Pimento Cheese: Pâté of the South
A re-enactment of the jar Marc spotted
Okay, I know I’m throwing down the gauntlet here, but my mother makes the BEST pimento cheese! She would NEVER involve cream cheese in her mix nor would she ever buy it pre-made from the store. Hers is tangy and spreadable and there are no globs of mayonnaise to be seen (y’all know I’m an anti-mayo-ite!). When Marc first came to North Carolina to visit one summer, he spotted a jar of my mother’s pimento cheese in the refrigerator, and let me tell you he was most dubious when my mother asked if he wanted a pimento cheese sandwich. What!?! A sandwich of bright orange shredded cheese spread?! To his utter surprise, her pimento cheese on toasted bread won him over, and he now requests pimento cheese from her every summer. Another Yankee conversion!
Or is it?
The history of pimento cheese is beautifully explained here. Though Southern cooks made it their own after WWII, its origins are based in New York some 70 years prior. So it looks like Marc’s love for pimento cheese is a return to his roots!
I know my mother’s recipe and have made it often, but I’ve also adapted another from Bill Neal that I quite enjoy. It provides Marc and me with some spreadable variety over the course of the year! We posted my version of Bill’s recipe for this week’s Wednesday Fare on Instagram, which includes Parmigiano-Reggiano, bourbon (!), + I add Crystal Sauce—my favorite New Orleans hot sauce.
With apologies to Edouard Manet
Serve pimento cheese as a sandwich—grilled or cold, on classic Ritz crackers, on celery, or—my favorite—on top of fried green tomatoes. Pimento cheese is easy to make, it’s perfect for a luncheon (indoors or outdoors), or a snack, and because I don’t make it with a lot of mayo, it travels well, too. If you host a gathering and want a simple & substantive Scooby Snack, put out some pimento cheese on crackers and celery and watch it disappear!
Check out our recipe @ConstanceCooks on IG & leave us a comment over there to let us know what you think! If you’ve made pimento cheese before, how does this one stack up? And if you’ve never tried, I double-dare you to dip your celery in this gorgeous orange concoction!