As an Austinite, I give this cookbook my seal of approval. Lisa did her research and really knows her stuff. How many recipes could their possibly be for Queso? Well, she includes:

* Yellow queso
* White queso (trust me, the color represents a real difference!)
* Restaurant copycats
* More than one vegan option
* Versions with easier to source ingredients

I originally browsed this book several years ago, but I've turned to it many times since. Several friends of mine also own and love this book.

Oh my god I can't wait to cook some of these recipes. A lot of them are a little complicated, but some of the simpler ones are VERY appealing. Of course, I love queso, so I was always going to love this book.

Readers, you may wonder if you (or I) need a cookbook full of cheese dip recipes. I would have to say yes. But then again, I'm a bit of a queso fiend!

Lisa Fain, aka the Homesick Texan, has a brand spanking new cookbook out and it's devoted entirely to the ooey gooey goodness that is queso. Cheesy, meaty, and even vegan, Fain's cookbook has it all.

It's interesting, and maybe a little eye opening, to realize that queso as I know it is such a Tex-Mex thing. Fain talks about moving from Texas to New York and discovering that the prevalence of even the basics for making queso were much less abundant in NYC in those days. It's also interesting to learn that there really is so much variation in the dish when traveling from region to region, even within Texas itself. And Fain explores all of those varieties!

The book begins with a breakdown of the basics - chiles and cheese and the abundance of difference choices between the two. Fain then jumps into a history of the dish, outlining some of the earliest references and recipes.

The recipes range from, as I mentioned, traditional cheese, tomato, and peppers variety akin to the Ro-Tel we all know and love - thanks to Lady Bird Johnson herself (though Fain notes the Johnson recipe calls for cheddar, which doesn't quite melt the way you want for true queso - and her note on that recipe makes sense as well) - to runnier saucier versions (the Arkansa Cheese Dip, for example). There are also thicker varieties like the Van Horn Chile Con Queso, which called for Muenster cheese, and Queso Fundido with Squash Blossoms.

There's a whole chapter on quirky quesos that includes the likes of Austin-Style Vegan Queso (for those who can't eat cheese and miss the wondrous concoction), a Chilled Chile Con Queso with Avocado (courtesy of an El Paso Junior League cookbook that calls for cottage cheese!), and even an Indian Queso with Jalapeño Chutney.

There are quesos with meat in them too. Like the Choriqueso with chorizo mixed in, Queso with Beef Picadillo, and Boudin Queso that even has a recipe for homemade boudin (which I've not tried because we have ours shipped home from Louisiana).

In addition to the queso, there are accompaniments as well - Tortilla Chips and Puff Tostadas (which are AMAZING with queso), homemade Pickled Jalapeños, which you need to make the bean dip part of the Bean Dip Queso, and Chile Jam (aka Pepper Jelly) for a surprising Green Chile & Cream Cheese Ice Cream Sundaes recipe. And then there are recipes for using the queso!

In the time since I got my hands on a copy, I've tried at least half a dozen varieties. My garden this summer produced just enough poblanos, anaheims, and jalapeños that it made sense to try a new recipe just about every weekend - I mean, I had to spread them out so I didn't catch too much flak for eating cheese dip every day. I totally would have otherwise :) The Damn Good Queso which claims to be a copycat version of a taco joint's famous queso and includes recipes for both a Green Chile Salsa Verde, Guacamole, and Fiery Red Salsa (which is amazing by itself too) is in my top two. Amazingly, or not, my favorite one so far is the queso base for the Bean Dip Queso!

Whether you're a fan of the traditional tailgating variety we all know and love or queso fundido. Whether you like yours spicy or mild. And whether you prefer it with meat, veggies, seafood, or straight up cheese only, Fain has something for you.

There are, if you're interested, a few recipes out in the wild that you can try. Fain herself has shared the Chili Parlor Queso on her blog. You can also check out this Houston Chronicle article, which includes four recipes!

You can’t go wrong with chips and dips and New Year’s Day is just around the corner. So it’s time to whip up some of these yummy recipes and share with some friends. This book helps out with the different ingredients needed for the taste you’re looking for. It also helps with the cheese choices. It also has a great amount of full-colored photos. There is page after page of mouth-watering queso dish options from authentic to Greek, from traditional avocado to adding crab. Enjoy!
I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

QUESO! / B01MT4WC2K

I feel like I should like this book more than I do, and I've been sitting on this review for awhile but I need to post it and get it out of my system: this is a good book, but it's not quite the book I wanted.

