Looking for nasty liquid pumpable cheese

[ratbuddy]

Like you get on a chili dog at a dive or on 7-11 nachos. What do I look for at the grocery store?

[CDouglas]

Gehl's makes the one you have probably had at convenience stores. The jalapeno cheese sauce is the most common. It comes in a bag with a dispensing tap to fit in those nacho cheese machines you have used.

http://www.colemanconcessions.com/geh...

[soupkitten]

restaurant depot. i know because i've had to get it for dh's little cousins' theater fundraisers, and i'm the only one they know with the tax id# to shop there. i try to go early saturday mornings when i won't run into anyone i know and get in & out asap, and i hide the stuff inside an old organic bell pepper case and get rid of it like it's a drug deal. ironically their student group can sell totally shelf-stable non-foods like this (and twinkies and the like), but aren't licensed to sell real actual, perishable food.

you need the cheez pouch and the pump dispenser. this is not the same as cheez-wiz or velveeta or the shelf-stable orange "cheez dip" in a can or the like, it's a completely commercial product, you can't get it at a normal grocery store. barring an investment in the cheez pump apparatus, maybe see if you can work out a "growler" arrangement w the mgr of the 7-11. :)

[FoodFuser]

The Saturday morning cheese buying behavior is embarrassment based and is quite understandable.

In these days of good refrigeration, liquid cheese is such abomination, Cheese pushed hot from a plunger at 7-11 has equivalent non-gustatation.

I remember from youth there were pressurized cans that dispensed things called cheese from thin nozzles. On a munchified night we would shake it real tight to get last remnants of that gross gozzle.

There' is such simple beauty in a ripely aged cheddar. Vein it blue as a Stilton and it gets even better.

I suppose we must all do young cheese-pumpin' days, since the marketplace says that these foods are okay. But now, give me my Stilton, since I'm happily tiltin' toward more seasoned and tottering days.

[Tripeler]

Brilliant piece of writing, Food Fuser. Thank you!
Ripely aged cheese of virtually any variety is clearly superior to anything less.
Seasoned and tottering, yes! That's the very best that cheese has to offer.

[FoodFuser]

There is fun that just comes when we just recognize these:

There is beauty in ripening, be it codgers, or cheese,

We may still not give choice to lap "cheese" shipped in bladders,
But our crumbly sliced ones show that aging sure matters.

[mamachef]

I can't direct you to a "pumpable" product, but what you want is easily available in the Mexican section of your supermarket as nacho cheese (product). I'll re-iterate that there is nothing detectably Mexican in the flavor profile, but the consistency when heated is as close to the real deal as you're gonna get.

[Perilagu Khan]

Has nobody mentioned the ineffable but emminently edible Easy Cheese? I have never tried this stuff on a chili dawg, but just might hafta. It comes in Cheddar, Sharp Cheddar, Bacon Cheddar and American.

[coll]

Well this is an old thread, but if anyone still cares: of course 7Eleven or a hot dog truck buys the cheese in #10 cans, not little cans of Cheez Whiz. These run the gamut from basically all whey, no real cheese, which is maybe $30 a case, and is popular due to the fact that it's thin and squeezes well from a squeeze bottle; and goes all the way up to the king of cheese sauces, Chefmate, which is about $95 a case (BTW a case is 6 cans but most cash and carry sell them singly). You will not find any of these at a grocery store, unfortuately. A new development is "Bag in a Box", aka BIB, but the heating unit you need to dispense it costs about $300, unless you're 7Eleven and they give you one for free. Stick with the Chefmate if you can find it, is my recommendation. After you open the can, the stuff lasts forever in the fridge.

[gmm]

I love those convenience store nachos! I've never found anything in the grocery store that's similar to that cheese sauce. Cheese Whiz or the jarred queso sauces have a much stronger flavor. There's a local restaurant supply-type store called Cash and Carry in Washington, and they have huge cans of cheese sauce, but I don't know what I'd do with five pounds of cheese sauce. If you have a Qdoba anywhere near you, they have a 3-cheese queso dip that is a bit fancier, but so good.

[corneygirl]

It will freeze just fine.

[ratbuddy]

I know it's been a while but Kenji put up a great recipe that makes exactly what I was looking for. Check it out at http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/2...

[small h]

Cheez Whiz is what you're looking for. Just go into the chip aisle; there's a mess of options. But Cheez Whiz is what you're looking for.

[adamshoe]

Or look for Tostito's Queso dip-mild version. Orangey, gloppy deliciousness. adam

[small h]

That's FANCY.

[ratbuddy]

I do like the salsa con queso they sell, but was looking for something similar except without the peppers/salsa material. I looked at cheez whiz but the fat content, even on the 'lite' version is just way too high. The queso in the chip aisle is surprisingly low in fat, and is ALMOST what I'm looking for..

[melpy]

Sometimes Cheez Whiz is not in the chip aisle. You should be able to ask for it. It's a Kraft product. I only bought it once when trying to recreate something from an 80s TV Guide.

[FoodFuser]

Never steer a man with the Munchies to the aisle with the Gorgonzola.

The food industry provides a wide range of emulsified cheese sauces. While they have still not gained approval by either the American Heart or Diabetes Associations, they are available at the retail grocery level.

Examples include:

- the Deluxe Mac and cheese by Kraft has a foil packet of pourable sauce.

- in the chips aisle, there will be glass jarred quesos next to the tortillas. These are great for restrained sessions where you can actually refrigerate unused portions for later consumption.

- the canned soup aisle will often have things labeled "cheese sauce", in both 15 and 28 ounce cans.

- in the aisle with the #10 cans and gallon jars, you'll find cheese sauce. If you are munchied enough to purchase a #10 can, then you will probably want a friend's help at home, to remind you that you cannot microwave the unopened can.

- your local 7-11 type convenience store could sell you a 5 pound bladder of the stuff that issues forth from the steel nacho pump

- if planning ahead, for the big one, here's the Holy Grail of the range of bladderpacked cheese sauces:
http://www.bayvalleyfoods.com/product...

Enjoy the quest, Don Quesote.

[ratbuddy]

That might be the awesome-est link I've ever clicked on. My hat is off to you.

[duck833]

I have seen this vile stuff at Smart n final, cash n carry. Depends on where you live.

[alwayscooking]

The grease on the floor?

Why don't you try a nice cheese instead? An aged cheddar or even a gouda would be so much tastier and a tad more healthy.

[ratbuddy]

I usually use real cheese, for sure. Sometimes, I just get in the mood for the gross stuff though, and would like to know what it's really called or where to get it.

[alwayscooking]

Sorry litchick - I may admit to some things but nothing named cheese-like product - I respect cheese and my body much too much. Ratbuddy - google ' melt velveeta' and you'll find a bunch of recipes that are probably just what you want.

[litchick]

C'mon alwayscooking, even the chowiest hounds like to go slumming now and again -- plenty of threads attests to this. Cut the rat some slack.

ratbuddy: my bet is that it's just called "nacho cheese" -- the only nacho-like element being its liquid-y consistency (it certainly has nothing to do with any Mexican flavors). As for leads on places to buy it, probably anywhere that has a Sysco-type vibe: restaurant supply stores, Sam's Club, BJ's, maybe Costco. Walmart perhaps?

Or you could bring a take-out container to 7-11 (or the movie theatre, ballpark, etc) and see if they'll indulge you.

Good luck!

[corneygirl]

Made me think of a favorite bad joke - What do you call cheese that belongs to someone else.

[boyzoma]

My 6 year old grandson pulled that one on me before I had seen the commercial.