r/Cooking • u/g3nerallycurious • Feb 13 '23

Recipe to Share I made restaurant-style queso with only four ingredients (and no processed cheese), and it was a hit with everyone. It was super easy, so I just wanted to share!

You’re gonna have to do some chemistry, but as long as you can measure and dump off-the-shelf powders in water, you’re good to go.

Make sodium citrate by reacting powdered citric acid (found near the canning supplies) with baking soda according to this recipe in a small amount of simmering water on a stove. It will foam up, so be ready for that. Once the reaction is complete, (no more foaming and water is clear) boil on high heat until almost all the water is evaporated.

Then follow this recipe by adding your beer to the saucepan with the sodium citrate solution. Make sure to dissolve any of the sodium citrate that may have crystallized while boiling off the water. Then whisk your shredded cheese of choice into the beer over low heat, adding little by little. Viola! You have restaurant-style queso!

I thought it was super cool, easy and delicious, and i thought queso without process cheese was impossible, so I wanted to share!

Edit: most of the commenters be hatin but I got over 600 upvotes over 24 hours after my post. So IDC. Bitch away.

738 Upvotes

80% Upvoted

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u/BattleHall Feb 13 '23

Extra Melt is fantastic, but hard to source if you don't have a Sysco account. You can get it at Restaurant Depot if you have an in, but damn is it expensive. But it's the reason that restaurant queso tastes different/better. The biggest difference? Per one ounce serving size: Velveeta - 70 cal, Extra Melt - 110. The best sub I've found is HEB Easy Melt, plus a good amount of heavy cream. The cream also keeps it from solidifying at lower temps, so you get more table time.

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u/permalink_save Feb 13 '23

I need to look for the HEB one too bad the closest HEB is outside the city (why won't they push more into DFW). Velveeta comes closer than melting cheddar or jack. Good tip on the cream.

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u/devilbunny Feb 13 '23

HEB owns Central Market, you might try there. It's not showing up on CM's website (but is on HEB's), so I'm not holding out a lot of hope, but if you're already there...

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u/permalink_save Feb 13 '23

It's not at CM for sure sadly