r/KitchenConfidential 17h ago

Cinnamon in the hatch queso

Post image

Why? We may never know

213 Upvotes

121 comments sorted by

373

u/DayInTheLifeOfAGod 17h ago

Mistaken the cumin for the cinnamon is my guess.

If not even required idk

178

u/tedcruzzodiackiller0 17h ago

doesn’t call for cumin, I truly wish it was a simple mistake like that.

74

u/TheRainbowFruit 15h ago

I'm surprised a queso recipe doesn't call for cumin! I make a green chile queso once a week for my family. Green chile, garlic, a little butter, salt, pepper, onion and garlic powder, cumin, red chili powder, and liquid smoke, cook for a bit then add American cheese, heavy cream mixed with corn starch, and a little milk if necessary. Makes a really delicious queso... And does not include cinnamon 😂🤣 My god that's so awful.

36

u/PondRides 15h ago

Eh, sometimes with hatch I’ll omit comino to keep the brighter taste.

8

u/tyleramyers 14h ago

Got a link for that recipe?

8

u/TheRainbowFruit 13h ago

Kind of? I'm pretty bad about not actually following recipes but it's loosely based off this recipe: https://www.eatingonadime.com/mexican-white-cheese-dip/

Typically I will cook my diced chile and garlic in the butter for a bit, add my seasonings and ~4-5 drops or so of liquid smoke per pound of cheese, then add a little heavy cream/milk, then cheese, then more milk/cream or seasonings if necessary. I do about a tablespoon and a half or so of corn starch mixed with heavy cream per pound of cheese, too. Keeps it a little more liquidy after cooling.

3

u/Unicorn_Sush1 10h ago

Liquid smoke????? Ewwwwww

u/illegal_deagle 9h ago

It gets a bad rap but it’s literally just… liquid… smoke. It’s wood burned and the smoke trapped in water. I’m a BBQ snob and would never advocate having it stand in for actual smoke in that context, but there are legit uses in the kitchen for it. It’s super important to have a light touch with it though. A little goes a super long way.

8

u/TheRainbowFruit 10h ago

Personal preference. I don't use it for anything but my queso. I have a little bottle of it just for that. My old sous chef told me about it, said it just adds a little something extra. You don't use a lot. His queso was good too, but we were in a state that doesn't have easy access to hatch green chile so it wasn't quite as good. My girlfriend, however, lived in NM so I had them and now I also live in NM. I've been messing around trying to find my favorite flavor profile ever since though. My 6 year old is obsessed with it.

2

u/MisChef 11h ago

Wait - home cook or pro?

9

u/TheRainbowFruit 11h ago

Me? Both, I guess. I work as a cook full time but also cook and experiment a lot at home.

u/Fit-Produce420 7h ago

Liquid cancer? Oof. 

u/TheRainbowFruit 2h ago

Jeez I was totally unaware of the liquid smoke hate 😂😅 It's the only thing I use it for but it really does add a little extra depth to the flavor.

1

u/TheBigMotherFook 12h ago

“That’s how I was taught to make it”

48

u/shmelse 15h ago

I did the opposite of this in oatmeal once. It’s why my cumin bottle has NO written on the top in sharpie.

17

u/ranting_chef 20+ Years 12h ago

I once used an espresso grinder to grind cumin. I think they threw the thing away.

u/sweetpea122 9h ago

Damn...

2

u/Curiouser-Quriouser 15h ago

Lol ditto. I've got a shitty skull and cross bones on the bottle.

u/cahlinny 8h ago

I have done this in a pancake mix - the trader Joe's cinnamon and cumin are too alike!

6

u/clever__pseudonym 11h ago

Now it's Christmas queso.

u/OMGimaDONKEY escaped to a weed factory 3h ago

but it's pumpkin spice season=(

6

u/randompastadish BOH 12h ago

Have you ever seen the Drake and Josh episode where they put cumin in the pancakes instead of cinnamon? And nearly kill the dad

8

u/kingftheeyesores 13h ago

I worked at a bakery that sold health cookie dry mix (basically birdseed with flour) and the cooks weren't allowed to prep it anymore because one accidentally used cumin instead of cinnamon, but this was at a popular tourist location so some people didn't find this out until the took it back to Europe and made them. This was before online banking was much of a thing so I don't know how refunds went but it became a bakers only job after that.

u/EpicFail35 9h ago

My wife once put cumin into a cookie instead of cinnamon, never living that down 😂

84

u/BoneYardBirdy 17h ago

How... how does it taste?

