Pimento Cheese

Replace the cream cheese with good mayo as mayo adds flavor and the cream cheese just dilutes it. Grated onion adds a nice bite, but if serving onion averse crown, add a dash of onion powder and garlic powder. Then add Sriracha sauce and/or Worcester Sauce. Make a day ahead for flavors to meld.

Why not throw it all in the food processor and pulse it a few times. The food processor bowl is already greasy from grating the cheese (at least at my house).

I'm no purist where recipes are concerned, but when I was growing up in North Carolina, making pimento cheese was a simple process: 8 ounces of sharp cheddar coarsely grated, one 4-oz. jar of diced pimentos with the liquid, 1/3 to 1/2 cups of mayonnaise, preferably Duke's but definitely unsweetened (forget Hellman's and other northern grocery store brands). One teaspoon of white vinegar. Salt, if desired. Cream cheese? No way. Onion? Garlic? Why not chocolate chips?

My suggestion is to be sure that you are assiduously draining your pimiento/roasted pepper. Blot thoroughly with a clean tea towel or paper towel. I hope this works for you.

By itself, commercial mayonnaise will not support the growth of pathogens. In fact, bacteria die when inoculated into mayonnaise. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10945595 ). The acids in commercial mayo (acetic, lactic, citric) lower the pH to the point where bacteria don't grow. So it keeps well. Once the mayo is mixed with other ingredients, however, the mixture loses the bacteria-killing properties of the pure mayo (as well as the long-keeping properties of a hunk of cheddar).

Point of order... The Pimento Pepper, also known as the Cherry Pepper, is not actually the same as the common Red Bell Pepper. Granted, the Portuguese word "pimentão" does mean "bell pepper", but the Pimento Pepper has a sweeter flavor, is more aromatic, and contains less Capsaicin than the common bell pepper.

I'd never even heard of pimento cheese until I moved South, but sure do love it now. Don't like orange cheddar (I know, it's just annatto) so I make this recipe with sharp white, and use pickled jalapeños instead of pimento. I usually add a splash of pickled jalapeño brine too. Recently bought a jar of Hot&Sweet Jalapeños at Trader Joe's and used some of those. Just had that pimento cheese on a slice of sourdough toast topped with a thick slice of fresh tomato. Wow!

Why is it that you can keep ALL of these ingredients in the fridge for weeks and weeks, but having mixed them together it only holds for a week?

There are as many different variations on pimento cheese as there are Jr League cookbooks in the south.

When I was a boy growing up in South Carolina, we had hamburgers with pimento cheese and chopped onions. It is out of this world.

I recommend not using the cream cheese, use additional Dukes or homemade mayonnaise to get the right flavor If you must use Hellmans or some other mayo, add a bit of lemon juice - Dukes has a subtle lemon tang which makes it taste closer to homemade. Try subbing roasted red bell peppers for the jarred pimento (my fave). You can sub a roasted hatch chili for the dried red chili flakes. Try putting this into a small skillet and baking until melted, then serve with pita chips or veggies. Yum!

Why not just make it the way it's suppose to be made. You can change it but then its now pimento cheese. The authentic recipe does not have cream cheese, and has pimentos. Period.

I add toasted pecans, just like my Mother and grandmother did. Maybe that's a Texas thing - seems like they added pecans to about everything!

I make this just like my North Carolina Mom did...only mayo, no cream cheese...and adding a little drip of oil from the canned red peppers. I've lived in New England for 20 years now, and every time I take these sandwiches to lunch, my Yankee office colleagues go "Ewwww, what IS that?" Granted, it's a little, well, ORANGE! But once they taste it, they're hooked!

Consider a tablespoon of lemon and teaspoon of paprika instead of the red child flakes