This is a good one.

Posted by: Cindy_Mac (My Page) on Sun, Oct 6, 02 at 14:39

WORLD'S BEST PIMENTO CHEESE

4 tbls. mayonnaise
1 (3-oz.) pkg. cream cheese, at room temperature
3 cloves garlic
Handful of fresh parsley
Several vigorous shots of Tabasco and Pickapepper sauces
1 cup pecans
1 (4-oz.) jar diced pimentos with the juice
12 ozs. extra-sharp Cheddar cheese, grated

Purée until smooth in food processor the mayonnaise, cream cheese, garlic, parsley and sauces. Turn into a bowl. Coarsely chop pecans. Add pecans and pimentos with juice to the mayonnaise mixture. Add grated cheese. Stir well to combine. Store in refrigerator at least 1 hour before serving. The spread is even better the next day. Serve on bread, crackers or on vegetables.

Pimento Cheese with Roasted Peppers

Ingredients:

1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
1 ½ cups grated Monterrey Jack cheese
½ cup mayonnaise (is this 'Miracle Whip"?)
2 Tbs pimentos, smashed
2 Tbs roasted peppers, smashed
Cayenne pepper

Directions:

Mix all ingredients well.

Joe

It this it?

Quick & Easy Pimiento Cheese Spread

2 cups cheese (cheddar or processed), grated
2 4-ounce jars diced pimientos, drained
1/4 cup mayonnaise
Dash of Worcestershire sauce
Salt to taste
Milk for desired consistency

Combine all ingredients except milk and mix well. Add milk as needed to achieve desired consistency. Cover and refrigerate. By adding a little more mayo, the pimiento cheese is creamier and becomes an ideal chip and vegetable dip.

I had something different at work this week: hot pimento cheese dip! It was yummy too! Kept warm in a crock pot served with crackers and "scoops" for dipping. Next I want to try a burger with pimento cheese on it.

Teresa, You know I love PC sandwiches. I usually sprinkle cayenne pepper on it if I can't find the store bought jalapeño PC spread.

I think I will try one of these recipes and add my one heat.

Cath,
Let me know when you are coming this way and I will get you a cooler full of jalapeno PC spread - several brands.

:O)

Glenda, I think that is it! The darn milk! I knew I was forgetting an ingredient. And I think the one I had used chedder and jack, but that's easy enough to tweak. It's the milk that was missing. Thanks.

Joe, You've never had the "pleasure" of Miracle Whip? Count your blessings! Miracle Whip is a brand of "salad dressing" that a lot of people think is God's gift to the condiment list. It's often used in place of mayonaise, and Like anything that has extraneous sugar in it, it's popular in the south. I can't abide it. It's far too sweet for me. And I HATE when I order a sandwich with mayo at a restaurant and it comes with the MW.

Cindy_Mac's recipe sounds yummy. I'll try that one, too. (Where is Cindy these days?)

Mustangs, make it with pepper jack! :)

Teresa, You know I will take you up on your generous offer because I would like to see you. Any maybe we can lunch on some of "God's gift to the condiment list".

BTW, did you get Marilyn's (B&B) recipe for Bananas Foster French Toast? Some did but I can't remember who.

I love pimiento cheese and actually miss it. Can't find cheddar cheese over here and it just isn't the same with gouda.
Pimiento cheese sandwiches on white bread spread with mayo (I am with Renee on the MW) and Lay's potato chips. Yummy.
Lisa

I gladly bequeath my life quota of MW on whomever loves it. :) We'll work out a quota trade on something. LOL!

Lisa, can you get any of the English or Irish style farm cheeses? Those could work in place of cheddar. Not completely the same, but would still probably be good.

It is actually pretty good with gouda, Renee. I have made it once since I moved here.
Just not the same without the orange color, though! LOL
I can get cheddar, but at that price, it is a special treat.
Lisa

Renee, Funny that your disgust is aimed at the Southern folks when MW was a Mid-Western invention. LOL

I'm sure not from the south, not even close , but I love MW on sandwiches, in deviled eggs and in potato salad. Can't abide mayo on a sandwich.

Prefer mayo for most salad dressings.

No, my disgust is aimed at Miracle Whip. :) We all have a ffood we don't like to the point of "do NOT put that on my plate" and that's one of mine. Those who love it, please help yourselves and enjoy. Just don't sneak it on my sandwich, swear to me it's mayonaise, and then try to convince me it's the same thing as mayo when I object (like nearly every restaurnat in central KY tried to do). :)

I guess I assumed it was a southern product because it's in so many southern pantries. I think my aunts used to buy it in five gallon buckets - leastway it seemed that way. Kinda like how my sister didn't think the tea was sweet enough with any fewer than three cups of sugar per gallon and my grandmother's cousins put suagr on tomatoes.

Never heard of pimento cheese. Wonder if it would be good with olives, kinda like Weed's Surprise Cheese balls?

Here is a link that might be useful: Long live Wikipedia

Jessy, I've seen pimento cheese sandwiches served with sliced green olives, but not mixed into it beforehand. Not sure why not. Maybe the olive would get too strong and the flavors meld?

