The best queso dip you'll ever have. Go Pats.

[sir pball]

500g medium-aged sharp Cheddar (Cabot works well)
500g Pepper Jack
500g Longhorn Colby
1,350g beer (I like Tecate for this)
30.00g JOHA SDS2*
10.00g iota carragenan*
5.00g kappa carragenan*
7.50g sodium alginate*
12.00g salt
6 poblano chiles, charred, seeded and diced
2 ancho chiles, charred, seeded and diced
1.5# plum tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and diced
3 medium jalapeños, seeded and minced
75g toasted dried guajillo chile powder (roast dried peppers @ 400, checking every minute. blitz and sift)
1T granulated garlic
1T onion powder

Combine the beer, SDS2, carragenans and salt in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil and blend vigorously with a whisk or a hand blender until all powders have dissolved.

Over very low heat, mix the shredded cheeses in a small handful at a time, constantly mixing vigorously or blitzing with the hand blender

When all the cheese is blitzed and the sauce is smooth, fold in the vegetables and seasonings. Dump in a crock pot and enjoy!

* - All the powders are available quite cheaply at The Modernist Pantry along with the "drug scale" to weigh them out - I didn't put "7.50g" for kicks!

[rusty quoin]

1. I'll keep that in mind if we get through this eastern storm.

[sir pball]

2. I'm already buckling down.

Got plenty of dip, and water, but not sure what to do if transit goes down. Take a day off?

[rusty quoin]

3. Of course you take a day or two off.

I'm guessing you are young, because I would do anything to get to work when I was young.

Maybe you are not, so I say be safe and warm. There are other days to work.

[sir pball]

4. I suppose "young" is relative

But I'm at the point where I'm old by any measure.

Then again, I plan, with malice aforethought, a six mile run in the teeth of the storm, to work...the wind is at my back

[rusty quoin]

6. I admire you. Do like I use to do. Layer clothing.

Have good socks and boots. Block wind from all points possible. I use to go winter camping in New Hampshire . You can do it if you need to get to work.

[TexasBushwhacker]

5. Use less beer and you won't need the additives

Carragenan and alginate can cause inflammation in some people.

[Warpy]

7. Well, yeah, you will

otherwise cheese will separate into solids and oil and be very nasty.

If you don't want to wait for the powders to be delivered, just start off with a roux. People with celiac disease can use rice flour instead of wheat, it works jut fine. Add the beer, grate the cheese, and then add the cheeses slowly. Stir in the peppers and tomatoes.

This looks like it's trying to be a low carb recipe. If you're going to do a nacho dip, why bother?

[sir pball]

8. Plus both points.

Without the SDS (sodium tripolyphosphate, I'll admit), it won't EVER mix, and the carageenans add uncutousness and meltability..

But, a roux adds a LOT of flavor and texture, your sauce ends up, flavorwise, as roux+milk+cheese, and texturally a slightly gritty pan-made cheese sauce.

I'm definitely not trying to be lo-carb, just delicious.

[Major Nikon]

10. I just use cornstarch mixed in with the shredded cheese before melting

However, the texture is not as good as some commercially produced queso that use more specialized stabilizers.

I've never used carageenans before and always thought of them as being used exclusively for applications where you need a thickening starch that's not heat activated.

[sir pball]

9. It's true but,

Less is just "broken" - if you need, make a roux and then mix in proportion.

[dem in texas]

11. I think I'll Stick with the old Tex-Mex Version

1 lb. Velveta cheese melted on low with a can of Rotel Tomatoes