108

u/FooBarU2 17h ago

Let me be an idiot:

It's got a Cincinnati Style chile vibe?

19

u/thetempleofdude 15h ago

The one time I had that, I tasted more clove than cinnamon

11

u/drivein2deeplftfield 11h ago

The cinnamon is very subtle. Everyone gets told it’s in there before they try it because it’s an unusual spice for traditional chili giving most people a pre conceived negative bias. Also comparing it to traditional chili also sours peoples opinion, even being from cincy, i think of it as chili only by name, it is much more adjacent to a meat sauce/bolognese

u/sweetpea122 8h ago

A bolognese with cinnamon?

u/Ocel0tte 4h ago

Cinnamon is in a lot of savory things!

I can't have it, and I love all of the things it's in. Chinese Five Spice is an easy one (rip my orange chicken recipe). Some blends of Jamaican jerk seasoning use it. Oaxacan mole, the dark one that uses chocolate. Pho broth. A lot of BBQ sauce. Cheap spaghetti sauce. Old El Paso frozen bean and cheese burritos.

The list is long. I'm like a human cinnamon detector, unfortunately I detect it by going half blind lol. It gives me migraines with aura.

Since it's not a common allergen (even my thing isn't an allergy), it doesn't have to be explicitly listed in labels. The label often just says "spices" and a lot of things can be under that word.

Also, camphor is a species of cinnamon. It's in Carmex. Worst 3 days ever before I thought to google the ingredients. At least it wasn't a stroke, I guess.

u/FooBarU2 2h ago

Wow... thanks for sharing and I'm sorry for what you've been through and still going through..

40

u/johnwynnes 16h ago

Just the words Cincinnati Style Chili alone are upsetting to me. Jail the entire state of Ohio for allowing it to proliferate.

9

u/rayofgoddamnsunshine 14h ago

As a Canadian, I don't think I know what Cincinnati style chili even is.

23

u/GreatBigHomie 14h ago

It's like a thin meat sauce with flavors of cinnamon that will go on top of spaghetti, sometimes with onions and beans and loaded with a fuck ton of cheese.

It actually has a cool history but people love to shit on it because they're haters.

7

u/pacingpilot 14h ago

Don't forget the cheese coneys. So delicious.

2

u/GreatBigHomie 13h ago

For sure. But cheese coney isn't necessarily just a Cincinnati chili kind of thing.

5

u/johnwynnes 13h ago

Detroit style coney chili has depth and spice, and isn't (usually) as runny and sloppy

3

u/GreatBigHomie 13h ago

Would try. Love me a chili dog.

19

u/70stang 14h ago

It has an interesting history, but that doesn't make it any more edible.

2

u/GreatBigHomie 14h ago

Okay but have you had it poured over cream cheese and topped with shredded cheese and dipped with tortilla chips?? 🤌🏼🤌🏼

9

u/70stang 14h ago

No, because if anything, that sounds even worse than the standard way of eating it.

4

u/RealEzraGarrison Ex-Food Service 14h ago

Seriously, it's one of the absolute top food sins, should not exist

9

u/70stang 13h ago

Much like the entire state of Ohio, it is a sin against God

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2

u/clever__pseudonym 11h ago

Yeah! And topped with mint jelly.

(It's an abomination)

u/sweetpea122 9h ago

Its not, is it?

4

u/GoatLegRedux 11h ago

Macedonian meat sauce that someone along the way decided would be better marketed as chili and then they put it atop spaghetti.

Honestly, the only sin is in calling it chili cuz the Texans get super offended if you call anything that’s not chili peppers and meat “chili”.

But who gives a fuck what Texas thinks, right??

u/sweetpea122 9h ago

Ohhh. Oh. No.

u/GreatBigHomie 8h ago

Oh yes. Accept it. Embrace it. Love it.

