4 replies to this topic

[foodie52]

Cheese....let's talk about cheese. Queso con chips is American. Right?

[lovebenton0]

I have never eaten chili con queso in interior Mexico. Cheese melted right on the grill for fondu, yes, but never queso in a bowl con chips, myself.

And what about the cheese products that have arisen from this American love of peppers and cheese? Jalapeno cheese. Pots of commercially made queso? Jars of queso with and without chilies? How about "pimento cheese" with jalapenos? Aren't all of these the products of our love of Tex Mex?

[esperanza]

Cheese melted right on the grill for fondu, yes, but never queso in a bowl con chips, myself.

Queso fundido, anyone? Or perhaps queso fundido con chorizo? Or con champiñones? Or con jamón? Or con rajas de chile poblano?

All of these varieties of 'queso in a bowl' (prepared everywhere in Mexico) are served with either totopos (chips) or with fresh hot tortillas. The cheese is melted in the oven; occasionally the bowl is a molcajete.

[Robb Walsh]

Esperanza is absolutely right. Melted cheese in a bowl with various additions is popular all over Mexico. But you would never mistake it for chile con queso. Mexican queso fundido generally resembles the stretchy cheese on top of a pizza. Quite good in a flour tortilla, but not that golden liquid we call queso in the U.S.

Chile con queso is famously made with American cheese or Velveeta (or restaurant industry equivalent). It stays liquid a long time, especially if you make it in a crockpot. (Rotel tomatoes or Pace picante sauce are also popular in two ingredient quesos, see page 202 in The Tex-Mex Cookbook.)

Pimento cheese, on the other hand, is regarded as a Southern invention. The SFA, Southern Foodway Alliance, did a recipe project on it recently. ()

[lovebenton0]

Esperanza is absolutely right. Melted cheese in a bowl with various additions is popular all over Mexico. But you would never mistake it for chile con queso. Mexican queso fundido generally resembles the stretchy cheese on top of a pizza. Quite good in a flour tortilla, but not that golden liquid we call queso in the U.S.

Chile con queso is famously made with American cheese or Velveeta (or restaurant industry equivalent). It stays liquid a long time, especially if you make it in a crockpot. (Rotel tomatoes or Pace picante sauce are also popular in two ingredient quesos, see page 202 in The Tex-Mex Cookbook.)

Pimento cheese, on the other hand, is regarded as a Southern invention. The SFA, Southern Foodway Alliance, did a recipe project on it recently. (Southernfoodways.com)

That was exactly the distinction I was making. Chili con queso Tex Mex style as a liquid "dip" opposed to the real Mexican cheese for fundido, etc. that is as you described it, Robb, "stretchy cheese." Of course that is the inspiration for the Tex Mex version.

Yes, melted in the oven, sorry I omitted that, esperanza. But often I have eaten the queso fundido melted right on the grill in several areas of central Mexico around San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico City, and down in Cuernavaca. Both at restaurants = taquerias, and in homes of friends.

And the comment on "pimento cheese" was the addition of jalapenos that one can buy in many market places. I just don't think that the Southern pimento cheese would have evolved to a jalapeno pimento cheese on its own without a Tex Mex inspiration.