Tequeños

Tequeños (singular tequeño) are thin rolls of white cheese, usually queso blanco or a low-moisture mozzarella, wrapped in a sleeve of leavened wheat dough and deep-fried until the outside is pale gold and crisp while the cheese inside turns molten. The dough is made from flour, butter, egg, a little sugar and salt, and is rolled out very thinly so that, after frying, the ratio of cheese to dough is roughly two to one. They are eaten with the fingers, usually warm enough that the cheese pulls in long threads when bitten.

The snack takes its name from Los Teques, the capital of Miranda state in Venezuela, where it is generally accepted to have been created in the mid-twentieth century, and it is the most common party food at Venezuelan birthdays, weddings and Christmas Eve (Noche Buena) gatherings. The same rolls are also a staple of Colombian, Ecuadorian and Panamanian party tables, where they are usually served with salsa rosada, guacamole or a garlic-herb aioli. In Venezuela the pairing is traditionally a paper cone of tequeños with a paper cup of pink sauce and a cold papelón con limón (a cane-sugar lemonade) on the side.