Pimiento Cheese Dip

I don’t know exactly when or where I first tried this dip but it was sometime in the 1970s.  I always thought of it as a Michigan thing – I used to spread it on celery sticks, but apparently it’s more of a Southern thing, commonly spread between two slices of white bread.

Recently, pimiento cheese has had a renaissance and can be found in popular food magazine recipes and on the menus of top restaurants in metropolitan cities.  All I can say is that this dip reminds me of 1970s party food, appearing next to the likes of spinach dip (nestled in a hollowed-out pumpernickel loaf), green goddess dip with crudités, mushrooms stuffed with deviled ham, cheese logs, bacon-wrapped water chestnuts, deviled eggs and Swedish meatballs.

A concoction of cheese, mayonnaise and pimientos doesn’t sound appetizing.  Somehow these ingredients shouldn’t work together, but they do and I can’t stop eating Pimiento Cheese Dip.  I keep going to the fridge thinking, “I’ll just spread a little bit on one more cracker, then I’m done,” but one more cracker has led to several more and the bowl is now almost empty.

Pimiento Cheese Dip

Print Recipe

Let the dip rest in the refrigerator for about one hour so that all of the ingredients fuse together.  I like to store and serve the dip in jars - they make a nice presentation. No matter which vessel you choose, this dip is addictive.

Servings	Prep Time
6 people	15 minutes

Servings Prep Time 6 people 15 minutes

Pimiento Cheese Dip Print Recipe Let the dip rest in the refrigerator for about one hour so that all of the ingredients fuse together.  I like to store and serve the dip in jars - they make a nice presentation. No matter which vessel you choose, this dip is addictive. Servings Prep Time 6 people 15 minutes Servings Prep Time 6 people 15 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 cup sharp yellow cheddar cheese coarsely grated
• 1 cup extra-sharp white cheddar cheese coarsely grated
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 teaspoon celery salt
• 1 4-ounce jar pimientos drained and chopped
• black pepper freshly ground, to taste
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
• a few dashes Tabasco sauce (optional)
• a few dashes worcestershire sauce (optional)

Servings: people

Instructions

1. Grate the cheeses and add to a mixing bowl. Add mayonnaise, celery salt, pimientos and black pepper (and optional add-ins, if desired).

   
2. Mix well.

   
3. Transfer the mixture to a serving dish and enjoy with petits toasts, toast points or crudités.

   

Recipe Notes

I halved this recipe which is excerpted (with the exception of the the optional add-ins) from Bon Appetit's recipe for Pimiento Cheese Dip.

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