Ye Original Recipe

1-1/2 ounces butter 1 cup cream 1-1/2 cups grated Cheshire cheese (more pungent, snappier, richer, and more brightly colored than its first cousin, Cheddar)

     Heat butter and cream together, then stir in the cheese and let
     it stew.

     You dunk fingers of toast directly into your individual tin, or
     pour the Stewed Rabbit over toast and brown the top under a
     blistering salamander.

The salamander is worth modernizing, too, so you can brand your own Rabbits with your monogram or the design of your own Rabbitry.  Such a branding iron might be square, like the stew tin, and about the size of a piece of toast

It is notable that there is no beer or ale in this recipe, but not lamentable, since all aboriginal cheese toasts were washed down in tossing seas of ale, beer, porter, stout, and ’arf and ’arf.

This creamy Stewed Buck, on which the literary greats of Johnson’s time supped while they smoked their church wardens, received its highest praise from an American newspaper woman who rhapsodized in 1891:  “Then came stewed cheese, on the thin shaving of crisp, golden toast in hot silver saucers—­so hot that the cheese was the substance of thick cream, the flavor of purple pansies and red raspberries commingled.”

This may seem a bit flowery, but in truth many fine cheeses hold a trace of the bouquet of the flowers that have enriched the milk.  Alpine blooms and herbs haunt the Gruyere, Parmesan wafts the scent of Parma violets, the Flower Cheese of England is perfumed with the petals of rose, violet, marigold and jasmine.

 Oven Rabbit (FROM AN OLD RECIPE)

     Chop small 1/2 pound of cooking cheese.  Put it, with a piece of
     butter the size of a walnut, in a little saucepan, and as the
     butter melts and the cheese gets warm, mash them together,

When softened add 2 yolks of eggs, 1/2 teacupful of ale, a little cayenne pepper and salt.  Stir with a wooden spoon one way only, until it is creamy, but do not let it boil, for that would spoil it.  Place some slices of buttered toast on a dish, pour the Rarebit upon them, and set inside-the oven about 2 minutes before serving.

Yorkshire Rabbit (originally called Gherkin Buck, from a pioneer recipe)

Put into a saucepan 1/2 pound of cheese, sprinkle with pepper (black, of course) to taste, pour over 1/2 teacup of ale, and convert the whole into a smooth, creamy mass, over the fire, stirring continually, for about 10 minutes.

     In 2 more minutes it should be done. (10 minutes altogether is
     the minimum.) Pour it over slices of hot toast, place a piece of
     broiled bacon on the top of each and serve as hot as possible.

 Golden Buck

A Golden Buck is simply the Basic Welsh Rabbit with beer (No. 1) plus a poached egg on top.  The egg, sunny side up, gave it its shining name a couple of centuries ago.  Nowadays some chafing dish show-offs try to gild the Golden Buck with dashes of ginger and spice.

 Golden Buck II