Uncle Russells Cheese Dip

By aggiemom220

Ingredients

• 5 lbs. hamburger or chili meat
• 4 lbs. of Velveeta cheese (I never use/tried the
• low/reduced fat Velveeta. I prefer the hard stuff!!!)
• 2 ~19 oz cans of Hormel or Wolf Brand chili (without beans).
• I typically use the regular, not the mild or hot.
• 2 10 oz cans of Rotel (your choice here on using mild,
• regular or extra hot -- Habanera)
• 2 15 oz can of whole tomatoes
• 1 onion (medium to large)
• 4 cloves of garlic
• Worcestershire sauce
• Seasoned salt (I use Lowry’s)
• Salt & pepper
• Chili powder
• Cumin

Preparation

Step 1

• Chop onions and mince the garlic cloves

• Cook meat, onions and garlic until meat is fully cooked
o I like cooking the meat with a lid on (stir frequently) to “drive” the onion & garlic flavor into the meat

• Absolute Must – After cooking meat, drain grease; otherwise dip will turn out very soupy!

• Add Worcestershire sauce (~1 tblsp), salt, pepper, seasoned salt and cumin to desired taste

• Add chili powder (start with ~3 heaping tablespoons)

• Add Rotel tomatoes and can of whole tomatoes (chopped up). Use the juice from the Rotel but not the juice from the whole tomatoes. This might make the dip a bit soupy.

• Add canned chili meat

• Mix and simmer on low to medium heat (covered) for about 10 minutes, stir occasionally

• After simmering, let your taste buds decide on what/if additional seasoning is needed:
o Typically, a pinch more salt, light dust of cumin and another dose of chili powder will “get-r-done”

• Throttle back on the heat to the lowest setting

• Slice cheese into ~1/4 inch slices

• Add cheese slices a little at a time. I typically just layer the slices on top or shove in edgewise, cover for about 2-3 minutes and then stir as required until the cheese is completely melted.

• Repeat adding cheese layers until all cheese is added and melted

Make sure to stir (frequently) off the bottom of the pot; otherwise the cheese on the bottom will burn.

• After all cheese is melted, turn off heat and let the batch cool/cure (overnight in the fridge if possible)