Combine Queso and Corn Chips to Make the Cheese Sticks of Your Dreams

Tips and tricks guru Clifford Endo is back with more You Can Do This!, the kitchen hack cooking show sure to up your culinary game. Today, Endo combines two power hitters — crunchy, salty corn chips and oozy, flavorful queso — into one perfect party snack. Watch the video above to learn more, and follow along with the recipe below.

Queso Corn Chip Cheesesticks

For the aromatics:
1 cup onion, coarsely chopped
½ jalapeno, coarsely chopped
½ tomato, coarsely chopped
1 garlic clove
2 teaspoons cumin
Salt
Pepper

For the cheese sauce:
100 grams beer
11 grams sodium citrate
4 cups grated cheese

For the dredge:
1 cup flour
3 eggs, beaten
3 cups corn tortilla chips

Pulse all the aromatic ingredients in a food processor until they are very finely chopped. Pour the contents into a cheesecloth and squeeze out most of the liquid. Reserve to the side.

In a sauce pot, heat the beer over medium. Before the liquid gets too hot, add the sodium citrate and begin to whisk continuously until the beer begins to simmer. This will fully incorporate and hydrate the sodium citrate.

When the liquid is simmering, add the grated cheese a little at a time and incorporate using a immersion/hand blender or whisk. Continue working in small batches, making sure the texture is smooth before you add the next batch. Watch the heat as the cheese could burn. Move the pot on and off the fire or reduce the heat to medium-low if need be.

After you have melted all the cheese and your sauce is smooth, add the finely chopped aromatics and stir to incorporate. Pour into an 8-inch square baking pan lined with wax paper, let cool on the counter top, and then freeze until hard.

Build a frying station: line up three containers, filling one with flour and one with beaten egg. Grind the tortillas chips in a food processor until they have a texture similar to coarse sand, and pour into the third dish.

Pull cheese from the freezer and make sure it is firm and set all the way through. Cut block into cheesestick portions and toss in the flour of your dredge station. Then coat each piece in the egg mixture, making sure you are very thorough, before finishing by rolling each stick in the corn chips.

Fry at 350 degrees F for just 1–2 minutes. Just enough so the exterior coating sets.

Serve with a side of salsa.

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