Pimento Cheese | Everyday Dorie

This is my first encounter with pimento cheese. It is a creamy spread made with cheese, pimentos and mayonnaise, often referred to as the pâté of the South. Dorie’s version in Everyday Dorie is a simple blend of sharp and extra-sharp cheddar (small chunks in a 1:4 ratio), pimentos, mayo, salt and cayenne. This is a no-cooking method; everything happens in a food processor. Give all the ingredients a few pulses until the mix become smooth and spreadable. Finally, look for the pimento cheese to take on the texture of tiny-curd cottage cheese.

Dorie says to refrigerate the pimento cheese for at least 4 hours so that the flavor will deepen and pick-up a punch. It so happened that my pimento cheese hardened after the chill. In order to make it spreadable, I have to add some extra mayo. On the day I made this, there was a heat advisory from the National Weather Service in the New York area. Therefore, I can imagine the pimento cheese melting the moment I take it outdoor.

On hot summer days in the past week, it’s easy to forgo cooking and just put together a hearty dip or a snack tray. So I gather some tomatoes, green beans, carrots, cucumbers, bagel chips, and boil an egg. Put them on a platter together with the pimento cheese, sprinkle everything bagel on top — and call it a day.

The veggies platter with pimento cheese is serviceable, not spectacular. I guess the cheese mixture and veggies are not quite coming together as a whole. The fatty cheese mix and the healthful veggies tend to occupy its own corner without budging. On the other hand, I could imagine the pimento cheese melting and running down on the side of a hotly grilled burger. That’s where pimento cheese is really good on, as Dorie says it will.