Recipe: South City Kitchen’s pimento cheese

This week, we’re sharing the recipe for the pimento cheese from South City Kitchen.

The restaurant’s regulars have likely encountered the cheese paired with vegetables, pickles, and fried soda crackers, or as one of the components in the Southern spread appetizer.

South City Kitchen Culinary Director John Spotkill considers the grated cheddar and red peppers the two most important ingredients in the restaurant’s pimento cheese. While you can buy shredded cheese, shredding your own cheese will result in fresher tasting pimento cheese.

Spotkill uses the acidity in pickle juice and peppadews to balance the richness of the cheese and mayonnaise in the recipe. Korean chili flakes provide some spice and a flavor punch.

You can serve South City Kitchen’s pimento cheese as a dip, but Spotkill recommends making pimento cheese sandwiches, too.

“It’s always great on a burger,” Spotkill said. “It also makes a killer grilled cheese with bacon on crusty bread.”

Ingredients

• 10 ounces Duke’s Mayonnaise
• 8 ounces red peppers, roasted, drained, seeded and diced
• 4 ounces diced peppadews
• 8 ounces softened cream cheese
• 2 1/2 pounds grated white cheddar
• 1/4 cup pickle juice
• 1/4 cup Worcestershire
• 1 Tbsp Tabasco
• 3 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp salt
• 2 tsp black pepper
• 1 Tbsp coarse Korean chili powder

Directions

1. Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl.
2. Add half of the mix to a food processor and pulse to allow ingredients to combine and break down. (Do not make a smooth puree. You are only pulsing enough to chop the pimentos and break down some of the cheese.)
3. Remove pulsed cheese to container and process the other half of the mix.
4. Mix together, taste, adjust and store, or serve.