This is a recipe that comes with opinions.
The upcoming fifth book in my Cheese Shop Mystery series, FONDUE OR DIE, takes place at the Dairy Days Festival. My protagonist, Willa Bauer, needs a quick lunch in between selling cheese from her Curds & Whey booth and sleuthing to catch a killer. I decided to give her a pimento cheese sandwich. I'd never had one before and it sounded straightforward, so I tinkered with the recipe to add a few extra cheeses and included it in the book. Months after doing that, I decided I really wanted to try one of the classic southern recipes I'd first come across like The Masters Famous Pimento Cheese Sandwich. However, most were adamant that the mayonnaise had to be Duke's. I'm a New England girl who grew up in New York on Hellmann's--was there a really a difference? I took to my social media to ask my readers and boy, did they have opinions! After a fun and lively discussion on Hellmann's vs. Dukes, I felt compelled to go in search of Duke's. Once I had the promised Duke's (which was recently crowned best overall mayo by Food & Wine), I did a blind taste test on Facebook Live using egg salad, and surprised myself with the results! (Click the link to discover which I crowned the winner!)
Regardless of the outcome, I was still determined to make the classic pimento cheese sandwich that my southern grandma would make... if I had a southern grandma. Since I don't, I consulted my dear friend, Cheryl Pelicano, from South Carolina, who uses Trisha Yearwood's recipe and adds Lawry's Seasoning Salt liberally. Her children swear it's the best pimento cheese they've ever had. Because this type of spread is already taxing my sodium limit, I didn't buy the seasoning salt myself, but for the rest of you, I suggest you trust her judgment. I also didn't use a mixer because 1. I'm a lazy cook and 2. I wasn't making enough for a crowd. So the measurements below are for one sandwich or an individual bowl of dip. If you'd like to make enough spread for more, follow one the recipes above or just multiply the ratios.
CLASSIC PIMENTO CHEESE SANDWICH
Ingredients:
1/4 cup of Duke's mayonnaise
1/4 -1/3 cup of pimentos, drained and chopped
1 cup good quality sharp cheddar cheese, freshly grated
white bread (or crackers if you want it as a dip)
Lawry's Seasoning Salt to taste (optional)
Instructions:
1. Shred cheese. Since I didn't use a mixer, I used my fine grater to shred the cheese.
2. Drain and chop pimentos.
3. Put Duke's mayonnaise, shredded cheese, and chopped pimentos in bowl and mix.
4. Spread a thin layer on white bread and enjoy as a sandwich.
5. Or eat with crackers and enjoy as a dip.
(I prefer it as a dip with crackers. I feel it needs the crunchy element and is overly rich as a sandwich.)
I thoroughly enjoyed my unintentional deep dive into pimento cheese spread and Dukes vs Hellmann's. I'm a fan of the spread and could imagine the addition of crab meat for my next venture into making it. Who knew an overlooked food like pimentos--the perpetual wind beneath green olives' wings--could be the star of a dish? As a cheese girl, I'd be remiss not to remind you to spring for a good quality cheddar.
READERS: Where do you stand on Duke's vs. Hellmann's? Or do you go rogue with a third choice?
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| COMING OCTOBER 22ND |
Look for FONDUE OR DIE in October and another pimento cheese sandwich recipe, this one using Hellmann's and some additional cheeses.
*GIVEAWAY: One person who comments will be randomly chosen to receive my new bookmarks featuring FONDUE OR DIE!
For the past several years, Korina has been on her own Eat, Pray, Love journey, which seems to have stalled at the Eat phase. When not writing or sampling new cheeses (a perk of the job), she can be found with a new favorite cozy, doing jigsaw puzzles, or discovering new travel destinations. She has an affinity (some might say addiction) to coffee mugs, loves cats, and can't pass up a new notebook or journal with all those fresh, empty pages.
The Cheese Shop Mystery series is available wherever books are sold. To find out more and subscribe to my FREE monthly newsletter, visit my website and follow me on Facebook and Instagram.
