Unless you’ve done some good eating in the South, the words pimiento cheese most likely will conjure up a little jar of Kraft processed cheese food (spelled pimento on the label) that is as valued for its usefulness when recycled as a little juice glass as it is for the mild cheese spread it contains. A lot of Southern pimiento cheese is every bit as bland as Kraft’s: smooth orange paste enriched with mayonnaise and laced with bits of a red cherry pepper that delivers absolutely no heat and just a whisper of sweet flavor (but does give the cheese a festive appearance). On the other hand, cooks riff brilliantly on the concept, making versions with different kinds of sharp cheddar, adding horseradish or olive bits or other, more punchy peppers.
Pimiento cheese sandwich, Franklin, Tennessee.
BRUCE BILMES
Pimiento cheese is served with crackers or crudités as an hors d’oeuvre and on sandwiches (made with polite white bread, please). The late Ruby Seahorse Grill on Edisto Island, South Carolina, claimed to have invented the pimiento cheeseburger, which is now a popular alternative to regular cheese-burgers throughout much of the South. Golf fans all over the world know about pimiento cheese because it is the featured snack at the Masters Tournament in Augusta, Georgia.