I thought I was picking up a cookbook... and I was... kinda. There are a lot of chile con queso recipes here, there's no doubt about that. There's only pictures of about half the recipes, which is never a bonus in my book because I want pictures of *all* the recipes. On the one hand, these are queso recipes so the pictures aren't going to vary a whole lot from each other until we hit the more complicated fare. On the other hand, there *is* more complicated fare deeper in--queso with pork and corn and mushrooms, and vegan queso--and yes, I want pictures of those. The pictures which are on the page aren't labeled (or weren't in the Advance Review Copy I received) which means that every 3-4 recipes there's 1-2 pictures and you have to try to match the pictures to the recipes. For a book that I want to browse through when I have a hankering to throw cheese in a pan, that feels like more work than I'd wanted.

This is also a touch of a history book... sorta. The author grew up in Texas (as did I) and was raised on the Velveeta-and-Rotel recipe that white Americans grew up on in the American South back in the day. Then she started branching out and researching the roots of the recipe and visiting different Texas towns to gather regional samples. She's looked into fondues and rarebits and other melted cheese dishes. All of this research has gone into little 2-3 page "histories" before each section of queso recipes, along with little paragraphs of historical context with each recipe.

I love food history so I feel like I should like these parts more than I do. There's a distressing shallowness to a lot of the history, like there's a deeper story and we're just getting a couple condensed sentences that would go on a Wikipedia stub until someone fleshed the material out properly. And the history we do get feels very much like a white outsider peering in--and sometimes in the wrong directions. From the very beginning, the author explains that her trek-for-queso took her from El Paso to Corpus Christi to Austin to Houston to San Antonio. I would've expected at least one jaunt over to Mexico while she "drove along the Texas-Mexico border". The first section of queso recipes features recipes from Los Angeles, Boston, San Antonio, El Paso, Arkansas ("Arkansas Cheese Dip"), Lubbock (a Velveeta-based recipe), and Lady Bird Johnson's Washington Post recipe.

Those feel like very unusual choices to set the stage for a book that is trying to be a history of queso. I feel almost like I'm reading a gentrification of queso--the Arkansas Cheese Dip is called "the term preferred by folks in Arkansas". Do you mean white folks in Arkansas? Because you can say "white folks". I'm assuming Spanish-speaking Arkansans still just called it chili con queso. (Though they probably didn't make it with "1 pound yellow American cheese" and ketchup, so maybe "Arkansas Cheese Dip" is the better term after all.)

I dunno, I feel like I'm being mean. As a coffee table book for Christmas, I think this is perfectly adequate. As an addition to your cookbooks to flip through when you want cheese to nosh on, I think it works. If you're interested in the history of chili con queso in America as adopted as part of the American culture, I think this is an interesting read. If you go into the book with that mindset, I think you won't be disappointed.

NOTE: This review is based on a free Advance Review Copy of this book provided through NetGalley.

~ Ana Mardoll

Thanks to NetGalley and Ten Speed Press for the opportunity to read and review Queso!: Regional Recipes for the World's Favorite Chile-Cheese Dip by Lisa Fain! Queso! by Lisa Fain is a wonderful cookbook containing delicious variations on the chile-cheese dip. The queso recipes vary by region and ingredients. There's even a recipe for sundaes. The history of queso is included, along with descriptions and suggestions for cheeses and peppers to use in your own queso recipes. The only thing I didn't like about this book is that I would prefer the photos to be labeled with its recipe name. 5 stars for a scrumptious cookbook that made me crave queso!
*I received a complimentary copy of this book for voluntary consideration!

My son loves ordering Queso in the restaurant, but I had no idea how to make it, seeing that I've never tried it before. It's not something we see too much here in Canada.
I enjoyed the recipe ideas and how easy they were to make.

When I first received this book I will admit that I was a bit worried that it was going to be a gazillion recipes about Velveeta. I can tolerate that as much as the next person, but several of my children despise it and yet love queso so I was hoping that this book would provide more options.

Did it ever!! There were a few that called for Velveeta-type food, but there was also a suggestion for a way to substitute for that and there were also tons of recipes that called for using true cheeses! There were so many options that now I have a different worry- how long will I continue to fit into my clothes?!

Out in the old Texas city of Austin, I fell in love with a Tex-Mex cheese dish. When I conspired to visit a Torchy's, green chile queso granted my wish.

That's what Marty Robbins sang, right?

