I’m not a sports person.
Football. Yawn. Baseball. Yawn. And on and on.
Oh sure, when I was in high school I had a brief flirtation with baseball and the Dodgers. Mostly, though, my baseball interest was because I thought I was in love with Sandy Koufax.
I was recently reminded how ignorant I am about sports when I picked up a John Grisham novel, Playing For Pizza, and found out (gasp!) that the book’s whole premise was built around an understanding of football. I enjoy Grisham so I gave the book a real try. In the end, I learned some stuff. I now have a better understanding why quarterbacks like Tom Brady are paid so much.
So, with that all said, this recipe has a tangential connection to sports–The Masters Tournament to be precise.
Today’s recipe is for a version of the tournament’s iconic Pimento Cheese Sandwich. Enjoying a Pimento Cheese Sandwich at the Masters is a tradition—like beer is to Octoberfest, like fried pickles are to county fairs, like paella…you get the picture.
The sandwich has been the tournament’s signature sandwich since the 1940s when Hodges and Ola Herndon made them in their kitchen and then sold them for 25 cents at the tournament. Over the years, a number of different vendors have held the contract to sell the sandwiches (always at $1.50) and there have been some struggles to replicate the original recipe. In 2013 there was a particularly acute pimento cheese sandwich crisis when attendees complained that that a new vendor’s sandwiches were off the mark. The recipe wasn’t right and the sandwiches were “gummy” was the complaint. One customer complained: “I am fine with adding the female members, and I am tolerating the belly putters, but changing the pimento cheese recipe is taking change too damn far.”
This recipe comes from a Golf Magazine article and claims to be the real deal– although it does not include cream cheese which most other Masters copy-cat Pimento Cheese sandwiches do. Here is a link to the Gold Magazine article and recipe: Pimento Cheese Sandwich.
Be forewarned, this recipe makes a whole lot of pimento cheese. So, you might want to halve the recipe or find other applications for the cheese spread. My neighbor enjoys the cheese as a stuffing for celery. Others stuff mini-peppers with the cheese and serve them as an hors d’oeuvre. Pimento Cheese also works in omelets, as a topping for a burger or as a spread between two slices of fried green tomatoes. If you are sticking to the spread for the traditional sandwiches, be aware that purists ALWAYS serve the sandwich on white bread but it tastes great on rye.
I’ll bet even Sandy Koufax enjoys this sandwich.
Pimento Cheese Sandwich
Ingredients
- 3 C. shredded white cheddar cheese
- 2 C. shredded yellow sharp cheddar cheese
- 4 oz. crumbled blue cheese
- 1 C. shredded Parmesan cheese
- 1 4 oz. jar diced pimentos (drained)
- 1 C. mayonnaise
- 2 T. Dijon mustard
- 1 loaf of white bread (or rye)
Directions
- Step 1 Combine all the spread ingredients in the bowl of your food processor. Process until smooth. Ideally, you want some pimento showing in your sandwich, so you may want to stir in a bit of chopped pimentos after you have processed the rest of the ingredients. Chill the mixture in your refrigerator. I found that the spread tasted at its best on the second day.
- Step 2 Spread mixture on bread slices. (Remove the spread from the refrigerator a while before you want to use it so that it will be more spreadable.)
- Step 3 This sandwich can be enjoyed toasted or untoasted.
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