Stuff You Should Know - Short Stuff: Pimento Cheese!

Episode Date: December 2, 2020

Pimento cheese was originally nothing like it is now: It was mass produced, it was made from cream cheese and it was conceived in New York. Today it’s something much better, thanks to the South! Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the podcast, Hey Dude, the 90s called, David Lasher and Christine Taylor, stars of the cult classic show, Hey Dude, bring you back to the days of slip dresses and choker necklaces. We're gonna use Hey Dude as our jumping off point, but we are going to unpack and dive back into the decade of the 90s.

We lived it, and now we're calling on all of our friends to come back and relive it. Listen to Hey Dude, the 90s called on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, and welcome to the short stuff. I'm Josh, there's Chuck and Jerry's here, sitting in on behalf of producer Dave,

who actually produces these. So I guess she's maybe coaching on Dave's territory. I don't know, I don't wanna put my foot in that hornet's nest. But anyway, this is short stuff like I was saying. About pimi and tochis. Yeah, I don't know why I said that with Italian because it's Spanish.

That was close, it's nearby. But the fact is, Chuck, you've just hit upon an artifact of culinary history that there used to be an extra I in pimento. And everyone said, I don't like this here. I don't like the way it looks. I don't like how it sounds. I'm getting rid of it.

And by God, we did. And I don't like you. What do I gotta do with it? I'm just a poor pimento farmer. I've just been saying pimiento, that's what I don't like. Yeah, so this is about pimento cheese, the delicious, one of my favorite things that you can eat here in the South

that many people, most people I think, associate with the South. Yeah, for sure. But it's not actually from the South, is it? No, it started in New York, they think, as a matter of fact, yes, indeed, Chuck, around World War I, and even more what than that, pimento cheese for almost no resemblance whatsoever

to what we think of as pimento cheese today. It had the pimentos, those pimento peppers from Spain that are much milder than your average hot chili pepper, but they'll also have a little bit of a kick to them and they're worth putting in. Mix together with cream cheese, mustard, and some chives. That was the original pimento cheese, and it does not sound-

That sounds delicious. I don't think it sounds very good, but apparently America around World War I was just absolutely nuts for it, not just World War I, apparently from about the 1920s up to the 1940s, that form of pimento cheese was all the rage. Yeah, it was easily tinned, it was easily shipped.

I think soldiers, it was a big part of their rations in the war, so it was a little slice of home. Okay, I could see it like that. And a little green can. And I think, you know, depending on what kind of mustard, if it was, I'm not the biggest mustard guy, but there are some kinds of- Coleman's.

Some kinds of brown mustard I would eat in other things, but not just on its own. Have you had Coleman's yellow, fancy yellow mustard? Yeah, I'm not into yellow mustard at all. Okay, this is- More brown. I know what you're saying, totally get it. Give Coleman's a chance.

In what? It doesn't matter. It's just, you know how Dukes is just somehow different in all the best ways as far as mayonnaise goes? Coleman's is just that way with yellow mustard. It's not like, it's like, oh, this is what yellow mustard is supposed to taste like, you know what I mean? I'll have to see.

I mean, I historically have not had a yellow mustard I've ever liked at all, and I generally don't like mustard at all, but I occasionally will like it in a dish. Okay. You're telling me to try something I really kind of hate? I'm telling you- Thinking that I will like it, because you like it.

I'm just trying to turn you on to something I think is going to change your life. That's all I'm saying. Just try it once. I just don't like mustard. I'll try Coleman's, and maybe it's, maybe it doesn't taste like mustard. Just get yourself a little, just a little bowl,

not a big bowl, and then, you know, put a bunch of Coleman's mustard in it, get yourself a spoon. Oh, God. Give it a half an hour. That makes me want to rattle it to you. And then, and then see what you think. So cream cheese as pimento cheese, those sweet little red pimiento peppers.

Uh-huh. In the 1800s, late 1800s, they started coming to America from Spain. Yeah. And, you know, people liked them. They were colorful, they were mild, they weren't very spicy at all, and Americans of that era thought that

it was a very palatable thing to them. Yeah, and cream cheese was pretty new around the same time too. So people said, let's see what happens when we put these together. And they said, oh, this is really good. And so that version of pimento cheese sandwiches started popping up in like good housekeeping cookbooks

and things like that. And so food companies started mass producing. They made mass produced versions, like the soldiers got in World War I. That stuff was flying off the shelves. And so if you were having, you know, friends over for, you know, finger food or something like that,

you would probably serve pimento cheese sandwiches, but it would be a pimento spread that you would buy at the store and spread onto bread and then there you go. And that is nothing like what pimento cheese is as we think of today. And the whole reason that it made this transition was because the South is wacky.

