Pimento Cheese Interim Update

I’ve been thinking a lot about pimento cheese with the goal of arriving at what I will consider my pimento cheese recipe, the ultimate pimento cheese recipe. That’s the goal.

So, in furtherance of this goal, I stopped by Publix the other day to grab some Lindsay pimentos and some sharp cheddar for my latest attempt, when I noticed two brands of packaged pimento cheese that I’d never seen before. Knott’s and Callie’s Hot Little Biscuit. I want to talk about these two gems, but first, just a word about how the market has changed.

All my life up until something like ten years ago the only packaged pimento cheese one could buy at the grocery store was the pimento cheese spread, that actually didn’t even have cheese in it, but some kind of weird cheese-like facsimile. If you’ve ever had it, you know what I’m talking about. I’m sort of fascinated by this business, actually, the “mix-it-up-with-mayonnaise” salads business. It’s regional. I remember we had Mrs. Weavers in Mississippi when I was a kid. There’s also Ruth’s, Reser’s, and many others, depending on where you live. It’s this over-sweet, fake-cheese glop, but it is good stuff in it’s own right, I think. Nevertheless, as far as I know, Palmetto Cheese, by Pawley Island Specialty Food, was the first home-style real-cheese pimento cheese that was available. I’m not sure when I started to notice it, but I guess about 10 years ago. It is sharp cheddar, cream cheese, and mayonnaise. It may have not been the first, but it is the first one I noticed, and nowadays it is a staple, available at Wal-Mart and most major grocery stores.

Back to Knott’s and Callie’s Hot Little Biscuit. If you get a chance to try these, grab them up, because damn they are good. Callie’s Hot Little Biscuit, though, may just be the best pimento cheese I have ever eaten. I’m still kind of reeling from it, and it kind of thrills me because in my previous post, I wrote about adding an umami note to my next batch, via maybe soy sauce. I was sitting in my car eating Callie’s for lunch, and I could not put it down. It has the umami, and it comes from the addition of Worcestershire sauce. My eyes got as big as saucers. No cream cheese, which presents me with something of a dilemma. In my previous post, I wrote that adding cream cheese was going to be permanent in my recipe, but now that I’ve had Callie’s, I’m forced to rethink that. It is sharp cheddar, Monterrey jack, mayo, with the Worcestershire and various other spices, but nothing crazy.

The Knott offering was also very good, but it lacked Callie’s umami punch. It is sharp cheddar, cream cheese, mayonnaise, and onion powder. I think the onion powder is better than a garlic note by a mile. It is a very good concoction, better than Palmetto cheese, but Callie’s, man, Callie’s is the best I’ve ever had.

Callies has a super-high ratio of pimentos to cheese, too, and specks of black pepper. It is just so, so nice. Really and truly, I think duplicating Callie’s may just be the way to go, with the addition of a subtle sweet note, which hers lacks. I’m not sure. I’m thinking it through. I’m not sure, as of this writing, how I am going to proceed. Cream cheese or no cream cheese? Add a little onion powder? Garlic or no garlic?

Anyway, I’ll write up part 4 as soon as I make some decisions.