Queso!

Welcome, Constant Readers, to the inaugural post under our new name, Cheese Cheese Everywhere!  As mentioned in this weekend’s Afterthoughts post, this new name is more professional, more marketable and lines up better with our web address, cheesecheeseeverywhere.blogspot.com. In addition, it’s also more reflective of our mission, which is to celebrate cheese in all its forms and all its locations.  Cheese cheese everywhere, indeed!

With that out of the way, I hope that everyone had a fantastic Valentine’s Day weekend and that the warmth of your hearts was more than enough to overcome the cold, cold weather.  Seriously, -45 with the wind chill?  Whazuppwitdat???

There was an original plan for today’s post but it seems to have fallen through.  That’s ok, though, because Captain Cheese always has a back-up plan (except when he doesn’t)!

The Captain did some entertaining on the weekend and always enjoys serving chips and salsa when he has company over.  This time, in addition to the salsa, there was guacamole (which was not a big success and which we will leave for a guacamole blog to review).  There was also queso, in the form of Tostitos Salsa Con Queso.

Some of you may be reading this and thinking, no way is that queso.  That “queso” is a fraud.  And that’s a valid point.  It’s obviously not home-made, it has tons of preservatives and additives and weird names you can’t pronounce, etc, etc.  But, in a pinch, when you’re already at the store, it’s easy to grab this when you’re in the chip aisle.  And that’s what I did.

All that being said, I happen to enjoy this “queso”.  It can be eaten cold, like a dip, or it can be warmed up.  I prefer it warmed up.  I like the consistency.  It’s not so thick that you dip a chip and it comes out without anything on it and it doesn’t break your chips.  But it’s not so thin that it’s dripping off your chip and onto the floor either.  

As for flavour and heat, it comes with Monterey Jack cheese and jalapeno peppers and is labeled “medium”.  Everyone has their own preferences as to spiciness and what they can handle comfortably.  For those of you familiar with the Scoville scale, my research indicates that Tostitos salsas usually fall in the 25-50 range.  A Jalapeno pepper by itself can be anywhere in the 1000-4000 range.  I’m kind of a wimp so something that is 40 to 800 times less hot than a jalapeno pepper is fine by me.  It’s like the Goldilocks of dips for me, just right.

I think that, if you have time to make your own, then go with that.  But if you’re planning a get-together and running here, there and everywhere, trying to get everything done, the Tostitos Salsa Con Queso is a good choice in a hurry.

If you are thinking of trying to make your own queso, this recipe looks very good.  Disclaimer:  I have not tried it but it may be featured on an upcoming edition of Recipe Review: http://www.aspicyperspective.com/the-best-queso-cheese-sauce/2/

One final note:  You will be seeing some additional changes to Cheese Cheese Everywhere in the coming weeks as we tweak it to where we want to be.  Be patient!  And if you have any suggestions, feel free to let me know.

Stay cheesy!

Captain Cheese