Roadblock

So Matt and I did a practice run on the Rarebit last night. A pound of sharp cheddar, a cup of porter, some butter, salt, mustard, paprika, Tabasco, and Worcestershire, finished off with an egg, well beaten. It was the consistency of heavy cream, and had a kind of rosé color, like the port swirls in port wine cheddar. We ladled it over the toasted bread and ate it with knife and fork. The rarebit was rich and tangy. It didn't have enough kick for Matt so we added some cayenne, which gave some afterburn heat, but didn't add anything flavor-wise.

Matt did seem to like it at the time, but this morning he couldn't stop going on about how fondue is so much better. Why make rarebit when you can make fondue? He says he like the subtlety of fondue and how flavors like nutmeg can come through. Also, when it comes to the introduction of bread to cheese, he is all about the long fork dunking and not so much the open faced sandwich scenario.

Of course, I don't disagree that fondue is the bees knees. And nobody loves nutmeg and melted cheese like I do. But why limit yourself? Why not expand your melted cheese vocabulary? Plus, as I discovered to my delight this morning, the chafing dish is incredibly easy to clean, unlike the fondue pot. Cleaning the fondue pot is a multi-stage project that involves a lot of elbow grease. The chafing dish did not requires soaking or scraping, or trying to avoid getting the wooden handle wet.

I am eager to move forward with the perfection of rarebit, but it seems my biggest roadblock will be Matt. How can I convince him that its worth another try?