Also big in KY was Olive Nut Spread sandwiches -- basically a cream cheese based spread with chopped black and green olives, chopped walnuts, milk, salt, and (of course) sugar. As common on a menu there as grilled cheese or chicken salad. I think it would be better minus the sugar and salt (olives are already salty) and add a little garlic and lemon, and used sparingly on lavosh, but JMO.

R, Cindy is still in her remodelling project that never ends, but she doesn't post here any more. I hear from her sometimes.

Miracle Whip? I like it on some things, like a tomato sandwich. I need mayo for other things.

Sugar in tea? My southern ex-MIL insisted that tea HAD to be sweet, it wasn't right without sugar, LOL. I cannot drink tea with sugar, but sugar on tomatoes? I've never seen anyone do that.

I'm not a big fan of pimento cheese either, but I've only had the store kind. Price's is really popular here, but maybe I'll have to make some of my own and see if it's better....

Annie

I use very little in the way of mayonnaise, but when I do I want it to be either homemade or Hellmans. Never MW. So I'm with Renee on that one.

My Grandmother loved sugar on her tomatoes. So I guess it isn't just a southern thing.

Ann

Pimento cheese sounds like something my grandmother would have liked.

I haven't had pimento cheese in ages....what I did have was a premade sandwich from a lunch counter in a office building....cheap lunch for sure..LOL!

Mayo on my burger but it has to be MW on my BLT...

I'll have to try some of the recipes above, I'm sure they will be better than what I've had in the past.

David

I never thought of Miracle Whip as sweeter than mayo or a southern thing - to me, it has a hint of vinegar taste that mayo doesn't. Duke's Mayo used to be the mayo of choice in the South (don't know if it's distributed north of the Mason-Dixon) & that has a very different taste from any other. Not my personal favorite, but was so well known in rural areas that many elderly people in the 1950's used the terms "Duke's" & "mayo" interchangably. It's still made in Richmond VA.

I grew up in a northern Ohio farm family putting sugar and plain ol' apple cider vinegar on tomatoes....LOL

Indianan DH likes MW. I can eat either, but definitely prefer real mayo. "Blue Plate" mayo is the one I've heard raved about but we don't get that here. Usually Hellman's.

Cheese "spread" is sold in almost grocery store deli here in southern Indiana. Usually it's served on little sweet bread rolls. Very common party food. Seems VERY salty to me, though. Maybe if I made it myself...

Lived all my life in the south surrounded by....southerners! but I never saw or heard of anyone putting sugar on tomatoes. Now scalloped tomatoes or stewed tomatoes do have sugar or brown sugar usually, but those are baked/cooked and are served hot.

I must be living in pimento cheese heaven as I have at least 3 sources of excellent pimento cheese (w/wo jalapenos) just a few miles from me. If I could ship it I would!

My mom makes excellent PC using sharp cheddar, jarred pimentos, mayonnaise (probably Duke's that has "no sugar, never has, never will"), salt and pepper, maybe a dash of milk and that's all. IMO a small amount of chopped green olives might not be too salty if they were drained and blotted of excess brine. Finely chopped sweet pickles are also good for a change-of-pace PC.

An excellent sandwich is PC on good bread with some homemade sweet 7-day pickles added. I like PC cheese toast for breakfast too.

Teresa - a Duke's girl through and through, Miracle Whip is not welcome in my pantry!

Teresa, I was thinking Graber olives - they are mild enough that I think they wouldn't overpower.

I've never (knowingly) had Miracle whip - I haven't seen it in pantries or recipes from friends out here. This side discussion hasn't included the Westerners, I'm always curious about regional tastes/trends.

Jessy,
I'm not so sure about Graber olives in PC. Somehow I don't think that kind of olive is a good fit in PC. I think I'd reserve the Grabers for enjoying all by themselves.

From this discussion I've realized I am a Pimento Cheese Snob! LOL! There are other brands in the grocery store besides Stan's, Steve's, and that made by a local restaurant, Delancy's - but I won't touch the other brands. Now I've heard that the Harris Teeter grocery store chain has good PC under their own brand or in their deli. Must check this out.

Annie - Price's seems to be everywhere. I find it too sweet for my tastes, too. (My birth certificate my say NC, but I think my taste buds came from somewhere out west. I like sweets, just not in my savory foods.) The Price Pepper Jack spread isn't bad, though. (And I like sweet tea, but I'm thinking more along lines of half a cup sugar to gallon -- and I make my tea really strong. You could read the paper through my sister's tea...more like simple syrup than a beverage.) )

David - something I saw a lot growing up was celery stuffed with PC. And my dad could sit down with a box of crackers and a crock of PC and consider it a meal.

The best PC I ever had was at Second Nature Cafe in Raleigh. It's not there anymore.

I had a hard time finding Duke's even in KY. Food Lion was the only store than carried it, And as Teresa says, "no sugar, never has, never will". LOL! DH hates mayo, but even he will tolerate Duke's in tuna or chicken salad. I've had to go back to buying Best out here (which is Hellman's on the east coast.)

I guess MW has its place for some folks, but putting it on my sandwich, looking me in the eye and saying "Oh, yes, it's mayonaise" is like trying to pass off kethcup as cocktail sauce.

For those not familiar with Miracle Whip it's a brand name. The generic name is "salad dressing" and it's in the aisle with the mayo.