A little over a decade ago, I took a deep dive into what was then a new item in the ZCoB ecosystem. I had a feeling that it could turn into a big seller, but absolutely no data whatsoever to back up my intuition. At the time we started making the recipe, hardly anyone in town (other than a handful of Southern transplants) had ever even heard of it.
I’m happy to say that my intuition turned out to be inspired; the pimento cheese recipe I came up with all those years ago has become a staple of Zingerman’s eating! It’s in all our businesses, in all our catering, available via Mail Order, and wholesaled to shops around the country. Who knew? I sure didn’t back in the day. I thought it could be a solid seller, but even I didn’t imagine it becoming one of our signature products. A super tasty blend of grated Vermont cheddar, Hellman’s mayonnaise, chopped pimentos, and spices, it can, of course, be put on almost everything. At the Roadhouse, it goes into a great macaroni and cheese, and it’s awesome atop a burger. Pimento grilled cheese is excellent, too!
A bit of historical background: According to Kendra Myers, writing for the Southern Foodways Alliance, pimento cheese has been a big deal in the South since the early years of the 20th century, featured in the region’s grocery stores since 1915. The poverty of the Depression years made it even more of a hit than it already was, and apparently—despite my former ignorance—it’s only continued to grow in popularity over the last century.
What do you do with pimento cheese? Might as well just quote Kendra Myers:
Why do we love it so? Well, it’s easy to make, it’s cheap, and it tastes great. It doesn’t make white bread go soggy, and it keeps well. It’s good between two slices of bread, lining a rib of celery, packed into a cherry tomato, or perched on a cracker. It’s heaven on a hamburger or a hot dog. Or eaten with a spoon right out of the crock.
The opening lyrics of Vic Chesnutt’s “Granny”—one of my favorites of his many great songs, from his classic 2009 album, At the Cut—go:
Granny, oh, Granny, what ya doin’ by the kitchen sink? She said, “I’m just makin’ up some pimento cheese.”
(To be clear, when Vic sings the song, “pimento” is appropriately pronounced, per his Georgia roots, “pimmenna.”)
The cool thing, though, is that it turns out it’s not just Southerners or Vic Chesnutt’s granny who seem to like pimento cheese. I made up my first batch at home a decade ago and brought it into the Roadhouse, where I rather tentatively gave tastes to the first 10 or 12 staff members who came by. Shockingly, I got nearly unanimous praise—they loved it. All these years later, it’s a Zingerman’s classic—something a whole lot of ZCoB regulars can’t live without!
