Skillet Cheese Dip
Cheddar, evaporated milk, and green chiles melted down in a skillet at camp.
- calories
- 320
- weight
- 5 oz
- cal / oz
- 64
- protein
- 18 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 5 min
- total time
- 10 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Snack
- Campfire coals
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Vegetarian
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Grab and go
- Needs a cooler
- Basic
Ingredients
| Sharp cheddar cheese | 8 oz | grate it at home; a block plus a grater is two extra things to carry |
|---|---|---|
| Cornstarch | 1 tsp | |
| Evaporated milk | 1 can (12 oz) | canned, so no cooler space needed for it |
| Canned diced green chiles | 4 oz | drained, mild or hot |
| Hot sauce | 2 tsp | optional |
Method
- Put the skillet over low heat. Low means low. High heat is how this breaks.
- Toss the grated cheddar with the cornstarch in a bag or bowl until every shred is dusted.
- Add the cheese and about a cup of the evaporated milk to the warm skillet.
- Whisk without stopping for two minutes. It goes grainy first, then smooth. Keep whisking through the grainy part.
- Pour in more evaporated milk a splash at a time until it runs the way you want.
- Stir in the chiles and hot sauce. Pull it off the heat and eat it warm.
Cheese does not want to become a sauce. Heat it alone and the fat separates out into a greasy puddle with rubber in the middle. The cornstarch tossed through the shreds is what prevents that: it holds the emulsion together while the cheese melts. Evaporated milk helps for the same reason, and it comes in a can, which is why this works in camp at all.
The two things that break it are heat and impatience. Keep the skillet low and keep the whisk moving. The grainy stage looks like failure and is not. Grate at home, because grating a cold block over a picnic table is slow and the shreds melt faster than chunks.
Packing
Grate the cheese at home and bag it with the cornstarch already tossed through. The bag is the only thing that needs a cooler. Cans and hot sauce ride in the food bin.
Variations
- Pepper jack instead of cheddar if you want the heat built into the cheese.
- Leftovers reheat over the lowest flame you can hold, stirring the whole time.
- A can of chili poured in turns it into dinner over corn chips.
https://www.lodgecastiron.com/blogs/recipe/quick-cheese-dip