Your Queso Is Good, But Tequila Makes It Better

Queso, or chile con queso, is a simple, yet dreamy combination of melted cheeses and chiles. Maybe we're biased, but it's possibly one of the most perfect dips for your tortilla chip. Clearly, you can achieve a serviceable cheese dip with a can of Rotel and some Velveeta, but why stop there? Pushing the boundaries of this fabulous dip is a worthwhile pursuit. So the next time you're melting up a creamy batch of queso, you can put the "fun" in fundido by tossing in some chorizo, sautéed jalapenos, onions, and more. Or, kick it all up a notch with a generous splash of tequila.

We've all seen chefs deglaze pans in a fiery flourish using wine, brandy, or cognac –– scraping the browned bits (also known as fond) from the bottom of the pan and melting them into a heady sauce. When preparing Mexican or Tex-Mex cuisine, tequila is the perfect alternative, one that often imparts the earthy sweetness of agave, the plant from which tequila is made. After you sauté and season vegetables like jalapenos, garlic, and red bell pepper, deglaze the pan with a few tablespoons of your favorite tequila and reduce until most of the liquid is gone. Then add cheese, such as asadero or chihuahua –– a Mexican-made, semi-soft, buttery cheese that's perfect for melting.

Simply put, queso is the Spanish word for cheese, yet in the U.S., it's more readily known as that irresistible cheese dip found at Tex-Mex restaurants. Queso fundido, also known as queso flameado or choriqueso, is a restaurant dish that's offered mostly in the northernmost parts of Mexico, and is often prepared tableside, using a high proof liquor to flambé the dish. On average, most tequilas are 80 proof, making it well-suited for this purpose.

The murky origins of queso lie somewhere on the border between Mexico and Texas. Of course, queso fundido and Tex-Mex queso have different thicknesses, which means that the Tex-Mex version is much runnier and more dip-like. One of the first published recipes for queso is in an early 1920s women's organization cookbook in San Antonio, though the item had appeared on menus before this. Queso's rise in the States coincided with the ever-increasing popularity of processed cheese like Velveeta –– an infinitely meltable cheese-like product that remains in many queso recipes today.