Welsh Rarebit with IPA Poached Eggs

This recipe is the second of mine served at the beer geek brunch with Hawthorne's and Philly Beer Scene magazine. This recipe actually started as an attempt to infuse beer into one of my favorite breakfast/brunch foods: eggs benedict. The problem with me doing eggs benedict is that I am not really sure what traditional eggs benedict is exactly. I normally use Bearnaise sauce, but I think its supposed to be hollandaise. I don't care if I serve it with ham or bacon (I usually just use whatever is in the fridge if anything) but probably a purist would say it has to be a specific form of swine. Without knowing what "real" eggs benedict is, and also not being able to taste the beer I put in my Bearnaise sauce, I decided to go a different route.

I still liked the idea of poached eggs over a toasted bread product with a sauce, I just needed to find out how to put beer in there. The best beer sauce I have made before is a cheese sauce made with porter. The sauce is part of a recipe for Welsh Rarebit, something I saw on Good Eats. Welsh rarebit is basically rye toast with a cheese sauce. All I did was add a poached egg.

Poaching the eggs in an IPA worked great. It gave the eggs a nice bitter flavor that went well with the roasty, cheesy goodness of the sauce. Also, I love mixing the runny yolks with the sauce and soaking it all up with nice rye toast.

IPA Poached eggs

Poach the eggs in an IPA (I used Sly Fox Oddyssey Imperial IPA) diluted in half with water. The whites should be cooked but the yolk should be nice and runny.

Welsh Rarebit

2 T butter

2 T AP flour

1 t dijon mustard

1 t Worcestershire sauce

1/2 C plus 1 T porter style beer (I used Victory's baltic porter, Baltic Thunder)

3/4 C cream

6 oz sharp cheddar cheese

1/2 t crushed red pepper

Salt and pepper to taste

Rye toast

Make a roux with the butter and flour over low heat. Add in mustard and worcestershire sauce, 1/2 cup of beer, cream, and season with salt and pepper. Slowly add in the cheese and let it melt into the sauce while stirring. Finish with the crushed red pepper and the tablespoon of porter.

Assembly: Place toast on plate. Place eggs on toast. Smother with cheese sauce.