Choriqueso

Chroizo, cheese, and chips to dip…sign me up! It’s hard to find Mexican chorizo where I live so I used the Cheater’s Chorizo recipe and added 1/4 cup cider vinegar to make the mix as wet as it should be for that type of meat. Timewise, from making the chorizo to serving, the dip took a total of 25 minutes, start to finish. The meat never really gets browned, but you can tell it’s cooked when it’s no longer pink. Cooking the meat took about 5 minutes to reach the “browned ” stage. It took a further 5 minutes to make the cheese sauce and add the cooked meat back in. Stir, garnish, and serve. It was tasty and surprisingly filling. After having this as an appetizer, we all decided to have only a salad for supper as we were so full. It wasn’t too spicy and was surprisingly creamy. I think that the only change I’d make is to add more cream or milk, as I found it a little thick for dipping. However, as a filling for a tortilla, it’s a perfect consistency. I might even add a little hot sauce or ground chili for a little more kick.

This is a wonderful, quick appetizer. I added the cheese immediately after pouring the cream into the skillet, and it took 2 minutes over the low heat to blend together. I chose to drain my chorizo on paper towels while I warmed the cream and cheese together. It was a beautiful presentation served directly out of the skillet. It was delicious. This dip would serve four or five people as an appetizer or two to three people as its own unique nacho dinner.

I love this dish for its versatility. It can easily be a starter, weeknight supper, or part of a many-course meal. And of course, what’s not to love about sausage and cheese. This dish came together in a total time of 30 minutes. I served the choriqueso with soft tacos, spicy guacamole, and pickled jalepenos, and pico de gallo.

Cheese, cream, and sausage…how bad could it be, really? As it turns out, not bad at all. In fact, this is one of the easiest and tastiest dang party treats I’ve made in some time. Hardly more difficult than making a ranch dip by dumping some dried salad dressing herbs into a vat of sour cream, this dip comes together quickly and offers a restaurant-quality appetizer. To say it’s addictive would be a gross understatement. It satisfies in a way that few things other than melted cheese and fatty pork products can. It proved the perfect game-watching nosh as the boys and I cheered our Bruins to victory. I was glad I made double the batch. If you can’t find Mexican chorizo, don’t panic. I made mine with finely diced Portuguese chorizo and it was awesome. I suspect that any spicy pork—andouille, tasso ham, hot Italian sausage—would work just fine here. Each would be YUM! The recipe doesn’t call for it, but for my taste the dip needed just a quick seasoning of salt and pepper before serving. If you’re using really salty tortilla chips, you might be able to do without the salt, but do check before serving. I have a funny feeling that the boys may require that this dip become part of a winning team superstition around here, so I may find myself making another batch tomorrow night. Shave your head or grow out a beard for the playoffs if you will, I’m eating this choriqueso dip!

This recipe easy to put together and the flavor was great.The flavor–spice and all—comes from the queso without having to add any other flavors. If I were to make this again, I might put it in a small slow cooker to see whether it stays more fluid for a bit longer. I tried these with tortilla chips and with corn tortillas and really like it with the regular tortillas. The chips need to be less salted to be good with the queso, but are great because they hold up even after the queso has become quite difficult. There’s a huge advantage to using non-processed cheeses in the sense that you can adjust the flavors by choice of chorizo and cheeses. I made this a second time with a different chorizo and a mix of Monterey Jack and other Mexican cheeses available at the grocery store. Both times it was the flavor that made this recipe worthwhile. The only problem is that it doesn’t stay fluid and becomes quite gloppy and hard to serve after a little while. This is the advantage of processed cheeses–something in the processing allows the dip to stay fluid at room temperature for much longer.

This choriqueso is spectacular and couldn’t be easier to prepare. It takes about 10 minutes to brown the chorizo and another 8 to 10 minutes to melt the queso. This recipe will serve 8 people as an appetizer or 3 to 4 for an entree. I’m currently enjoying a month with the famous low-carb diet, so I simply ate this as I would chili and did not use tortillas.

I appreciate that this recipe avoids the use of processed cheese yet isn’t too highbrow. The resulting cheese dip is delicious without being stuck up. This recipe works well when you use a flavorful Mexican chorizo and use corn tortillas instead of chips. It also helps to not get hung up on expecting a perfectly silky smooth dip. I took a shortcut and used already shredded cheese. If you use this as an appetizer, it could serve 8. Here are some tips that I’ll incorporate the next time I make this dip: With the chorizo that I used, 8 ounces ended up being more like a 1 1/3 cups. Use a really flavorful chorizo since that is the biggest flavor element in this dip! Some chorizo is one note so make sure you really like the chorizo before using it for this recipe. Draining the excess fat from the chorizo takes a little patience. Using a slotted spoon works but you end up with a lot of excess fat in the pan and then you have to drain the excess fat. Next time, I may pour all of the chorizo and the fat into a sieve as a shortcut. This recipe has the potential to be a salt bomb depending on how salty the cheese or chorizo is. With the chorizo that I used, corn tortillas were a significantly better option than salted corn tortilla chips. The queso does get a bit curdy as it gets cold. My testers didn’t mind it because it has less of a processed food feel.

