Queso flameado is a dish

Dish (food)

A dish in gastronomy is a specific food preparation, a "distinct article or variety of food", with cooking finished, and ready to eat, or be served.A "dish" may be served on dishware, or may be eaten out of hand; but breads are generally not called "dishes"....

 of hot melted cheese

Cheese

Cheese is a generic term for a diverse group of milk-based food products. Cheese is produced throughout the world in wide-ranging flavors, textures, and forms....

 and spicy chorizo

Chorizo

Chorizo is a term encompassing several types of pork sausages originating from the Iberian Peninsula.In English, it is usually pronounced , , or , but sometimes ....

 that is often served flambé

Flambé

Flambé is a cooking procedure in which alcohol is added to a hot pan to create a burst of flames. The word means flamed in French ....

. Often compared to cheese fondue, it is a party dish; it is popular at cookouts and in restaurants as an appetizer. Almost unique in Mexican cuisine

Mexican cuisine

Mexican cuisine, a style of food that originates in Mexico, is known for its varied flavors, colourful decoration and variety of spices and ingredients, most of which are native to the country. The cuisine of Mexico has evolved through thousands of years of blending indigenous cultures, with later...

, in the cuisine of the United States

Cuisine of the United States

American cuisine is a style of food preparation originating from the United States of America. European colonization of the Americas yielded the introduction of a number of ingredients and cooking styles to the latter...

 this dish has been widely adapted and is considered a native dish in El Paso

El Paso

El Paso, a city in the U.S. state of Texas, on the border with Mexico.El Paso may also refer to:-Geography:Colombia:* El Paso, CesarSpain:*El Paso, Santa Cruz de TenerifeUnited States:...

. In Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

, it occurs in restaurants more often in the north.

Typical main ingredients are melted cheese and a characteristic meat sauce of loose fresh chorizo

Chorizo

Chorizo is a term encompassing several types of pork sausages originating from the Iberian Peninsula.In English, it is usually pronounced , , or , but sometimes ....

, tomato

Tomato

The word "tomato" may refer to the plant or the edible, typically red, fruit which it bears. Originating in South America, the tomato was spread around the world following the Spanish colonization of the Americas, and its many varieties are now widely grown, often in greenhouses in cooler...

, onion

Onion

The onion , also known as the bulb onion, common onion and garden onion, is the most widely cultivated species of the genus Allium. The genus Allium also contains a number of other species variously referred to as onions and cultivated for food, such as the Japanese bunching onion The onion...

, chile

Chile powder

Chili powder is the ground, dried fruit of one or more varieties of chili pepper, sometimes with the addition of other spices . It is used as a spice to add piquance and flavor to dishes. In American English the name is usually spelled "chili", or, less commonly, "chile"...

 and spices. It is served in a small, shallow casserole

Casserole

A casserole, from the French for "saucepan", is a large, deep dish used both in the oven and as a serving vessel. The word casserole is also used for the food cooked and served in such a vessel, with the cookware itself called a casserole dish or casserole pan...

 or other ceramic or metal heat-proof baking dish. The cheese and sauce are prepared separately, and combined just before serving. This may be done at the table, especially if finished with a flambé: high alcohol liquor is poured on the cheese and ignited, and as it burns the server folds in the sauce. If not flambéed, the mixture may be quickly broiled

Grilling

Grilling is a form of cooking that involves dry heat applied to the surface of food, commonly from above or below.Grilling usually involves a significant amount of direct, radiant heat, and tends to be used for cooking meat quickly and meat that has already been cut into slices...

. Either way, the finished dish is presented while it is still bubbling hot, and it is spooned onto small soft tortillas for individual servings.

Queso flameado is said to originate in the borderlands of northern Mexico and the southwestern United States

Southwestern United States

The Southwestern United States is a region defined in different ways by different sources. Broad definitions include nearly a quarter of the United States, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah...

