Experiments with Pimento Cheese

In a little over a week, it will be two months of practicing a strictly keto style of eating, and during that time I have dropped two notches on my belts. You might be wondering how much weight I’ve dropped in terms of pounds, but I have not weighed myself. Not even once. I’m not focusing on that. I’m using how I feel, how I look, and how my clothes fit as the metrics. Why? Weight never drops as fast as one would hope if he or she is watching the scales. It can be frustrating, especially when one hits the inevitable plateu phase. Instead, I’m trusting in the process and just letting it happen. A watched pot . . .

Pimento cheese. One of my favorite foods for sure. In a previous post about Southern-style delis, I provided my most basic pimento cheese recipe, which is essentially just throwing some pre-grated cheese into a bowl along with some mayonnaise and of course some pimentos and let that be that, and that is good. It is better than any store-bought pre-made pimento cheese, in fact, and so one wants to be careful when he experiments because this is subtle, and it is all about refinements, not drastic changes.

I have two points I want to make. Firstly, I’ve discovered that pimento cheese comes out nicer if one grates his own cheese. It probably has to do with the anti-caking cellulose and the anti-mold chemicals manufacturers add to pre-grated cheese. Hand-grated cheese makes the pimento cheese smoother and I think it tastes a bit better if you’re prone to splitting hairs. It’s the smoother consistency that I like.

Secondly, not all pimentos are created equal, with the pimentos offered by Lindsay far-and-away superior to any other I’ve tried. Dromedary is the brand I see in my local supermarkets the most, and those are fine, but the Lindsay pimentos have a much more pronounced pepper flavor, and it makes a big difference.

So, the best, truly gourmet, pimento cheese I’ve ever made looked something like this:

Ingredients:

2 lbs of cheese, grated by hand. Two different types of cheese. I used a mild cheddar and a sharp cheddar. I am going to experiment more here with the cheeses. 1 jar of Lindsay pimentos, sliced or diced, doesn’t matter. Heaping spoonfuls of Bama or Duke’s mayonnaise. Several splashes of Louisiana Hot Sauce, the actual brand Louisiana. Fresh-ground black pepper. A tablespoon of sugar. I like mine with just a touch of sweetness, which to me brings out the flavors. I don’t want it cloyingly sweet. Just a touch.

Add it all into a big bowl and mix it well. Add the mayonnaise until it is the right consistency.

Chill overnight for maximum flavor melding.