If you really want to make this pimento cheese the way my mother does, and you happen to own a hand-crank meat grinder, run the two cheeses once through the fine blade of the grinder into a mixing bowl. Mother simply used to grind the pimentos with the cheeses, but now she prefers to mash them with a heavy fork on a plate until they break up into tiny pieces.
She uses homemade mayonnaise but also endorses Hellmann's (a.k.a. Best Foods).
Pimento cheese keeps, tightly covered and chilled, 4 days.
Recipe information
Total Time
2 1/2 hr
Yield
Makes about 3 cups
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Finely grate cheeses into a large bowl. Stir in pimentos, black pepper, cayenne, and salt to taste with a fork. Then stir in mayonnaise, mashing mixture with fork until relatively smooth. (It should be flecked with small pieces of pimento.)
Step 2
Scrape spread into a crock or jar and chill, covered, at least 2 hours to allow flavors to develop.
Step 3
Serve pimento cheese with crackers or use as a filling for finger sandwiches.
