4 Levels of Chips & Queso: Amateur to Food Scientist | Epicurious

foreign Chef I'm Emily and I'm a level two Chef I'm Saul I've been a professional chef for the past 22 years today I'm making chips and queso I don't have to wait 20 minutes or three hours for it to be done four minutes and I'm ready to go mine is great because it has chicken which is a little like extra hearty today I'm making queso fundido with homemade corn tostadas too much cheese you might be in the wood no I'm lying it's always good all right [Music] first thing first we're going to do the hardest part pull the chips in the bowl I would guess that Desi has maybe scoop chips almost do my back out pulling them chips in there Scoops what Scoops look at that see that Circle you get a nice scoop I personally don't use this no because I'm better it just it goes against my religion I have here some corn tortillas cut my tortillas into quarters just so they're about trip size I'm going to be making my own corn tostadas instead of chips oh what so I was making his own tortillas that's crazy see I never would have guessed you could come to my house and I teach you how to make tortillas I'm going to be using blue corn flour harina this corn is already been externalized and it already went to so much to get to this point so this is like the easy way all the juices out you gotta roll it first so y'all don't notice I'm just gonna lay out my future chips brush these down on this side with vegetable oil I'm going to be adding water when I walk this door for five minutes or six or seven you know me I don't have my number straight so you see nothing stick it's nice and smooth like my face so I like them pretty salty pepper tahin a little spicy but it's gonna work it's like homemade Doritos it's Chili Peppers salt citric acid and lime juice Emily's trying to steal my sweat that's what I think so my dough is ready so since we're making chips and queso instead of having those sweet ball tortillas dough we're gonna make some cute little tostaditas which is on tortilla chips okay there we go that's cute that's little very nice how do you know tortilla is ready when you see the top getting drier you want to keep turning turning turning into the nice and crispy my chip work of art is ready I'm gonna take it to the oven cook it for like 12 to 15 minutes until they're nice and golden brown now I'm going to do ground turkey with some taco seasoning I'm going to be adding shredded chicken to my queso the first thing that I have for my queso and chips is the chorizo shredded chicken goes really well into queso it just sort of melts into the dip it tastes good why not man I love chorizo they have so much seasoning in it paprika cumin garlic peppers and then while that heats up I'm gonna season my chicken just so big popping pepper cumin chili powder oregano chop it up please wear clothes when you're cooking because it hurts when the stuff pops on you I'm going to cook it until it turns brown brown it on each side chorizo I want this to be nice and crunchy chicken is the superior poultry Choice personal opinion we still know the true white chicken cross the roads we can't say chicken is better my nose is telling me that this is probably good chicken stock and then I'm gonna add my bay leaf all the textures that we get in or the cheese is going to be soft cheesy so I want to add some crunch besides the tostada my chicken's been simmering for about 12 minutes and should be ready to shred and I'm just going to reduce my liquid while I shred my chicken this can reduce quite a bit you're going to use a little bit of it to add to this chicken but that's the sploosh is that a taco seasoning now we have some chili peppers some cornstarch some salt onion powder some spice and sea salt a little potassium so I'm going to put some chories on the side so I'm going to garnish my queso fundido with chorizo it smells delicious I'm just going to chop my garnishes I have scallions and cilantro in the meantime Into Thin slices that's it now you can't have chips and quesa without cheese I say going to the pool there's no water got the Velveeta cheese the sauce you don't got green anything to the real nacho cheese field so for my chips and queso I'm gonna use some poblano peppers and jalapenos the poblano pepper is the Mindless Pepe up there don't be afraid it's not spicy and then the jalapeno it's a little spicy now I'm going to broil this for like 10-15 minutes I'll be right back I have fire roasted chilies in both hot and mild doubling the amount of chilies without doubling the amount of heat and then I add vinegar just because I find these on their own are usually not Tangy enough for me now I'm add a little salsa just a little don't overdo it I'm basically adding a lot of the same things that are in salsa but I have a little bit more choice in terms of what flavors go in similar Vibe different thing like a little pizza with no crust right now my peppers are Broil now the reason why I'm putting it on a plastic bag is because I want them to sweat all the heat so like that will be easier to remove the skin these peppers are happy on this lovely sauna I'm gonna put on the side and now let's do some cooking I'm I'm going to be making the corn and the Paso I'm gonna start with the onion I'm gonna make Julian strips olive oil here I'm gonna add some salt to make them sweat with sweating everything today I am just taking out my seeds and the kind of wet part of the Tomato so that my queso doesn't get too wet and now I'm going to add the corn push them with your fingers all the little hairs you don't want them and just cut them like that so you don't have to clean the mess that you're about to make butter It's My Pan garlic onion smoker cumin chili powder lots of black pepper I love black pepper and a pasote the Mexican Italian cousin of the basil it's very similar and salt I'm just going to give my queso base another minute or two I just kind of want to start the onion softening I'm not really looking for Browning or anything here a little ground turkey you're really here for the cheese you're here for the ground turkey a little circulation going before you heat it up I'm adding my chilies Tomatoes it's perfect so by doing this this will make it easier for you to remove the skin now I want to make some strips of this because we're making rajas poblana there we go long strips of roasted poblano peppers and now the jalapenos the spicy now I'm gonna add a little bit of heavy cream this is going to keep this dish creamier and it's going to make it very rich I'm ready to move on to the most important part cheese finally I know everybody else is you know put in the skillet some people using the oven we ain't doing that old school microwave Style baby work smarter not hard baby for two minutes last for a second charge your phone so what I have here is my base now I'm adding a can of evaporated milk this makes it more liquidy and also creamy now I'm going to add