Caldo de Queso

The cheese goes in off the heat in cubes, so it softens and holds its shape instead of melting away into the broth.

Not vegetarian — contains cheese whose rennet the source does not name, chicken stock.

Ingredients

• 600 g waxy potatoes, in 2 cm cubes
• 4 green chillies (Anaheim or poblano)
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 tomatoes, chopped
• 1.2 litres chicken stock
• 300 ml whole milk
• 300 g fresh cheese (queso fresco or panela), in 2 cm cubes
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon oil
• salt, at the end
• corn tortillas, as on their own page, to serve

Method

1. THE CHEESE GOES IN OFF THE HEAT IN CUBES, so it softens and holds its shape instead of melting away. This is the whole dish and it is the one thing that is routinely got wrong. Queso fresco and panela do not melt into strings the way a mozzarella does -- warmed gently they go soft, almost custardy, and stay as cubes you can find with a spoon. Simmered, even for two minutes, they break down and disperse, and what is left is a cloudy potato soup with a faint dairy taste and no cheese in it. So the pot comes off the stove, the cubes go in, the lid goes on for three minutes, and that is it.
2. IT IS A NON-MELTING CHEESE AND THE CHOICE IS NOT INTERCHANGEABLE. Panela or queso fresco. Cheddar, mozzarella or anything that pulls into threads will melt whatever is done to it and gives a quite different and much greasier soup. Said plainly rather than offered as an equivalent.
3. THE CHILLIES ARE CHARRED, SKINNED AND CUT IN STRIPS. Blackened on a dry pan, fifteen minutes under a cloth, skins rubbed off dry. The char is most of what the soup tastes of besides potato and milk, and a chilli merely softened in the pan tastes green and raw against the dairy.
4. THE MILK GOES IN AT THE END AND IS NOT BOILED EITHER. Three hundred millilitres, in after the potatoes are cooked, brought only to the point of steaming. Boiled, it catches on the base of the pan and the whole soup tastes scorched -- and the scorching is invisible in a pale soup until it is tasted.
5. IT IS SALTED LAST AND LIGHTLY. The stock is salted, the cheese is salty, and how salty the cheese is varies a good deal. Nothing is added until the cheese has been in for its three minutes and the soup has been tasted.
6. The chillies charred black on a dry pan 10 minutes, turned often.
7. Piled in a bowl, COVERED WITH A CLOTH 15 MINUTES, the skins rubbed off DRY, and the flesh cut into STRIPS.
8. The butter and oil warmed in a pot and the onion and garlic cooked 6 minutes until soft and not coloured.
9. The tomatoes added and cooked 5 minutes until they collapse.
10. The potatoes and the stock added, brought to a simmer, and cooked 15 MINUTES until a knife goes in easily.
11. The chilli strips added and given 3 minutes.
12. The milk poured in and brought only to STEAMING. NOT boiled.
13. THE POT TAKEN OFF THE HEAT ENTIRELY.
14. The CUBED cheese tipped in and the lid put on.
15. Left 3 MINUTES, undisturbed, so the cubes soften without dissolving.
16. TASTED, and salted only then.
17. Ladled carefully into bowls so the cubes stay whole, with tortillas.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Mexico · All recipes