Is my cheese dip missing something?

I don’t know how well this is going to work. I’m just going to throw this stuff together in a pan and see what happens. I plan to saute the spinach in garlic butter:

Spinach
garlic
cream cheese
green chilies
shredded jack
shredded cheddar
milk (for consistency)

Thanks for any input.

Dash of cumin? Maybe a small amount of lime juice? Just spitballing – never made cheese dip. Small amount of pulverized almonds or pine nuts?

Despite the sheer volume of cheese, the end result may not be very cheesy. Parmesan, Asiago or aged Cheddar would help that. A little mustard powder might help the taste, and is always a good idea in melty cheesy foods due to the emulsifier it contains.

Mustard powder? Cool. I would have never thought that in a million years.

Is this a cold, soft dip? Or a hot, liquid dip?

Bacon

Cubed pancetta would be better.

Maybe paprika.

There was some treatment in the latest “Cook’s Illustrated” which required pureed bacon – I don’t remember the application, but the B&W photo of the food-processered bacon/pancetta looked good enough that I’m going to do the same thing to a few pounds and freeze it. No, not for a milkshake, but for things just like this cheese dip.

Coleman’s mustard powder! Even for a half-Irish Frenchie, there are a few things the English can do right.

How about a hit of Worcestershire sauce?

Pancetta is bacon. A very delicious form of bacon. Agreed.

You’re correct, of course. I thought that that specific kind of bacon would be better than the more standard fried strip bacon.

Cheddar and jack don’t melt well - they tend to separate and become greasy. You can get around this by adding some flour to the mix (basically make a roux), or just using a little bit of those cheeses and rely mostly on the cream cheese. The roux makes a good sauce for things like mac & cheese, but for a cheese sauce it’s a bit floury. I’d tend to go heavy on the other ingredients and low on the cheddar/jack - maybe just grate some in at the end, off heat, and see what happens.

If you’ve got some carageenan lying around, it makes a great emulsifier and you can make a cheese dip almost entirely out of cheese with it. But I’m going to go out on a limb and assume you don’t have any hanging around in the back of the pantry.

He might if he’s a homebrewer.

But it’s not really like American bacon, which almost always is smoked (and to me, makes a big, big difference in the final taste. I hate it when people substitute bacon for pancetta.)

The only comment I have on the OP’s ingredients is he needs something to get the consistency right. Those cheeses aren’t quite going to cut it on their own, even with milk. You’d need a roux (as Athena mentions–basically make a bechamel base for your cheese to melt in) or, god help me here, but I’m actually going to suggest Velveeta as a possibility. I enjoy a hint of nutmeg with my cheesy sauces, so I’d add that, too. A little goes a long way, though. Just a pinch.

I would skip the milk. If you need to thin it out, use sour cream instead.