3

u/johnwynnes 14h ago

Please don't listen to anyone trying to rationalize it. It's an absolute abomination. Often topped with Cheddar cheese, it's in the vicinity of prison style spaghetti bolognese (but with cinnamon and sometimes cocoa), it's a high crime.

6

u/snixon67 12h ago

I'm just gonna drop this right here...

3

u/MukdenMan 14h ago

It’s a Cincinnati thing mainly. You can get it in other parts of Ohio but it’s not that common and it’s only Skyline that exists outside of Cincinnati.

3

u/fuckyourcanoes 13h ago

It's really not bad. It's not chili, but it's not bad.

1

u/johnwynnes 13h ago

It not actually being chili may be one of my main issues actually, you've unlocked something in my anti-cincy-chili hatred manifesto

2

u/Glittering_Source189 20+ Years 11h ago

Cincinnati is more Kentucky than Ohio, that border ain't real

u/jzilla11 8h ago

They call the white American cheese “the spicy kind”.

31

u/tedcruzzodiackiller0 17h ago

I honestly couldn’t bring myself to try it.. but I do still wonder. The smell was off putting to say the least haha

44

u/sLeeeeTo 15h ago

really?? no one gave it even a little taste?? it’s just cinnamon lol

20

u/unbelizeable1 14h ago

When I see fuck ups like this I jump to try the abomination lol. The curiosity is just too much.

26

u/Nxy69 14h ago

You're going to make a post shitting on something and not even try it? 🤔

13

u/MoeSzyslakMonobrow 14h ago

I mean, I add a cinnamon stick to my chili. It's a warning spice, so it might not be completely out of place, as long as it stays subtle.

10

u/TheGinger_Ninja0 13h ago

I'm with you on this one. Cinnamon can actually be a good addition to Tex Mex or other spicy styles, as long as you keep it subtle.

I would at least taste this cinnamon queso

u/sweetpea122 8h ago

Says people eating "Tex Mex". Speaking of abominations. Ill die on this hill. Tex-Mex is terrible. Its usually just something Mexican with a horribly reverberated microwave or beige food

u/TheGinger_Ninja0 6h ago

Better go tell the Mexicans who had the border cross them

5

u/drivein2deeplftfield 11h ago

And you call yourself a cook? Lmao puuuusssssyyyy

86

u/limbomaniac 16h ago

Pumpkin Spice Hatch Queso!

7

u/DancingOnAlabaster 14h ago

Thanks to this Starbucks’ marketing is now on a Pumpkin Spice Hatch Latte crusade for Cinco de Mayo. Civilization has fallen.

3

u/All_Hail_Space_Cat 12h ago

Whats fucked up is that in the right location at the right time of year, you could absolutely run that fuck up with that wording as a "special"

69

u/littleweirdooooo 17h ago

Was it a lot of cinnamon? I personally like cinnamon in savory dishes, so I'd be down to try it out

18

u/squeakynickles 15h ago

Touch of cinnamon and cocoa in a red sauce is fuckin killer

17

u/hollowspryte 16h ago

I actually only like cinnamon in savory dishes! I would definitely try this

u/ketamine_denier 3h ago

Cinnamon and allspice rock in cheese sauces and soups, but it’s real easy to overdo

17

u/AdministrativeRiot 16h ago

Yeah, my first thought was with the right balance, this could be good with an almost Indian flavor.

u/illegal_deagle 9h ago

Yeah there’s a taco chain that does a really good red curry queso. Don’t know if it has cumin but it slaps and is unconventional.

3

u/DayInTheLifeOfAGod 14h ago

So there was a tea pot on the stove usually reserved for boiling water inside only at home.

One day, as I'm making some spicy ramen and need more water, I decided to use some from the pot. My ramen tasted off, with sweet notes to it. I checked the pot, and my sister had made cinnamon tea water bs.

It wasn't bad, but I wouldn't do it again.

3

u/kitterpants 20+ Years 10h ago

Agreed, lots of cultures use warm spices in savory applications and it’s really, really good.

