{"id":2046,"date":"2023-10-25T04:24:59","date_gmt":"2023-10-25T04:24:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/everything-you-need-to-know-to-celebrate-national-queso-day\/"},"modified":"2023-10-25T04:24:59","modified_gmt":"2023-10-25T04:24:59","slug":"everything-you-need-to-know-to-celebrate-national-queso-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/everything-you-need-to-know-to-celebrate-national-queso-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Everything You Need to Know to Celebrate National Queso Day"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Editor\u2019s note: September 20th 2021 is National Queso Day. We talked to two experts to learn more about this Southwestern specialty with roots in the Mexican dish queso fundido. <\/em><\/p>\n

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\"queso<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

Queso, the Spanish word for cheese, refers, in Texas (and across the Southwestern US,) to a most delicious expression of melted cheese. Short for chile con queso, the hot dip contains roasted chiles and a variety of cheese combined, made gooey, and served with fresh tortillas or tortilla chips. With the incredible spectrum of cheeses available to consumers today, which cheese is the best cheese of all for this melty application?<\/p>\n

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\"queso<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

Classic Queso<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The true Tex-mex version of queso is traditionally made with processed American cheese. \u00a0Velveeta, specifically, that orange brick of \u201ccheese food\u201d that melts into the cheese-y lava of dreams. But cheese connoisseurs and even everyday cheese lovers often wish for more flavor, more cheese expression, if you will, from their queso. <\/p>\n

Lisa Fain, author of the definitive book Queso!<\/a>, covers the history of the delicious dish, and addresses this issue head on. Though the combo of melted cheese and fresh green chiles most likely originated in Mexico before 1900, various versions of queso began to appear in newspapers, Texas women\u2019s club and church group cookbooks, and restaurants in the early 20th century.\u00a0 Early recipes used paprika and cayenne as subs for the then hard-to-find fresh peppers, and American cheese.<\/p>\n

Velveeta<\/a>, invented in 1918, did not appear in a recipe until 1939, according to Fain, but Ro-tel<\/a>, a Texas company that makes canned tomatoes with green chiles, published a recipe<\/a> that started the fire: Ro-tel heated with processed cheese until melted, served with Fritos for dipping. <\/p>\n

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Cheeses in Queso<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The skillet versions served near Texas border towns like El Paso, often called out as queso fundido (molten cheese) or queso flameado (flaming cheese, ignited with alcohol) offered intriguing regional variations using cheeses like asadero, muenster, chihuahua, Monterey Jack, young cheddar, and even Gruy\u00e8re, but Tex-mex, a true cuisine of its own, has legions of loyal fans. In Mexico queso fundido is often made with local cheeses such as asadero, panela, Mennonite, manchego or Chihuahua.<\/p>\n

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\"Jalapeno Bacon Queso Dip\"&nbsp;by&nbsp;Isabelle @ Crumb&nbsp;is licensed under&nbsp;CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

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“Jalapeno Bacon Queso Dip”<\/a>\u00a0by\u00a0Isabelle @ Crumb<\/a>\u00a0is licensed under\u00a0CC BY-NC-ND 2.0<\/a><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Starch Conundrum<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Like its international cousins, fondue, fonduta, and rarebit, queso often needs the addition of starch (like flour, masa, or cornstarch) to thicken the sauce when more classic, unprocessed cheeses like those mentioned above are utilized. Says Fain, who includes dozens of recipes in her book, \u201cArtisanal\u00a0cheeses do not have added emulsifiers and oils, and whether they are young or aged, neither will melt into a smooth sauce without the addition of starches and fat to bind the sauce.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn terms of queso,\u201d she continues, \u201cbrick processed cheese [like Velveeta] is the easiest way to create a pot of cheesy gold. The more processed the cheese, the easier it is to melt because the emulsifiers and oils enable the sauce to stay smooth and not break. Brick processed cheese is the best for melting and requires no additional ingredients to create\u00a0a creamy sauce. American cheese, which is less processed and tastes better as it has more pure dairy, does need starch and additional fat added to it when using it for a sauce if you want the sauce to stay together.\u201d Contemporary versions use artisan cheese with sodium citrate plus liquid (often beer or water) to bring the full flavors of \u201creal\u201d cheese to meet the creamy gooey dip that is queso. It\u2019s a technique we shared in an earlier article, Why Sodium Citrate is the Secret to the Silkiest Cheese Sauce<\/a>. Fain explains, \u201cWhile the sodium citrate is not an everyday pantry ingredient if you do have access to it, it creates a queso that has a lot of depth of flavor, along with that silky texture people expect with their queso.\u201d<\/p>\n

