Southern Pimento Cheese And Sandwich Bread

When I was a kid, pimento cheese sandwiches were a typical weekend lunch. These sandwiches often accompanied soup, salad, crudité or fruit. I didn’t know that this was an exclusively Southern food until I moved to the Pacific Northwest. I never, ever saw pimento cheese there, or really, anywhere outside the American South (interestingly though, I have read that there is a Pilipino version of pimento cheese, but I have never had this). Pimento cheese sandwiches of my childhood were made of grated bright orange cheddar cheese, mayonnaise and a tiny jar of pickled pimentos. To any Southerner: a salad. For anyone unfamiliar, the pimento is a sweet red pepper. This was served on white sandwich bread with the crusts cut off – and, honestly, usually to old ladies and small children. For me, a serious cheese lover, this comforting food is a lifelong love.

I have seen many slight variations of Southern pimento cheese. Some seemingly not untraditional additions include: a bit of yellow mustard, some minced garlic, diced dill pickle, onion or shallot, or hot sauce. A typical ratio for a very basic recipe might be 2 cups of grated cheese, ½ cup of mayo and ½ cup of diced peppers.

The truth is that today, jarred pimientos are sometimes puréed and re-formed into strips, resembling the cut pepper, using a stabilizer. I tend against any such processed food and so, these days, I use a roasted or raw, but finely diced, red bell pepper. Likewise, I now try to avoid cheese with added coloring. I will say that I also tend against any recipes that add cream cheese. In my experience that was not traditional, and more specifically, I think it adds the wrong tang. Now that I am ‘all growed up,’ but still a pimento cheese lover, I like to add fresh herbs like thyme. I have added diced Roma tomato. I even once had a pimento cheese with broccoli sandwich, grilled.

And, more recently, I noticed a recipe that I really like. In The Southern Vegetarian, by Justin Fox Burks and Amy Lawrence, they make a pimento cheese with lemon zest, thyme, sharp cheddar, a bit of goat cheese, olive oil mayo, a diced red bell pepper, a splash of champagne vinegar, half a shallot minced and salt and pepper. This actually makes a lovely combo – and a slightly, if only slightly – grown up pimento cheese sandwich.

I hope that you will try a pimento cheese sandwich for yourself, or with your children and your grandmother. I think you do not have to be Southern, a baby, or an old lady to love a pimento cheese sandwich, served grilled or cold, on a weekend afternoon.