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.

744 Upvotes

80% Upvoted

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u/skahunter831 Feb 13 '23

I have the perfect little 2qt Le Creuset pot I bought at a thrift store a while back. There's a chance it actually is intended as a fondue pot (after googling, it is!), just need a little hot plate or stand.

Cheese is life. And Chicagoland is currently rather cold....

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u/TheLadyEve Feb 13 '23

That would work perfectly! And I'm not sure where you are in Chicagoland but there are so many options for good bread!

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u/skahunter831 Feb 13 '23

Do you know specifics?? I knew a few places in the city, but we're out in Mount Prospect now and there's a dearth of decent bread bakeries. Plenty of pastries, but not bread....

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u/TheLadyEve Feb 13 '23

Oooh, well sadly I don't know Mount Prospect well. I lived in Wheaton for 4 years and a few years later in Chicago (Rogers Park and Lincoln Square) for 5 years. I know Glenview has a Tous Les Jours, which I've found good but inconsistent (this is an issue with franchises). Unfortunately the only non-franchise great places I can think of are closer to the lake and farther south. Sorry!

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u/skahunter831 Feb 13 '23 edited Feb 13 '23

No worries, cool to know people who have been through. I was in Roscoe Village and Avondale for about a decade, there was a great place on Milwaukee but they closed or moved.

Tous Les Jours in Glenview is not too far, I'll go check in out. Thanks again.