Chilli con Queso Dip

History & Origin

Chilli con queso, affectionately known simply as 'queso' in Texas, is one of the fundamental pillars of Tex-Mex food culture and perhaps the most addictive sauce that border cuisine has produced. Its history is inseparable from that of Velveeta, the American processed cheese invented in 1918, which proved to be the perfect vehicle for creating an absolutely stable, perfectly meltable cheese sauce that never splits or goes lumpy. The Chilli Queens of San Antonio were already making a primitive version of melted cheese with green chillies at their street stalls in the late nineteenth century, but it was the combination with American processed cheese in the 1920s that transformed the dish into the cultural phenomenon it is today. Chilli con queso became a symbol of Super Bowl Sunday: it is estimated that during that annual sporting event alone, more than 10 million pounds of crisps and dip are consumed in the United States. In Texas there is a passionate debate between purists who insist on using only Velveeta with Rotel (a brand of tinned tomatoes with green chillies) and modernists who prefer artisan natural cheeses. The result of the classic version - bubbling, orange-hued, irresistibly creamy - is one of those flavours that once you taste it, you cannot forget.