"The tortilla can be flour or corn, thick or thin, griddled on a comal, fried until crisp, or even heated up in the microwave, if you must. The cheese must necessarily be one that melts, binding the tortilla into something more than wrapper and filling. Choose poorly and you end up with grease or rubber. Choose well and you get the stretch, pull, and richness that make a quesadilla what it is."
"In Mexico, regional quesadillas can include mushrooms, squash blossoms, or huitlacoche, but the cheese is never optional, because it's the molten glue that holds the dish together. Global interpretations of the dish have introduced myriad quesadilla variations, some of which include cheeses from Monterey Jack to cheddar. They melt well enough, they just shift the dish toward an American flavor profile."
Quesadillas are a simple, adaptable Mexican dish of a folded tortilla filled with melting cheese and heated until the interior becomes melty. Tortillas can be flour or corn, thick or thin, griddled or fried, and cheese determines texture, stretch, and richness. Tacos traditionally lack cheese; when cheese is added it becomes a quesadilla. Regional Mexican quesadillas include fillings like mushrooms, squash blossoms, or huitlacoche, but cheese remains essential as the molten glue. Global variants use cheeses such as Monterey Jack or cheddar, shifting flavor toward an American profile. Queso de Oaxaca (quesillo) is a fresh, stringy cheese stretched like mozzarella into ribbons and wound into balls or ropes; pulled strips melt into elastic threads ideal for quesadillas.
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