For the uninitiated, queso (the Tex-Mex delight, not literal cheese) might not seem like the most incredible food invention ever—but those of us in the know are aware of its magic. And with this book, Lisa Fain attempts to allow everyone to bask in the true glory of queso, perhaps the most wonderful of all elements of Tex-Mex cuisine.

Gorgeously illustrated and containing recipes both grand and borderline off-putting, Queso! is more than just a cookbook: it is also a history of the glorious dip, through the years and its many incarnations, showing us not only the evolution of this ambrosia, but also the evolution of American tastes.

Everyone needs this book. I need a hard copy. And I need to go back to Torchy’s.

QUESO!: Regional Recipes for the World's Favorite Chile-Cheese Dip by Lisa Fain a cookbook dedicated queso. This book has a wide variety of different versions of one of our favorite game-time dips. Most do rely on processed cheese, but several use natural cheeses. 

The book explains the modern origin of Chile Con Queso, and tracks the history and regional differences of the dish. The recipes provided range from early appearances in magazines and Woman's clubs cooking publications, to restaurant versions that popularized the dish, and ending with modern vegan varieties.

It is a fun cookbook. Queso is incredibly comforting, delicious, and easy to make. Each recipe is presented with an explanation of the geographical origin of the version, and / or some tips on how to incorporate it into a meal. The recipes are straightforward, and easy to follow. The delicious entrees included prove that Queso is not merely a side or dip. I did not know that I needed a book completely about Chile Con Queso until I read this book.

I received this ARC from Ten Speed Press via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the first cookbook that Lisa Fain put out called The Homesick Texan. There were tons of great recipes to be found in that one so when I saw this book, completely devoted to Queso, I couldn't wait to see what was in it!  We Texans love our queso! I learned in this book that many other regions of the country, particularly in the south, also love their queso, and have their own twist on it. I loved reading the history of queso in different places, and there are a couple I would probably even try, but being a Texan and a foodie, of course I think we make it here is *the* way to go. Still, it never hurts to have a new way or two to try out. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys appetizer recipes, party food recipes, or food blogs.

TITLE: A lively, fun-loving book dedicated to scrumptious, mouthwatering and memorable Queso!

From what the average American recognizes as Queso--made simply with a can of Ro-Tel and block processed cheese or American cheese--to cheese rarebits, cheese dips, cheese toppings and all sorts of combinations of delectable melts of white or yellow cheeses, and chiles (green and/or red), and onions and/or tomatoes, and other sorts of add-ins and spices, transplanted Texan Lisa Fain has done plenty of research to bring us Queso history and recipes from all over. This is a fun book, because as we all know: Queso is fun. Queso is a happy food, and brings people together.

Queso is not complicated, and neither are any of these recipes. But they all do have more finesse than that simple Ro-Tel and Velveeta mentioned in the first sentence above. Maybe the hardest parts of these recipes is roasting the peppers and slipping their skins, and grating cheese. Nothing complicated or time-consuming.

While there is a good bit of history explained at the beginning of the book, there are also interesting bits of info and lore introducing each recipe.

The first chapter is really interesting if you are into old recipes and historical food lore. You will find dates for when each recipe first appeared, and the location: Recipes start with a Chiles Poblano from 1887 in Mexico. There is a chile verde con queso from California in 1896, and a rarebit from Boston in 1914, one from San Antonio and one with meat and broth from El Paso in the 1920’s; a cheese dip from Arkansas and a queso from Lubbock in the 1930’s.

The second chapter is all Tex-Mex: There are restaurant recipes, and take-offs, interpretations and reproductions of restaurant recipes. You will find cheese mixed with pureed pinto beans and pickled jalapenos, and cheese with pulled pork and green chile salsa, cheese with ground beef chili, cheese with beef picadillo, and more.

Take a browse through the “Look Inside” feature on this product page. Ten Speed Press, publishers of this book, always do a great job of providing pertinent information in the “Look Inside”. When you look at the Contents page and the Index, you have an overview of all the recipes.

There are a lot of pictures in this cookbook, and they are mouthwatering! If you do order this book, I’d advise getting some basic ingredients together prior it its arrival. Once you start browsing the book, you will not want to wait to start cooking up a batch! Gather American cheese, white and/or yellow, an assortment of your favorite chiles and a basket of grape tomatoes, maybe an onion and some garlic. Make sure chips and/or tortillas, cornstarch, cumin, cayenne are on your pantry shelves, and milk in the frig. With those ingredients at hand, you will be able to create a number of recipes from this book.

Lisa Fain’s writing style is always personable. Her instructions are easy to understand, and ingredient lists are clear, leaving no room for doubts. Page layout is easy on the eyes.