some rajas in here oh look at this now to prevent my queso from being oily I'm going to add some heavy cream look how these colors are getting married I need a tortilla now so I have four different cheeses here white American really adds that creamy mouth feel monterey jack which really gives you like the most classic queso flavor sharp cheddar which is like super cheese flavor and then mozzarella which just adds like that stretchy cheese pull kind of vibe this queso Oaxaca basically it's like a Mexican mozzarella it's very stringy look at this see more seconds we're good to go look at that what size baby look nice and smooth this is beautiful right here and chicken when they all melt together they make magic now Chihuahua cheese doesn't come from a Chihuahua it comes from a state of Chihuahua and that's how its name it comes from there we don't want to melt it here I just want to make sure all the flavors are married because when you're married you're happier look at me my queso is ready to bake I'm going to put it in the oven for about 20 minutes I'm going to give it a little stir to start combining the cheeses I'm going to use my reserved chicken liquid it needs to be loosened up a little I'm going to put this in the broil and this is nice and caramelized we'll figure it out I'll be back I'm gonna put this back in the oven for another 10 to 15 minutes uh this this is ready to plate all that's left to do is gotta make it look fancy though look at that see the difference it looks like a lot of cheese but guess what it's not enough cheese that's four stars right there we have this very gently so it doesn't spill all over the place it's like a fresh cheeseburger at a cookout right now see this now to make the fancy plate more fancy we're gonna add some chips and garnish we'll add a little ground turkey on top so no one's surprise this is the butter of my Toast of my tostadas and now I'm going to add some of these peppers and onions some of the rajas some queso fresco because what's better than cheese more cheese a little bit of chorizo and now I'm going to do some Agave warm salt this is going to add a little bit of smokiness a little bit of spiciness and salt the worms make salt it's basically a salt made out of chili powder salt and Agave worms it's basically like eating a delicious crispy chicken wings leave that alone what's wrong with you this is the best protein you can get and for last some cilantro Macho it's a male cilantro this is my chips and queso and there it is my version of chips and queso and this is my queso and chips [Music] I'm hungry I work the whole day for this I don't want to waste any more time Tada even my chip looks great am I allowed to try it yet all right super creamy and then you get like a little bit of freshness from the scallion and cilantro it's delicious I mean everything in this is just really good how delicious do that see enough leaving that chip I'm so glad I took time to properly Shred the chicken because it really melts right into the cheese it tastes like having queso you know when you go to heaven it's a lot of juice crunchy salty and creamy chips and queso are so tasty and super versatile let's see how each of our three amazing chefs made theirs Desi kept things simple with a bag of scoop style chips they're made from corn flour oil and salt the dough is shaped run through a roasting step for dehydration then fried salted and bagged with modified atmospheric packaging Emily used pre-made corn tortillas that she cut into chips corn tortillas are less Supple than the wheat version because they don't contain gluten proteins they may contain gums or hydrocolloids like guar and cellulose that add some pliability they may contain additional chemicals like propionic acid to reduce mold growth during storage Saul made his own corn tortillas with blue masa harina a finely ground cornmeal enzymes in The Germ of the Corn interact with proteins and increase nutrient bioavailability particularly of vitamin B3 or niacin which is essential for metabolism please Emily added chicken cooked to the safe temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit cooked chicken is easier to shred because much of the connective tissue is solubised so we'll sauteed chorizo a coarse spicy pork based sausage Emily garnished with cilantro also called coriander some people are genetically predisposed to sense a soapy flavor when they taste it you can't help your jeans foreign Velveeta with Jarred salsa in the microwave Velveeta is a processed cheese product Velveeta so named because it melts smooth and feels like velvet originally contained about 50 cheese thanks to Federal standards of identity for processed cheeses these days Velveeta is manufactured mainly from Blended milk oil protein concentrates food starch whey protein concentrate and various preservatives and colored with anato it does melt like a dream I think Desi has a great point about working smarter here Emily made an aromatic queso base she added evaporated milk which is made by heating raw milk Under Pressure until it's reduced to half of its volume the result is a creamy viscous slightly sweet milk white American which she also added is a cheese made from a combination of mostly cheddar and Colby and cannot contain skim milk whey powders stabilizers or other things you might find in Velveeta she baked her cheeses into her base and was careful to Stir It occasionally which prevented scorching of the Whey proteins found in the cheeses Sowell made a queso base of roasted rajas by first roasting sweating peeling deseeding and chopping the poblanos internal ribs have a high concentration of spicy capsaicin compounds so by removing them he reduced the queso's spiciness Saul added Chihuahua and Oaxaca cheeses both cow's milk cheese is named after the location they were first made oh so we'll use cilantro matcha which is similar to cilantro but it has a larger more elongated serrated edge to the leaf he also added warm salt which is dried toasted ground larva from the agave plant the ground worms are mixed with salt and dried chilies this tasty spice has been served in food and drinks in Mexico for hundreds of years chips and queso are so delicious and satisfying next time you find yourself with cheese and tortilla chips we hope you'll take some of these ideas from our three creative and fun chefs

Channel: Epicurious

Views: 469,749

Keywords: 4 levels, 4 levels chips and queso, 4 levels queso, cheese dip, cheese sauce, chip and dip, chips & queso, chips and dip, chips and queso, chorizo queso, easy queso, epi, epi 4 levels, epicurious, epicurious 4 levels, expert queso, make easy queso, make queso, make queso dip, mexican queso, mexican queso dip, mexican restaurant queso, party dip, party queso, queso, queso dip, queso recipe, quick queso, saul montiel, the best queso, tortilla chips and queso

Id: DHb6wCR_u7I

Length: 13min 6sec (786 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 06 2023