I didn’t realize that making Tex-Mex queso dip was a hurdle for some people. It’s a junk food indulgence I’ve been making since I was a kid but when I saw a scrum forming by a stack of the stuff on sale in the market yesterday I realized people are mystified by those orange jars. A kind woman commented to me as I watched the melee from a safe distance “I never thought that stuff was very good” and so I promised her I’d type up my memorized recipe. Here it is and thank you for restoring my faith that people can see past convenience products Mrs. Torledge.
Authentic really only to the snack food industry in this form, I do make an upmarket “white” queso dip with wine, roasted corn, and higher quality melting cheeses that might have more culinary merit but this simple recipe is strictly Saturday movie night nachos fare. I can say at least that it’s not the gummy commercial versions sold by tortilla chip manufacturers that use even more chemical trickery so their jars can sit on the shelves indefinitely. Still, consider this a once-in-a-while indulgence and don’t dare call it “Mexican”. They’d scoff at the stuff south of the border.
Every household within 2000 miles of Texas has made the ubiquitous and underwhelming “Ro-tel cheese dip” based on the brand of tinned mixed green chiles and tomatoes melted together with Velveeta brand processed cheese “loaf” – that’s pretty much the whole recipe and it’s been around since 1970s housewives started taking their culinary cues from advertiser sponsored lifestyle magazines. I instead use more widely available (and more piquant) pickled jalapeno peppers and some of their brine to give muted heat and brighten the flavour. Not least because they don’t sell Rotel in Canada as far as I can tell and because I pack my own every fall when giant boxes of fresh chiles of all sorts can be had for pennies. You can of course use your local brand of tinned chiles or improvise your own fresh chile component depending on what’s available and what heat you prefer no matter how far you are from Texas.
This has surprisingly little cheese and relies on the stability of tinned evaporated milk dosed with a good measure of freshly ground cumin bloomed in oil to get the full flavour potential. For a less creamy version I often replace some or all of the evaporated milk with more tomato juice. Play around until it suits your tastes but the less milk you add, the more cheese you’ll likely need. Tinker with the ratios but know It’s hard to make a batch that won’t be addictive.
Tex-Mex Queso Dip
Note: if you have cheap pans with thin bottoms, make this in a double boiler lest you scorch and ruin the whole batch.
2 tablespoon corn or vegetable oil
2 teaspoons freshly ground black peppercorn
1 tablespoon freshly ground cumin seed
2 cloves fresh garlic, minced fine
1 teaspoon fine sea salt (adjust to taste depending on cheese used)
2 tablespoons corn starch or flour
3 tablespoons pickled jalapeno peppers, chopped fine
2 tablespoons brine from pickled jalapenos
100 grams tinned tomatoes, drained and chopped fine
120 ml tomato juice *
350 ml evaporated milk *
100 grams shredded Cheddar, Monterrey Jack, or similar cheese *
* Alter these ratios to suit your tastes after your first test batch
In a heavy-bottom sauce pan over medium low heat, add the cold oil, spices, garlic, & salt all at once. Stir constantly until fragrant, about two minutes. Add the corn starch or flour and whisk until no lumps remain. Add all remaining ingredients except cheese and whisk until smooth and warmed through. Add the cheese and whisk until completely melted. Adjust salt as needed and serve warm or store up to three days covered under refrigeration.
Reheats well in the microwave using short bursts with thorough stirring between although you may need to ‘loosen’ the dip with a few tablespoons of water or tomato juice after refrigeration. Served with tortilla chips or on full blown nachos & Tex-Mex tacos, try not to eat it all in one sitting.