The third chapter deals with close-to- and over-the border variations, which usually utilizes white cheeses and green chiles: Mild white cheddar, Muenster, Monterey Jack, Poblano, Anaheim, Hatch, usually onion and sometimes grape tomatoes. One of my favorites, a queso from Laredo, includes ground pork and chorizo spices. Then there are some with a tomato salsa base. And some Fundido and Flameado recipes, too.

Fain includes recipes for dairy-free and vegan queso. And there are some unusual combinations, she calls “quirky”: Crab, crawfish, boudin, smoked sausage, chutney, Kalamata olives and feta. Plus a whole other chapter "In The Wild", which includes even more recipes, ideas and inspiration from variations on the theme, that she has run across in her quest to gather together all things queso.

Really, check out the Contents page and the Index for more. I'm done writing. I want to go and make more queso!

*I received a temporary download of this cookbook from the publisher.

Cheesy, spicy dip. Classics to contemporary. Vegan and sausage queso biscuits. History and great stories behind the recipes by the author of the Homesick Texan.

I love Mexican food, and one of my favorite dishes has always been chile con queso. I had always wondered at the authenticity of the dish, however. How “Mexican” is it really? Is it TexMex instead? Lisa Fain sets out to answer that question (and provide many delicious recipes) in Queso!

Questions of authenticity aside, chile con queso – queso for short – is delicious. Chiles, cheese, and spices melted together into a delicious blend perfect for dipping chips in or drizzling over the top of a taco. Yum. So, when I saw this book pop up on NetGalley I knew I had to request it!

Lisa Fain doesn’t disappoint. Queso! includes 55 recipes, most of which are variations of chile con queso. Certainly more variations than I can think up on my own!

Some of the recipes are included not to be made, but for historical context. Fain includes some of the earliest printed versions of queso or cheese dips she could find. You could certainly make any of these recipes, but I feel like they’re mostly illustrative.

I particularly loved the section on regional queso variations, where Fain shared recipes from along the US’s southern border. There was such variety from place to place! One of my favorites is the Van Horn Chile con Queso, which features one of my favorite ingredients of all time – sour cream. (I frequently go out of my way to choose meals for dinner just so I can have sour cream.) This is the recipe I opted to try out and while it didn’t last long enough for me to photograph, I can tell you it was delicious and a hit with my queso-loving husband.

I did also appreciate the vegan queso recipe Fain included in her Quirky Quesos section. As she points out, it seems kind of like an oxymoron to make a queso-free queso (since queso literally means cheese) but I know many vegans who miss dairy products, including queso. She also includes Greek and Indian inspired versions, as well as renditions that include sausage and mustard.

Overall, Queso! is a fun, single-subject cookbook that offers wonderful variations on a favorite dip. For many people, “football” season has just begun, and Fain’s queso varieties would be a welcome change-up of an old-standby game-day snack.

wow , a huge array of chili and dips and other recipes to serve along with them .

This book had my mouth watering. Great, easy to follow recipes with great background stories to the dishes. I am hungry now

This is a fabulously fun book all about Queso. I had a great time reading it and I went right out to get the ingredients for Queso for dinner tonight. It is a terrific book and the author did a great job.

This is one of the best cookbooks I have ever seen and had the joy of having! It was so informative and gave such great background to the cheeses and cheese dips and where they originated from! I absolutely cannot wait to see what else this author comes out with!! One of my absolute favorites for sure!!!

Cheese guys! My absolute favorite food in the world is Mexican and this is a book filled with 50 queso recipes! What more could I want in life? Well, let's start out with Queso! by Lisa Fain, popular food blogger, being a book full of recipes, yes. But it's also history and backgrounds on each of the recipes. Informative and delicious! You should read the text while eating one of the recipes of queso you made.

I love this book because there is something for everyone. All different types of queso recipes with different ingredients. Some feature more high end cheeses or ingredients, while others are for backyard get togethers. Different levels of spiciness will cater to everyone's personal favorites and I truly think this is the best for all people. I tried a couple of the recipes and loved them all. They were rich, spicy, had a kick, creamy, and cheesy! A cheese lovers dream!

Enough about cheese. Lisa Fain offers up a great cookbook here that is filled with interesting information about origins and more while you enjoy a tasty treat. The perfect cookbook for families to enjoy a treat together, prepare for a cookout, or a big football game on Sundays.

Lots of great recipes, history, and information in this queso cookbook .I tried a few that were really good, and will be making many more of these recipes.