if one wanted to make chile con queso at home, how would you go about it. let me say i'm not talking about velveeta and rotel. i'm talking about something restaurant quality.

would you start with a bechamel sauce (blonde roux with milk added), and then just cheese the hell out of it and add some fresh peppers? do you think that would work? what kind of cheeses, and what kind of peppers would you use? some fresh tomato and onion is always tasty as well, imo, in queso.

i've gotten tired of velveeta queso, and buying from a restaurant seems like cheating.

Most restraunts I have worked in use stuff called MexiMelt- it is similar to Velveeta. Meximelt, milk, butter, fresh pico de gallo and you have awesome queso.

If you are going to go through the trouble of making queso at home and not using velveeta and rotel you might as well change it up and make queso flameado (not a dip).

This is how i usually make it (don't know exact amounts, just kind of mix it up from time to time)

1 round asadero cheese

1 link or so of chorizo

Thinly sliced green pepper

Some finely chopped green onions

Crumbled chiles

1/2 cup or less of chopped fresh cilantro

Cook the chorizo.

Slice the cheese into cubes. Place half the cheese into a baking dish. top with chorizo and green peppers. Add the other half of the cheese on top of this. Bake for about 15-20 minutes (should be bubbly and creamy) @ 300. Top with chiles, onion, and cilantro. Spoon some of this onto a tortilla and you will be good to go.

I really don't know. Not to sound pretentious, but the places I've cooked for have never been "chips and dip" kind of places. I've been trying to think of a way to go about making a dip. I'd probably saute some onion, garlic and peppers in some butter/oil. Dump in a Mexican beer or and bring the beer up to temp. Then I'd add my cheese and season.

The majority of my cheese would probably be fontina because it is a very good melting cheese.

I've never done this and I have no idea how it would work. If you heat the cheese up to much it will break... leaving you with a greasy mess.

Or you can go with the velveta rout and add more of your own cheese and other yummy stuff.

This one is pretty good
http://www.bluemesagrill.com/recipe/queso-blanco

This one is pretty damn good.
http://www.rickbayless.com/recipe/view?recipeID=138

Saute 1 finely diced small onion with one or more finely diced jalepeno in 3 tbls butter. When onions and peppers are cooked add in 1.5 tbls flour and cook for a minute. Add in 1 cup chickm broth and 1/2 cup milk and whisk until smooth. Begin whisking in 12oz mixed shredded cheese such as cheddar, deluxe american, and pepper jack (or use a bag of mexican blend shredded cheese.) Then add in 1/2 small block of velveeta. Add more stock if necessary. Add in 1 diced peeled and seeded tomato. Cook down or thin out with more broth to desired consistancy. Season with sat, pepper, cumin, and chili powder

fido, that one sounds pretty tasty...

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or use a bag of mexican blend shredded cheese

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Fido, you know better than this!

Pre-shredded cheese has added cornstarch to keep the cheese from clumping. Grate your own.

Queso needs to have a thickener so I just let that work in my favor. I think the kind I use is called Craft easy melt.

Right now hatch green chiles are in season. Bump up the jack, lose the japs and dump in as many roasted hatch peppers as you can take. Yum

I would trade my left nut for the original On The Border queso recipe, from the original On The Border on Belt Line Road in Dallas. One of man kind's greatest losses IMO.

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let me say i'm not talking about velveeta and rotel. i'm talking about something restaurant quality.

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Plenty of restaurants use velveeta and rotel. Those that don't use Land O'lakes Extra Melt.

Here is a quick article on the subject:

http://www.houstonpress.com/2004-06-03/restaurants/a-cheesy-controversy/

Bonus points for the Los Tios tie-in.

And I agree with the poster above who recommends doing something a little different if you are going to go to the hassle of making queso and not using velveeta/rotel.

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let me say i'm not talking about velveeta and rotel. i'm talking about something restaurant quality.

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shoo.. my queso is always a hit at every party.

rotel, milk and velveeta melted.
then brown some hamburger, throw in some tony's, a bit of worchestire, chopped onions and bell peppers..

mix, and tell me that ain't good.

even better if you get one of those big sweet loafs and hollow out the middle and pour the cheese in, use the bread you pulled out to dip.

but chips are good too.

i'm open to variations on the theme, but i just am not a fan of straight velveeta and rotel any more.

I like the idea of a roux, then adding mixed cheeses as well as velveeta. May have to try that.

I usually use all velveeta, cut through with some milk, but I start with a healthy amount of onion and garlic, then a couple of japs or serranos. I'm also a big fan of squeezing a Johnsonville brat out of its casing and browning it real well with the veggies. At the very end I'll add fresh tomato for color.

Wanna try queso blanco? If you have ever been to El Arroyos in Austin, this one is close sans the spinach which you can add if you like.

1 c Asadero cheese; shredded *
4 oz Jalapenos, chopped;
-drained, OR
4 oz Poblanos, deveined &
-julienned
1/4 c Half & half
2 T Onion; finely chopped
2 ts Cumin, ground
1/2 ts Salt

Heat all ingredients over low heat, stirring constantly,
until the cheese is melted. Serve warm with tostaditas.

(If this is made with julienned poblanos, it's called
"queso con rajas de chile".

"Gentlemen, we have boat drinks."

RhinoVic
CO'89

Rico's cheese and chips, a can of jalapeno nacho slices... ta da!!! instant ballpark nachos! oh wait, you wanted something real... sorry, your on your own there

That pink house mexican place in Bryan had gooooood white queso. I forget the name, but I believe they used one of the fresca mexican cheeses made with goats milk.

So good. I miss BCS =(

Listen to what fido is saying to you. However, you can even skip the flour part. Saute your onion, some chopped garlic, and whatever roasted pepper you want to use (I would use either poblanos or hatch (in season and damn tasty) and also 1 red bell pepper. Once those are sauteed, add milk and bring to a boil. Once boiling, turn heat to low and slowly start to add your cheese. As for the cheese, and I'm not joking, use velveeta or that meximelt stuff that fido is talking about. You'd be shocked to know that most good quesos are made from this type of "easy melt" cheese. Once all cheese is incorporated, proceed to season with what fido mentioned. You can also add some fresh chopped cilantro at the end. Personally, I would leave the tomatoes out as they contain a lot of water and will thin your queso out slightly.

HTH

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i'm not talking about velveeta and rotel.

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Don't knock it entirely.

Ingredients

* 1 lb Velveeta®
* 10 oz Rotel® canned tomatoes
* 1 lb mushrooms, sliced
* 10.5 oz cream of mushroom soup
* 16 oz Jimmy Dean® sage pork sausage

Preparation
Brown sausage in a skillet and crumble. Drain back in to skillet and set meat in a crockpot. Sauté mushrooms in sausage drippings and add to crockpot. Cut block of Velveeta in to cubes and place in crockpot. Add Rotel (undrained) and soup to the crockpot and mix gently. Set crockpot on low or medium heat and stir as Velveeta melts. It should take 30-45 minutes to melt and mix thoroughly.

I generally mix it up and add chipotle powder or different flavors of Rotel. And it's ALWAYS a favorite. For most parties, I have to make a double batch just to have enough.