Ooey, Gooey Melted Cheese Dip Is a Super Bowl Treat

SAM_1383

There is precious little that we can consider wholesome about this cheesy dip. Considering, however, that the football players we will watch on Sunday are risking skulls and limbs, dipping your chips or vegetables into this melted mess of calories probably won’t do yourself as much harm as either Patriots or Falcons are inflicting on each other, providing you restrict your intake to Sunday only from 6:30 to 9:30ish.

What I like about this recipe, besides the fact that it tastes really good, is that it is made out of ingredients anyone might have on hand, and that it seems able to absorb almost anything you might choose to add to it. Once you have melted your half pound of cheddar and added a quarter of a cup each of milk and cream cheese, then you can toss in salsa of any degree of heat; or chopped chilies or jalapenos; or cooked burger; or pork or chicken sausage; or crumbled bacon; or chopped raw onion or finely minced red or green peppers; or even little bits of steamed cauliflower or shreds of spinach.

I thought I had salsa, but not so. I used some of my homemade chili sauce made out of tomatoes, peppers, and onions cooked together with sugar and vinegar and spices. It absorbed about a quarter of a pound of cooked and crumbled hamburger. Toby scooped out some dip and added hot sauce to it.

Consider, also, using jack cheese instead of cheddar, and acquiring some that has garlic, or hot red pepper, or horseradish.

Obviously, it works as a dip. And as I made it, I kept thinking about Welsh Rarebit, that staple of Sunday night suppers in the earlier 1900s served over crackers or toast. I suppose then, that this dip could become a supper dish dribbled over baked potatoes, or the more classic toast or crackers. A big crunchy green salad on the side would mitigate the effects of ooey, gooey cheese and beef.

Ooey, Gooey Melted Cheese Dip
Serves: Makes 2-3 cups.
 
Ingredients
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • ½ pound of cheddar, shredded
  • ¼ cup of cream cheese
  • ¼ cup milk
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Optional add-ins:
  • Cooked and crumbled meat
  • Finely minced onion or peppers
  • Finely chopped cauliflower or broccoli
  • Shredded spinach
Instructions
  1. Melt the butter in a heavy sauce or frying pan.
  2. Add the shredded cheese and stir until it is melted.
  3. Stir in cream cheese and milk, and whisk to a thick sauce.
  4. Add salt and pepper to taste, and any of the optional add-ins.
  5. Serve as a dip with chips or vegetables, or as a supper on toast, crackers, or baked potatoes.

 

Sandy Oliver

About Sandy Oliver

Sandy Oliver Sandy is a freelance food writer with the column Taste Buds appearing weekly since 2006 in the Bangor Daily News, and regular columns in Maine Boats, Homes, and Harbors magazine and The Working Waterfront. Besides freelance food writing, she is a pioneering food historian beginning her work in 1971 at Mystic Seaport Museum, where she developed a fireplace cooking program in an 1830s house. After moving to Maine in 1988, Sandy wrote, Saltwater Foodways: New Englanders and Their Foods at Sea and Ashore in the 19th Century published in 1995. She is the author of The Food of Colonial and Federal America published in fall of 2005, and Giving Thanks: Thanksgiving History and Recipes from Pilgrims to Pumpkin Pie which she co-authored with Kathleen Curtin. She often speaks to historical organizations and food professional groups around the country, organizes historical dinners, and conducts classes and workshops in food history and in sustainable gardening and cooking. Sandy lives on Islesboro, an island in Penobscot where she gardens, preserves, cooks and teaches sustainable lifeways.