. I’m not a beer drinker. Maybe y’all can suggest other recipes I can use the stout in.
And a half pound of aged Irish cheddar named after Oscar Wilde who said among many other clever things, “Imitation is the sincerest form of plagiarism.”
We will definitely need a report on this. A detailed report. With pictures.
Corned beef, pot roast, oven-braised brisket are my favorite options with “leftover” stout. But beef is super pricey, so a similarly sized pork shoulder or Boston butt does veeeerrrry nicely with some root veggies, stout and seasonings. I’ve also done some amazing whole wheat bread (sourdough starter or overnight rise) with porter as well, really malty and delicious. And, you can never go wrong (IMHO) with some quality sausages/brats and onions cooked in Guinness…
and now I’m hungry.
Guinness is quite bitter, but it might work. I’m not really sure.
I’ve used Guinness in mine. It works great.
Also, to use the rest of the Guinness, there’s always Nigella’s Chocolate Guinness Cake.
I like Left Hand Brewing Co’s Milk Stout Nitro, a local Colorado brewer for my options, it’s of course easy to get here but it looks like Spec’s (love that place) and HEB in Austin carry it as well.
I found an image online of the ingredients list of Stouffer’s rarebit. This is it:
Skim milk, cheddar cheese, water, cream, bleached wheat flour, soybean oil. 2% or less of Worcestershire sauce, modified cornstarch, salt, spices, potassium chloride, paprika, lactic acid, calcium lactate.
No beer, no butter, and no mustard, unless it’s included under the vague ‘spices’ umbrella.
Thank you for this thread! I fondly remember the Stouffer’s version. I used to eat it with sourdough bread.
Interesting. Chemistry is a grand thing.
I think I need to take a lactaid just reading this thread.
I’ve never had Welsh Rarebit, and unfortunately with my current level of lactose intolerance I’m afraid I never will. I would like to mention that the first time I ever heard of Welsh Rarebit was when reading one of the Hardy Boys books in the 60’s, when their friend Chet(?) made it. Although if memory serves his recipe was nowhere near as elaborate as any of these, but essentially just melted cheese on toast.
No recipe insights, but this thread brings back a (fairly faint) memory of having the dish for the first time at the restaurant at Mount Vernon VA in 1966. I really liked it and bugged my mother to make some for me. Her version was pretty simple: Campbell’s Cheddar Cheese soup seasoned with Worcestershire sauce over toast.
The first time (and 100’s after) I heard of it was a Bugs Bunny toon. I believe it was titled French Rarebit. Two French chefs don’t seem to know what the dish is, and fight over cooking Bugs in it. I love those old toons
Looking up the directions, I see that this is a condensed soup. You add a can of milk to it. Make that half milk and half beer, add a dash of mustard along with the Worcestershire, and I think you will have a very close approximation.
Never felt an urge to try Welsh rabbit – it seems a sin to mix that poor innocent cheese with beer.
For real high-calorie cheesy goodness try savoury toasted cheese, made with equal parts butter, cream cheese and Brie.