Choriqueso

The chorizo fat poured off before the cheese goes in, because cheese melted into rendered fat splits.

Pork. Not vegetarian — contains a sausage whose meat the source does not name, cheese whose rennet the source does not name, chorizo, which is pork, pork.

Ingredients

• 250 g chorizo, as on its own page, skinned and crumbled
• 400 g Chihuahua or Oaxaca cheese, grated
• ½ small onion, finely chopped
• 2 serrano chillies, finely chopped
• corn tortillas, as on their own page, to serve
• pico de gallo, as on its own page, to serve

Method

1. THE CHORIZO FAT IS POURED OFF BEFORE THE CHEESE GOES IN, because cheese melted into rendered fat splits. Two hundred and fifty grams of chorizo gives up a startling amount of orange-red fat, and melted cheese is an emulsion that breaks when there is already free oil present: the proteins seize into rubbery strands and the whole pan separates into a greasy pool with lumps in it, which no amount of stirring brings back. Tipped out -- all but about a teaspoon, which is enough for flavour -- and the cheese melts clean and smooth. This is the single thing that separates a good choriqueso from the usual oily one.
2. THE FAT IS WORTH KEEPING AND NOT WORTH USING HERE. Poured into a small jar it is excellent for frying eggs or potatoes. Left in the pan it ruins the dish it came from.
3. IT IS MELTED IN THE PAN AND NOT UNDER A GRILL, WHICH IS THE OPPOSITE OF QUESO FLAMEADO. Because the chorizo has to be cooked and drained first in the same pan, the cheese then goes in on top over a low heat with a lid on, and the trapped heat melts it from above and below. A grill would mean transferring everything to a dish and losing the fond.
4. IT IS NOT STIRRED WHILE IT MELTS. The cheese goes in in an even layer and the lid goes on. Stirred, it ropes into strings and then splits -- the same failure the drained fat was meant to avoid. It is folded through the chorizo ONCE, at the end, off the heat.
5. THE ONION AND CHILLI ARE COOKED IN THE TEASPOON OF FAT LEFT BEHIND. After draining, with the pan still warm, five minutes is enough. They also scrape up the fond the chorizo left on the base, which is the best-tasting thing in the pan.
6. The chorizo put in a wide heavy pan over a medium heat.
7. Cooked 8 to 10 MINUTES, broken up, until the fat has fully run and the meat has caught in places.
8. THE PAN TILTED AND THE FAT POURED OFF into a jar, leaving only about a TEASPOON behind. Kept for frying eggs.
9. The onion and chillies added to that teaspoon and cooked 5 MINUTES, the base SCRAPED to lift the fond.
10. THE HEAT TURNED LOW.
11. The grated cheese scattered over the chorizo in an EVEN LAYER, covering it.
12. A lid put on and left 4 to 5 MINUTES. NOT STIRRED.
13. CHECKED: the cheese should be molten right through and smooth, with no free oil standing on it. Free oil means the fat was not drained enough.
14. THE PAN TAKEN OFF THE HEAT and the cheese folded through the chorizo ONCE only.
15. Taken straight to the table in the pan, on a mat.
16. Eaten at once with warm tortillas and pico de gallo; it sets within 5 minutes.

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