The late Bill Neal, visionary leader of the Southern cooking renaissance and noted food writer, dubbed pimento cheese the “pâté of the South.”
A homesick Southern expat residing in New York City once bemoaned the absence of the Dixieland ambrosia in his adopted hometown. He searched markets and delis from Manhattan to Yonkers and Brooklyn without success, finally pleading with his mother in Memphis to send a recipe, and do so quickly. You cannot find it in Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Chicago or anywhere else beyond the borders of the old Confederacy, for that matter. If you trace your heritage to any other part of the world, it’s entirely possible you’ve never heard of the stuff.
I didn’t, until I came here. People from Boston to San Diego don’t slap pimento cheese on white bread for a quick and satisfying lunch, nor do they slather it on burgers for a decadent treat.
When I first moved to Virginia from out West more than 25 years ago, I peered into a refrigerated case at a Bedford County Mom and Pop store with great curiosity. Tucked in there amidst the salt fish, tubes of pork sausage, cartons of buttermilk and brown, free-range eggs, were round, plastic containers filled with an orange, red-flecked emulsion I’d never seen before.
I took a container home, spread some of it on bread and ramped it up with a few dashes of Tabasco sauce. One bite, and I was hooked on pimento cheese for life.
When true (and many transplanted) Southerners are asked about pimento cheese, a smile spreads across their faces as their minds fill with memories of childhood, slamming the back screen door, opening the fridge and filling their mouths with a scoop of the homemade treat.
Everyone’s mother or grandma seems to have a special recipe for ‘Menta cheese.
It is an exceptionally emotional food for Southerners.
Where pimento cheese came from, and when it became a staple of Southern cuisine, is unknown. But most likely, the sandwich spread made its way onto so many tables because of its ingredients. Everything needed to make it are just staples in the pantry: Cheddar cheese, mayo, canned pimentos, a dash or two of Worcestershire sauce and a hint of cayenne. But where and when pimento cheese sandwiches are eaten is more specific. The cheese is the star of any picnic, on white bread, cut diagonally in halves, or quartered, sometimes the crusts removed, with fried chicken, ham biscuits, deviled eggs and sweet tea.
According to writer Beth Edelstein, who grew up in Tifton, GA, ‘menta cheese signaled celebrations, as well as the seasons of life, appearing at both joyous occasions such as weddings and baptisms, as well as somber ones, like funerals. Summer brought bare feet, sweet tea and ‘menta sandwiches. When school started, the favorite sandwich from the Barbie lunchbox was pimento cheese, thermos-squished, yet still scrumptious. In November, everyone was thankful for pimento cheese in celery sticks, so elegant in a crystal dish. Nan Davis, a native of Coffeeville, Mississippi, recalled a beloved aunt whose pimento cheese sandwiches had an impact on the community in which she lived.
An indication of how closely her pimento cheese sandwiches were associated with her is indicated by the fact that her minister mentioned them in his eulogy after her passing. He said he didn’t know who had been making the pimento cheese sandwiches in heaven before she got there, but they were going to have to move over now because she was in charge.
Emily’s Pimento Cheese
Makes more than you should consume in one sitting.
- 1 giant (l pound) block of Cheddar cheese, grated
- ½ cup of mayonnaise, or more, if necessary, it’s just to bind
- 1 4-ounce jar of pimentos, drained, juice reserved, and finely chopped
- Tabasco sauce, a few shakes
- Lots of black pepper
Combine the cheese, mayo, pimentoes, some of their juice, the pepper and Tabasco. Adjust seasoning to taste. You don’t want it too wet, or too dry. Let it sit in the fridge for awhile so the flavors can blossom, before eating.
About the Writer:
Rebecca Jackson is a veteran newspaper person/journalist based in Bedford County, VA. A native of California and an M.A. graduate of Arizona State University, she has a passion for pets (animals), good food/cooking, music, wine, horticulture, photography and travel.