We asked Paula Lambert, a legendary pioneer among American artisan cheese-makers, for her take on the queso cheese challenge. \u201cWhen I wrote Cheese Lover\u2019s Cookbook and Guide<\/a>,\u201d says Lambert, who founded the Mozzarella Company<\/a> in Dallas in 1982 and grew up Fort Worth, Texas, \u201cI had to include a queso recipe, and of course I used Velveeta and Ro-tel for the classic and best of them all.\u00a0 It\u2019s funny because it\u2019s hard to find Velveeta at the grocer\u2019s, you buy it on the aisle, it\u2019s not even refrigerated!\u201d<\/p>\n

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caciotta photo courtesy of Mozzarella Company<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

She also had to include a recipe for what she calls the gourmet version. \u201cYou roast all the chiles, and be careful to add cornstarch and wine, just like fondue, and don\u2019t overheat, to keep the cheese from separating.\u201d Her tip\u2014try Mozzarella Company Caciotta<\/a>, a Texan version of Monterey Jack, for an excellent and flavorful addition to your next queso dip, unless you plan on hitting the process cheese aisle. <\/p>\n

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Choriqueso Recipe<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In the South Texas border town of Laredo, a skillet queso of stringy white cheese studded with tangy chorizo sausage reigns\u00a0supreme. Choriqueso<\/em>, as it\u2019s commonly known, is so prevalent\u00a0that it can be difficult to find creamy yellow queso there. This is a hearty dish meant to be eaten with tortillas, and it can be\u00a0 enjoyed at any hour of the day. You could use store-bought\u00a0chorizo and remove the casing, but it\u2019s not difficult to make\u00a0your own, as many in Laredo do and as I do here.<\/p>\n

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\"choriqueso

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choriqueso photo credit Aubrie Pick and Ten Speed Press<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Choriqueso <\/strong><\/p>\n

Makes 6 to 8 servings<\/p>\n

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2 ancho chiles, seeded,\u00a0rehydrated and chopped\u00a0<\/p>\n

2 Tablespoons red wine\u00a0vinegar\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00bc cup water\u00a0<\/p>\n

2 Tablespoons chopped yellow onion\u00a0<\/p>\n

1 clove garlic, chopped \u00bd teaspoon kosher salt\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00bd teaspoon ground\u00a0cumin\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00bd teaspoon paprika\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00bd teaspoon dried\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

oregano\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00bc teaspoon ground cinnamon\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00bc teaspoon cayenne\u00a0<\/p>\n

1 tablespoon\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

vegetable oil\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00bd pound ground pork\u00a0<\/p>\n

1 pound Monterey Jack\u00a0cheese, shredded\u00a0<\/p>\n

Warm flour tortillas,\u00a0for serving\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Place the anchos in a blender with the vinegar and water. Blend until\u00a0smooth, then add the onion, garlic, salt, cumin, paprika, oregano,\u00a0cinnamon, and cayenne. Blend again until smooth, scraping down\u00a0the sides with a rubber spatula as needed. If it\u2019s too stiff to blend\u00a0properly, add water, 1 tablespoon at a time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a large broiler-safe skillet, warm the vegetable oil over medium low heat. Pour in the chile puree and cook for 1 minute. Add the\u00a0ground pork and stir until well combined with the sauce. Cook, stirring\u00a0occasionally, until no longer pink, about 10 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasonings, if you like.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Position a rack 6 inches from the upper heating element and preheat\u00a0the broiler.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Evenly sprinkle the Monterey Jack cheese over the cooked chorizo in\u00a0the skillet. Place the skillet under the broiler and cook for 2 minutes,\u00a0or until the cheese is lightly browned and bubbling.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Serve warm in the skillet with tortillas. <\/p>\n

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Recipe reprinted by permission from QUESO! by Lisa Fain Copyright 2017 Published by Ten Speed Press.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s note: September 20th 2021 is National Queso Day. We talked to two experts to learn more about this Southwestern specialty with roots in the Mexican dish queso fundido. \u00a0 Queso, the Spanish word for cheese, refers, in Texas (and across the Southwestern US,) to a most delicious expression of melted cheese. Short for chile … Okumaya devam et “Everything You Need to Know to Celebrate National Queso Day”<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1271,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[395],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-milk-and-diary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1271"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2046"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2046\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}