Queso Fundido Flameado al Tequila

Jalisco, Los Altos and Guadalajara cantinas, that is where this queso fundido lives. The tequila is not a trick for tourists when you use it correctly. It is agave country speaking through the cazuela.

The cheese should be asadero with a little queso adobera jalisciense if you can find it. Asadero gives the pull. Adobera gives the buttery body. The chorizo browns in its own fat with chile guajillo and chile ancho already worked into the sausage, then the rajas poblanas go in, soft and green, with white onion. This is a botana, not dinner pretending to be small.

I learned a version of this from a señora near Mercado Libertad in Guadalajara who used a shallow barro cazuela blackened at the edges from years of use. She did not measure the tequila. She measured with judgment. Too much and you taste raw alcohol. Too little and you wasted the match. No me vengas con atajos. Melt the cheese slowly, flame carefully, and put warm corn tortillas on the table before anyone asks.

Cada estado, su propia cocina. This one belongs to Jalisco because the agave, the cantina table, the adobera, and the habit of feeding people generously all meet in the same clay dish.