Hot Chorizo Cheese Dip – A recipe inspired by my little brother

Video: Stovetop Chorizo Dip Recipe

Chorizo Cheese Dip Recipe

My little brother is man of few words. Indeed, he’s grown-up, a man who is only a few years my junior, but he’ll always be a little brother to me.

Since childhood, his silence was often overlooked because with so many frolicking kids in one household, all the loud chatter and squabble over the one television was usually ignored. With 6 high energy kids between the ages of 5-16, my parents became selectively deaf to all our loud obsessions and disputes over the Atari game system. A household of 6 kids and two Atari joysticks was never a quiet one.

Mom and Dad knew each of our strengths, weaknesses and tendencies to conjure up crafty excuses as to why we didn’t finish our homework. Gosh, they’re so smart. They know us so well. So my little brother’s soft speech and gentile demeanor was of no surprise to them. The whole family and neighborhood friends accepted him as the “quiet kid” and we protected him with the armor of our sibling clan. No one dare tried to bully him in our hood.

Quiet doesn’t mean Stupid

It wasn’t until middle school that school counselors found his silence to be too unusual, somewhat threatening and tried to label him as clinically troubled. Despite his great grade point average, they “concluded” that he needed help, even possible medication. They eventually became the enemy. My family (meaning Me because I was the eldest with the strongest communication skills) had to fight the school system and prove to them that he was a normal kid. The school administrators tried to intervene as ambassadors to better his mental health. He was just quiet. He wasn’t a freak. At this point, to prove to the antagonists that he deserved to be in a normal high school, he had to take a barrage of academic and mental health tests.

My parents told my brother to prove to everyone that he wasn’t a mute nor a clinical case. The repercussions of him failing was to simply take away his Atari video game system. That was enough to pull him out of his shell.

Lo and behold, he went in there into the counselors offices, chattered his way through the tests and passed with flying colors. Little Brother was able to keep his beloved Atari. It’s amazing how kids make a 180 degree turnaround when they get threatened to have their toys taken away.

Till this day, he’s still a quiet type; a tender, passionate, gentle soul who normally never sparks conversation with anyone he doesn’t know. But when you bring up anything that has to do with music, classical guitars, baseball, nutrition facts or fast cars, he’ll speak more than just a few words. Little brother will give you an ear-full.

Recently, I found another subject that has sparked his interest and has him talking for minutes on end. It’s his love of my sweet onion dip. He loves my sweet onion dip so much, that he actually adapted it and made it amazing. To have my little brother experiment with food has always been a miracle in itself, but to have him adapt a recipe of mine and make it his own was shocking to me.

Little Brother added chorizo to the sweet onion dip. He told me that. He talked with great excitement. He just couldn’t stop talking his chorizo cheese dip version.

I sat and watched him rattle eloquently about how delicious the chorizo was. He talked my ear off on his onion browning techniques, the best timing for the cheese melt and how his dip became the hit at his last party. He made it obvious that his love for chorizo and melted cheese was boundless and eternal.

My little brother may be quiet, but like many of people I know, they only want to speak when there’s a purpose. They’re the flies on the wall, the attentive, observant ones who would much rather listen than speak. I don’t find these folks threatening, but rather refreshing because it’s nice to just be able to sit with someone you love and care about, in silence.

Since those High school years, he served two terms in the military. After returning from being stationed in South Korea he served a few more years in the military, this time stationed in Texas. It’s was nice to have him back home and congratulate him on achieving his Bachelors degree in nutrition. This hot chorizo dip recipe is dedicated to him and rightfully so. It’s so damn tasty Little Bro!

-diane

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• This hot chorizo cheese dip recipe was originally published in 2010 and is a reader favorite. I’ve re-edited and updated the recipe to make it easier to read and clarified more of the steps.  Thank you!  Here’s a roasted cherry tomato sweet onion dip and stove top artichoke dip you might enjoy.