Queso Fundido con Salchicha Ahumada
Domingo BBQ & Recalentado: Weekend Smoke on a Weeknight Timeline
This isn't stadium pump-cheese. Born from the tradition of recalentado, true borderland queso fundido transforms leftover smoked sausage from a Sunday barbecue—a nod to the German and Polish immigrants of Texas—and Oaxaca cheese into a fast weeknight dinner, demanding to be eaten the exact second the broiler hisses over the cast-iron skillet. Pass around the flour tortillas and let the cheese ride on the hot iron until it forms the costra, that deeply caramelized, crispy crust around the edges that you'll be fighting over.
Before you start
Grate the cheese.
Using the large holes of a box grater, shred the blocks of Monterey Jack and mozzarella cheese.
Chop the ingredients.
Dice the sausage, onion, and poblano pepper so everything is ready to drop into the hot skillet.
Ingredients
- smoked kielbasa or Texas style smoked beef sausage1/2 lb
- white onion1/2 med
- poblano pepper1 med
- Monterey Jack cheese12 oz
- low-moisture mozzarella cheese4 oz
- flour tortillas8 med
- fresh cilantro1/4 cup
- salsa or pico de gallo1/2 cup
Method
- 01
Crisp the sausage in a dry cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat.
Toss the diced sausage into an 8-inch or 10-inch skillet and let it sizzle for 4 to 5 minutes to render the fat and wake up the smoke.
- 02
Sauté the vegetables in the rendered fat.
Add the diced onion and poblano to the pan, cooking for another 3 to 4 minutes until soft. Use a wooden spoon to scrape up any browned bits from the bottom—that right there is pure flavor.
- 03
Layer the freshly shredded cheese directly over the meat.
Toss the Monterey Jack and mozzarella together in a bowl. Push the sausage and veg into an even layer in the skillet, then generously blanket it with the cheese mixture without stirring.
- 04
Melt the cheese until it bubbles and forms a crispy crust against the iron.
Lower the heat to medium-low, cover the skillet for 3 to 4 minutes until molten, then uncover for 1 to 2 minutes so the cheese touching the bottom and sides browns into the coveted costra.
- 05
Serve immediately straight from the blistering skillet.
Once it cools, it hardens, so move fast. Garnish with cilantro and use a spatula to scrape up the gooey cheese, smoky sausage, and crispy edges directly into warm flour tortillas.
Notes
Shred your own cheese.
Pre-shredded cheese is coated in cellulose powder that ruins the melt. Spend the extra three minutes grating blocks of Monterey Jack and Mozzarella—it's the dividing line between a separated grease pool and the authentic, stretchy pull.
Ditch the chips.
Real queso fundido is too heavy and thick for tortilla chips. It is fundamentally a taco filler, meant to be scooped into warm, pliable flour tortillas.
Respect the costra.
Don't rush the pan. The crispy, caramelized cheese crust that forms where the dairy hits the hot iron is the whole point of the dish.
From Cook Tex-Mex.