After questioning whether my chorizo was the right kind, I made this recipe always and it was super. I used Cacique pork chorizo, which is in all the grocery stores around Baton Rouge. I don’t know how many it would serve–depends on what you are doing with it. We tested it with tortilla chips as well as wrapped in warm flour tortillas—great both ways. And then the next morning it was just as good as a sauce over poached eggs on grits. I can imagine a lot of ways this would be good. For Cinco de Mayo, I used it as a sauce for some chicken roasted with my made-up blend of Mexican spices and magic. All around good stuff!

This recipe took literally 20 minutes from beginning to end. I first browned the chorizo—I used Mexican chorizo that came in a plastic tube. I would advice using 2 to 3 paper towels and place the cooked chorizo in a bowl to help remove some of the grease and fat. Then I followed the rest of the directions. I had bought a block of Monterey Jack cheese and shredded it myself. To simplify your life, try to buy already shredded cheese, or then make sure your block of cheese is very, very cold—perhaps even place it in the freezer for an hour—prior to shredding it as it becomes pasty very quickly and is hard to shred. It took approximately 5 minutes to melt. The end result was sublime. The choriqueso had an amazing taste and is a fun appetizer—it would be enough to fill more than 8 people. It has a nice little kick to it and if children will be present, I’d suggest using just 1/2 cup Mexican chorizo–enough to give a taste of it yet still easy on a child’s palate.

I served this choriqueso recipe in celebration of Cinco de Mayo—in memory of Mexico fending off the would-be French invasion of the US in 1862. It was delicious—the choriqueso, that is, not the invasion.The combination of chorizo, cream, and cheese was savory and the cilantro added a fresh note. This is a recipe that I’ll use as a filling in other dishes.

This is a quick and easy way to make a spicy queso for dipping. It took 18 minutes to make, about 10 of which was hands-on. For most of the chorizo cooking time, it didn’t require much attention, just an occasional stir. Making the cheese sauce took 3 minutes. The chorizo did not give off much fat at all.There wasn’t even enough to pour off. Because I needed to make this at least an hour before serving, I broke out my Crockpot Little Dipper, which I think holds 16 ounces. That worked well to hold the dip—minus the cilantro garnish—until serving time. It was just the right size. I added the cilantro when I served the dip. Two of us almost polished this off with chips as a prelude to a meal. Depending on what else is served. This was great with tortilla chips made by a local restaurant.

This is an easy and quick recipe. The hardest part may be finding quality Mexican chorizo that doesn’t turn into a puddle in the pan. Luckily we have some locally made stuff that’s top quality. After browning the chorizo, I wiped the little amount of fat out of the pan. It may have been a good idea to let the pan cool a little first, as when I added the cream it immediately started to boil. I quickly added the cheese and it was all melted in under a minute. loved the added cilantro on top—it gave a nice freshness to an otherwise rich dish. My only complaint is that I would have liked more heat in the dish. Next time I’ll add a minced chili pepper—maybe a jalapeño—or some dried red pepper or cayenne pepper. Also, if you’re serving it as a dip, having a preheated bowl would be a good idea as the choriqueso starts to cool and seize fairly quickly.

So there I was, standing at the kitchen counter, dunking and scooping away at this choriqueso, which is another one of those recipes that never makes it to the table because it’s sooo freakin’ good. Pausing, I remind myself this dip could probably serve 6 to 8 people as an appetizer, so I roll up the bag of tortilla chips and pout. Defeated, I ponder other uses for this creamy cheese fondue. It occurred to me that the choriqueso could be quite delicious as a sandwich spread. The next day I went to work after having slathered the dip on a ciabatta roll and pairing it with a grilled chicken breast, a little thinly sliced red onion, and a slice of tomato. Yep, I was right—delicious. That being said, let me add as an alternative serving suggestion: “BFF to all meat sandwiches, big and small.”

Spicy fatty greasy salty—what’s not to like here? I first enjoyed the plain cheese version of this dip with friends from New Mexico, and subsequently as bar food in a Mexican restaurant in Chicago, so I think this crosses some cultural lines: Texas, New Mexico, Mexico. Despite the regions’ cultural and culinary differences, here’s a dish they can all agree on. Plus, there’s the magic of 5 ingredients, minimal prep time, a serve-in-the-skillet presentation, and barely any dishes! I started by baking my own tortilla chips, which added a few minutes to the total time but is always worth the little bit of extra effort. My personal preference leaned strongly toward the dipping of a crisp chip verse the wrapping with a soft tortilla. I prefer the crunchy change of texture here, as with most dips and their vehicle, whether chip or vegetable. I browned the chorizo for the full 7 minutes. However, my cheese melted completely in less than 2 minutes, so my total time was right at 10 minutes. I made the dip in a cast-iron skilled so the presentation was all set. I admit that this was served nowhere near to 8. Serves 2, I would say. This dip alone would make a very satisfying meal most any time of year. With the addition of a salad and a side, the number of servings could perhaps increase, although I’m not strongly advocating that idea. One additional thought would be to use Cheddar or a combination of Cheddar and the Monterey Jack. A bit of sharp Cheddar flavor could nicely balance the richness.