21

u/Disastrous_Drag6313 Chef 16h ago

Ooof. I watched a cook pour cinnamon in a quiche custard the other day, which was for broccoli cheddar. "Are you making French toast?" Oops, that was supposed to be nutmeg. "Welp, start over and definitely use less nutmeg than that please"

Same cook later made spaghetti instead of linguine for her dinner set, that she cooks 4 days a week. Some people just don't pay attention.

14

u/steal_wool 16h ago

CUMIN. I SAID CUMIN!

6

u/TypicalPDXhipster 11h ago

But I already came in it and was told that was wrong

9

u/massedbass 11h ago

Am I the only one bothered by all the sauce around the rim 

u/Aestrad9 8h ago

Probably over filled it initially so it went into the lid when they put it on. Yes bothered 😆

11

u/AccomplishedMess648 Ex-Food Service 16h ago

Not as bad as the guy that worked at my dads place he swapped the quantities for the salt and sugar in a chocolate chip cookie recipe.

2

u/Loki_the_Smokey 14h ago

that's a pretty understandable and common mistake...

This is devilry at work. I saw the comment that said "thought it was cumin" but according to OP it doesn't even call for cumin. This is just foul lol

3

u/peptodismal13 14h ago

How is that a common mistake?!!! Noone puts multiple cups of salt in cookie dough! Even if you have 2 unlabeled bags of white substance one smells like sugar and one smells like salt.

1

u/SandmanLM 11h ago

Sugar and salt have no smell difference. You'd have to taste them to know. If you wanted to use your senses.

21

u/RozRae 17h ago

As a New Mexican...

WHATTTTT

14

u/tenasan 14h ago

As an old Mexican , no mames, canela en el queso?!

14

u/Lady_Litreeo 16h ago

Fellow New Mexican. Straight to jail.

6

u/____LostSoul____ 15h ago

I had someone do that thinking it was paprika or red pepper. We almost never use the cinnamon, so I tossed it in the back storage room.

3

u/Traditional-Ad-9000 11h ago

cinnamon and chocolate could enhance depth of flavor in small amounts, depending on the other ingredients

3

u/Impossible_Smoke1783 14h ago

Cinnamon is a common spice in savory Mexican food

3

u/fritterstorm 13h ago

Is it good?

3

u/V00dooChile 12h ago

Gettin ready for the pumpkin spice season would be my best guess lol

2

u/mostoriginalname2 14h ago

Some middle-eastern style sauces have maple syrup in them. Along with cumin and tahini and lemon juice.

2

u/thisisntmynametoday 12h ago

Don’t ever confuse cumin seeds and caraway seeds.

u/RenRazors 9h ago

Northern Mexican cuisine uses cinnamon and clove in a lot a spice profiles. But it’s like just the slightest touch of it.

4

u/The-Master-of-DeTox 16h ago

I bet it smelled awful. Cinnamon Overdose is weirdly medicinal smelling. Was this guy on his way out and mad at chef? Like what the actual fuck bro! I hate wasting product but I bet that shit went In the shitbin, where it belonged.

4

u/Express_Area_8359 15h ago

Cinnamon Cheese wtf chuck i wanna throw up

1

u/jeffnorris 16h ago

And that is enough internet for the day

1

u/oneangrywaiter General Manager 15h ago

Skyline Chile con Queso

1

u/chrund3l 15h ago

One time, my coworker added pepper to our gluten-free pancake batter instead of the chia/ flax seed mix we normally use (':

1

u/Helpful_Lie2613 13h ago

Maybe they thought "creamy sauce needs nutmeg. Shit, 86 nutmeg. Cinnamon is close enough, right?"

1

u/DisgruntledNCO 12h ago

My mom put cinnamon on deviled eggs once by accident like 20 years ago, and she still beats herself up over it.

1

u/audio-nut 10h ago

Ohio style. 

u/DestinedAscension123 6h ago

Call it horchata queso and charge 50 cents more for it

1

u/PansophicNostradamus 16h ago

Cinnamon and Cheese? I was hungry. Now I’m nauseous.

1

u/andrei_androfski 16h ago

Out of pumpkin spice?

1

u/Sirnando138 16h ago

What a waste of those chilis

1

u/FlavorBlaster42 12h ago

Unauthorized cinnamon, cocksucker!!

1

u/vodka_tsunami 10h ago

Did it get its color from the cinnamon?