ChupaQuesos; Carnival of the Recipes #56

OK; for this week's Carnival of the Recipes, I'm blatantly stealing (er... borrowing... yeah...) the recipe for Chupaquesos from Howard Tayler at Schlock Mercenary (Great webcomic- you MUST READ IT.) (More of the detailed instructions that saved my second chupaqueso also blatantly sto... borrowed from Jay Maynard's Schlocktroops post.) Shockingly, there are actually modifications of my own here.

Remember how I've always claimed my recipes would kill you? Yeah. That was wrong of me. This one, while delicious, WILL kill you. Ask your Doctor. I'm serious.
I'm still eating them anyway.
Aaanyhoo-

Chupaquesos

Materials:
One very very nonstick skillet.
One fairly sharp (yet smooth enough not to kill your skillet... Fun!) Spatula

Ingredients:
about 1/2C Sharp Cheddar cheese, grated.
about 1/2C Monterey Jack Cheese, grated.
a couple of tablespoons of Parmesan cheese (This one is "To Taste")
A teaspoon or less of flour/cornstarch/another "thickening agent" starch.

Optional Ingredients:
2-3 Slices of thick Bacon, chopped
Other spices (I've read of people adding Garlic powder, Onions, etc.- I'm not one of them. Good 'ol cupaquesos for me. Well, actually, the bacon variant.)

1. Prep:
A.Don't worry about spraying the pan- it's useless; just make sure you really do have a very very very very (ad infinitum) nonstick pan.
B. Toss theParmesan and Jack with the starch (helps keep the Casein proteins from forming extremely long chains, keeps it from turning stringy.)
C. Add the Bacon to the Parme-jack
D. Make DARN sure you're following Mise en place; it gets quick fast.
2. Heat the pan. Not too hot, as I learned. Try a medium heat.
3. Add the Cheddar to the pan in a fairly even layer; it's OK if some pan shows through here and there, just not so much that the cheese won't melt to cover it.
4. When the cheese starts to bubble, try lifting the edge of the cheese. (With your spatula, dummy.) If you're able to form a slightly raised lip without having it fall back to the pan, then do so all around the pan.
5. Flip the Chupaqueso crust. You're going to have to use a quick, stabbing motion to slip under the cheese without wrinkling it up to the point of no return.
6. Smooth the flipped shell (it will have, no matter how good you are, wrinkled some.)
7. After a couple of moments, flip the shell again. Yeah, it's not quite done toasting yet. Yeah, you just got cheese all over your spatula. Live with it.
8. Now you have to work fast. Add the Jack/permesan cheese to the cheddar "tortilla" the way you would a burrito, and fold the shell around the slowly melting filling; just like a burrito. Kinda- a trifold is easier and recommended. If you're feeling adventurous/stupid, you can try to get the ends sealed, too.
9. Flip it again, to toast the new seam a wee little bit, and to give the filling a little bit more time to melt.
10. Get it out of there! Eat.

And now, to quote Howard Tayler:

It's called a "chupaqueso" either because you can suck (chupa) the cheese (queso) out of the middle as you crunch away, or because this cheese (queso) thing you made sucks (chupa).
For added flavor you might try adding cooked-and-crumbled bacon with the jack and parmesan. In this case you'll end up with a chupaqueso con tocino, or, as it's often pronounced in my house, "chupaqueso con SWEET TRADER OF PORK BELLIES THERE'S BACON IN THIS THING chomp chomp AAARGH I BURNED MY MOUTH slurp gulp chomp."

Mmmm. Bacon.

Filed in: RecipeCarnival cheese