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Welsh rabbit is a snack dish, also known as toasted cheese, cheese on toast or Welsh rarebit. It is a dish in British cuisine.
It is made by grating cheese, blending it with beer or a little milk and butter, seasoning (particularly with mustard), and spreading the mixture onto hot toast; the whole is then grilled in the British fashion: that is, heated briskly from above (called broiling in North America). Classically the cheese used in Welsh rarebit is Lancashire, Cheddar or Double Gloucester, although Red Leicester is a popular substitute.
Name
The OED establishes that the original name of the food was "Welsh rabbit", and mentions "Welsh rarebit" only as an "etymologizing alteration of preceding. There is no evidence of the independent use of rarebit". The source is not exactly known, but most likely was originally a slur. In the 17th and 18th centuries it was common to use the adjective "Welsh" to mean inferior quality, even implying counterfeiting. In a society where most people could snare a rabbit for the cooking pot, a Welshman was considered by some people so hopelessly feckless that cheese melted with beer would have to substitute. The first record of the word was in 1725. The alternative form "rarebit" only occurs from 1785. In the Victorian era and later, however, recipe books began to refer to this dish as "Welsh rarebit". This was a euphemism based on folk etymology (that is, this was a new word made up by people who didn't understand why the dish was called "rabbit"). Perhaps because the disparaging origin is recognised, the form "rarebit" is strongly advocated by some in Britain, although the original form remains common.
In parts of the United Kingdom today, there is a tendency for the traditional name to be replaced by the more prosaic "cheese on toast" (more typically applied to a slice of dry cheese, placed on toast, then grilled) or "toasted cheese". A slice of bread topped with cheese, however, is not a real Welsh rabbit.
The Welsh name for Welsh rabbit is caws-wedi-pobi, or the northern caws ar dôst.
Derivatives
Sometimes a slice of tomato is placed atop the cheese mixture before grilling. There are also a number of named derivatives. Perhaps because these are of recent origin, the spelling "rarebit" is commoner for them. The buck rarebit is a Welsh rarebit with a poached egg on top, the Irish rarebit is topped with onions, vinegar, herbs, and gherkins. There is the Yorkshire rarebit which is topped with both bacon and a poached egg. Other variations include the American rarebit which is a Welsh rarebit topped with whisked egg whites, and the English rarebit which uses red wine. A dish called Scotch rarebit exists, although this comes close to cheese (preferably Dunlop) on toast. The King Rarebit is a normal Welsh rabbit with a fried egg on top.
This dish in some form is also common in other European countries. It is known as "Ramequin" or "Käseschnitte", although the French often use the term "Le Welsh", interestingly sometimes associated with Irish cuisine.
Nightmares
Vivid nightmares are famously attributed to overindulgence in Welsh rabbit. This is probably due to the gastrointestinal irritation many experience after consuming a large amount of dairy products. This phenomenon is immortalized in Dreams of a Rarebit Fiend, a series of comic strips written and drawn by Little Nemo creator Winsor McCay beginning in 1904. Each strip portrayed a nightmare experienced by a protagonist, a rarebit fiend who had made the poor choice of consuming too much rarebit before bedtime. There is also a film from 1906 named "Dreams of a Rarebit Fiend" by Edwin S. Porter, a special effects-filled journey through rarebit-induced nightmares. This film went on to inspire a Welsh rabbit-fueled nightmare sequence in the 1919 film "When the Clouds Roll By". There was also an episode of Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. in which the Welsh Rabbit that Gomer consumes causes him to sleepwalk and verbally attack Sergeant Carter (see http://www.tv.com/gomer-pyle-u.s.m.c./gomer-the-welsh-rarebit-fiend/episode/41670/summary.html).
This may be the source of League of Gentlemen character Bernice's reference to a 'cheese dream.'
See also
"Welsh rabbit"