This month in "Duelist Newsletter," we're going to deviate from our usual practice of recipes from Duelists. At the suggestion of founding member Utena Tenjou, we caught up with Charles Phillip "Chip" Mui. While not a Duelist himself, he has a recipe that readers will enjoy--namely, his so-called "Evil Taco Dip."

Chip's Evil Once-a-Month Taco Dip

By Charles Phillip "Chip" Mui

1 8 ounce package of cream cheese
1 can of chili, no beans (I prefer Hormel)
2-4 tablespoons of hot sauce
1 1/2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese

Don't let the simplicity of this fool you--it's been a crowd-pleaser ever since my uncle gave me the recipe. This was given to him by a former CPO in the Navy back in the 1990's. She gave up custodianship of it for the monthly birthdays because a rather snide manager claimed that it wasn't hot enough. Taking it upon himself to avenge her honor, the original modification called for a puree of jalapeno peppers and oil--which had eye-opening results on said manager. For the sake of convenience, hot sauce was used in later servings.

Why am I not using chili with beans? It's a big galaxy out there and some life-forms don't tolerate beans very well. I'll leave it at that. You want to please your diners, not cause discomfort.

The choice of hot sauce has been left vague because everyone has different tastes and piquancy thresholds. I personally prefer a concoction of Tabasco and two other sauces. Utena has the entire formula, and I'm afraid that you'll have to duel her to get it.

Preparation:

In a 7 x 10 glass dish, spread the cream cheese to an even layer. Then add the hot sauce (or hot sauces) on top of the cream cheese. The more adventurous may dab bits of habanero sauce in the corners. Spread the chili over this layer and then sprinkle the cheddar cheese on top. Bake for 30-45 minutes at 350 degrees F until the top cheese layer is melted, or microwave for about 6 minutes.

That's it! Serve with tortilla chips (with or without lime), provide spoons for scooping, and stand back! This serves between 4-6 people, depending on how much they scoop.

Closing notes:

In case you haven't noticed, this is bad for you. That's why the words "Once a Month" are in highlights like that. This makes a great post-duel reward, though...but if you want to keep in fighting trim (and what Duelist doesn't?), heed my warning.

On a whim, I had my girlfriend do a nutritional analysis on this and she was utterly appalled. Then she and her family tried it, and--well, let's just say that the dip smoothed over any language barriers I'd been experiencing (my Jive is serviceable, but not flowing).

If you wanted to make this a little upscale, I suppose that you could make your own chili and perhaps blend the cream cheese with the sauce mixture--but this is for convenience's sake.

Enjoy,

--C. P. "Chip" Mui

I've gotta say, this is nowhere near hot enough for me. Can I have the magma strength, mouth melting formulation?

And in the sake of completeness, my own personal chili recipe features 1/2 pound dried beans, 1 lb ground beef, 1/2 medium or large onion chopped, 2 jalapenos chopped, 1 habanero roasted and chopped with seeds and ribs removed, 30 tortilla chips, and my homemade chili powder. That's everything I can think of right now. No tomatoes, although I suppose I'll have to add them if I ever cook it for my dad.

>I've gotta say, this is nowhere near hot enough for me.

I would think that would depend on what you use where the recipe just says "hot sauce". I mean, there are places online that sell pure capsaicin.

--G.
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Yeah, but there's a difference between "Hot Sauce" and "Tongue Melting Sauce".

This is suspiciously close to a recipe I make use of however, just without the Velveeta...

>>I've gotta say, this is nowhere near hot enough for me.
>
>I would think that would depend on what you use where the recipe just
>says "hot sauce". I mean, there are places online that sell pure
>capsaicin.
>
>--G.

Well, regardless of how hot the sauce is, there's just a lot of cheese in there. More than there is in Alton Brown's fondue as a matter of fact. That stuff's easily capable of dulling even the most potent of sauces. And Hormel chili isn't anything particularly special.

Then again, I'm a self admitted food weirdo who eats cucumber ice cream and likes it.

>I've gotta say, this is nowhere near hot enough for me. Can I have
>the magma strength, mouth melting formulation?
>

I direct you roughly here for a potent yet still flavorful sauce.

	-={(Astynax)}=- "Darkness beyond Twilight"

LAST EDITED ON Jul-31-09 AT 08:23 PM (EDT)
 
Benefits of living between a Community College and two full-up universities is that each one has a store nearby where their culinary classes can sell some of their creations. And some of them will either put Wookie hair on a Naked Mole Rat, or cause Nall's hair to catch on fire. Just from breathing in the fumes. And its not just from peppers/capsicum.

Although I love the idea of the Velveeta being substituted for the cheddar (I love cheddar, but I'm a sucker for Velveeta). I'll have to try this. Especially with green Tabasco.

And I forgot Chip was dating a certain blonde & green-inclined meganekko.