, as a campfire dish.
In Tex-Mex

Tex-Mex

Tex-Mex is a regional American cuisine that blends food products available in the United States and the culinary creations of Mexican-Americans influenced by the cuisines of Mexico.Tex Mex may also refer to:...

 restaurants, this dish is sometimes confused or conflated with chili con queso

Chili con queso

Chile con queso , usually known simply as queso, is an appetizer or side dish of melted cheese and chile pepper typically served in Tex-Mex restaurants.- Background :...

, a cheese sauce served with tortilla chip

Tortilla chip

A tortilla chip is a snack food made from corn tortillas, which are cut into wedges and then fried . Corn tortillas are made of corn, vegetable oil, salt and water. Although first mass-produced in Los Angeles in the late 1940s, tortilla chips are considered to be a Mexican food, known as tostados...

s for dipping. The term queso fundido also refers to processed cheese

Processed cheese

Processed cheese, process cheese, cheese slice, prepared cheese, cheese singles or cheese food is a food product made from normal cheese and sometimes other unfermented dairy ingredients, plus emulsifiers, extra salt, food colorings, or whey...

 and is defined as such in the Spanish version of Codex Alimentarius

Codex Alimentarius

The Codex Alimentarius is a collection of internationally recognized standards, codes of practice, guidelines and other recommendations relating to foods, food production and food safety. Its name derives from the Codex Alimentarius Austriacus...

.

Variations

Both the cheese and the meat sauce are prepared just before serving, and are served hot. Oaxaca cheese

Oaxaca cheese

Queso Oaxaca is a white, semihard cheese from Mexico, similar to unaged Monterey Jack, but with a mozzarella-like string cheese texture. It is named after the state of Oaxaca in southern Mexico, where it was first made. It is available in several different shapes. It is also known as quesillo...

 (asadero) and Chihuahua cheese

Chihuahua cheese

Queso Chihuahua or Chihuahua cheese is a soft white cow's-milk cheese of Mexican origin available in braids, balls or rounds. The cheese is named after its place of origin, the Mexican state of Chihuahua. In Chihuahua, it is called queso menonita, after the Mennonite communities of northern...

 are popular, but other melting cheeses (cheeses such as whole milk mozzarella

Mozzarella

Mozzarella is an Italian Traditional Speciality Guaranteed food product. The term is used for several kinds of Italian cheeses that are made using spinning and then cutting :...

, that remain stringy when melted) may be used. Some consider stringy cheese to be an essential part of this dish, but if this quality is not desired then a fresh farmer's cheese

Queso blanco

Queso blanco, along with other similar cheeses including queso fresco, is a creamy, soft, and mild unaged white cheese that originated in Spain and spread to Mexico and other American countries...

 or goat cheese is a good alternative. If fresh chorizo is not available, pieces of dry chorizo or another sausage may be used. Common additions are strips of roasted chiles and sautéed mushrooms. For the flambé, popular liquors include rum

Rum

Rum is a distilled alcoholic beverage made from sugarcane by-products such as molasses, or directly from sugarcane juice, by a process of fermentation and distillation. The distillate, a clear liquid, is then usually aged in oak barrels...

, brandy

Brandy

Brandy is a spirit produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35%–60% alcohol by volume and is typically taken as an after-dinner drink...

, and tequila

Tequila

Tequila is a spirit made from the blue agave plant, primarily in the area surrounding the city of Tequila, northwest of Guadalajara, and in the highlands of the western Mexican state of Jalisco....

. Either type of tortilla, corn

Corn tortilla

In Mexico and Central America, a tortilla is a type of thin, unleavened flat bread, made from finely ground maize...

 or wheat, may be used. In Puerto Vallarta

Puerto Vallarta

Puerto Vallarta is a Mexican balneario resort city situated on the Pacific Ocean's Bahía de Banderas.The 2010 census reported Puerto Vallarta's population as 255,725 making it the sixth-largest city in the state of Jalisco...

, flour tortillas usually are served only with certain dishes including queso flameado, corn tortillas otherwise being the norm.