And I think Chuck, we should take a message break and then come back and talk about how the wacky South took pimento cheese and made it a million times better. That's right. I'm going to go have a spoonful of mustard and vomit and be right back. Oh, stuff you should know. Hey, I'm Lance Bass, host of the new I Heart podcast,

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All right, so pimento cheese is all the rage all of a sudden. They've dropped that I in the recipes in America. So people finally understood it here in the US. They started mass producing it and it was in grocery stores. And then the South steps up and says, even here in Georgia, as a matter of fact, and said, you know what, I think we can grow these little peppers right here.

Can we have some seeds, Spain? Yeah, in fact, Griff in Georgia became the pimento capital of the United States. That's right. They got those seeds from the Spanish consulate in the early 1900s. And by the time 1916 rolls around, they're harvesting the stuff.

They're making it rain with pimentos. And people are going crazy. So Griff in Georgia was the pimento capital during that first cream cheese pimento cheese boom between the 1920s and the 1940s. But the thing is, is in the South, either there wasn't easy access to cream cheese or people were just like, I don't

like this Yankee cream cheese stuff. Let's try something different. I'm guessing it was that too. So they took what was a mass produced cheese spread and decided to decock it into their own thing, the South did. And they kind of took the idea of pimento cheese and turned it into something totally different. They got rid of the cream cheese.

They did away with the mustard. They didn't have anything to do with chives. And instead, they said, let's keep the pimentos. So we can still call it pimento cheese. But let's change absolutely everything else. And it's kind of Chuck akin to saying like this deviled chicken spread that's mass produced that you make a sandwich out of. Let's figure out a way to alter that

and call it chicken spread still. But then that will become the new chicken spread. And the other chicken spread will be lost to history, basically. What's a chicken spread? You've never had chicken spread, eh? It is a salty delight, Chuck. Is it like tuna fish salad or something?

Or chicken salad? Yes. No. It's actually basically whipped chicken with mild chunks in it. Still, it's as salty as the day is long. And you just put it on some bread and you've got a little sandwich.

Don't add anything else to it. You just chicken spread on bread or toast, plain bread or toast, and eat. And you'll prune up from all of the salt that suddenly invades your body. But it's really tasty, if not really, really bad for you. I think I know what you're talking about. Because when I worked at Golden Pantry in Athens

in college, there would be like road workers would come in during the middle of the day and get potted chicken, tin chicken, and saltines for their lunch. Is that what it was? Yeah. Or Vienna sausage would be on the same aisle with it. Oh, well, I've had those. OK.

Yeah. If you just look slightly to the left of the Vienna sausage, you're going to find the devil chicken spread. Blow the dust off of it. It's so good, though. I mean, it's tasty. It's not good. Good's the wrong word.

It's just a tasty, terrible snack. All right, so here in the South, like you said, they said, let's change it up all together. They said, we don't like that cream cheese. We don't eat bagels down here in the South. Let's find something else that's white and delicious and abundant. And that thing is mayonnaise.

They replaced the cream cheese with mayonnaise. That was step one. But then added other cheese. Still got cheese. Sure. I think just because they felt guilty about not adding cheese just having mayonnaise and pimentos. That wouldn't be a dish.

But they added shredded cheese, usually cheddar. And apparently, it's your preference up to your preference, whether you use sharp or mild cheddar. But that's the other big ingredient. So you've got pimentos, mayonnaise, shredded cheese, and you basically have pimento cheese with just those three ingredients. Yeah, and pimento cheese has become one of those things

where every family has their own recipe if you're into pimento cheese. And like you said, there are some small variations. You can add some little spices here and there. You can add some non-cheddars. You can add a few different kinds of cheese if you want. Proportions may change a little bit. It's basically the same thing.

I've seen people add bacon and jalapenos. And you know, my favorite is the pimento cheese. But I started, have you ever had the pimento cheese? Oh yeah, I did some research though, and I kind of fell off them. Well, I did that same research. And I kind of stopped halfway through because I was like, I don't really know if I want to know

any more. Sure, have you, and I think I mentioned this last time we talked about pimento, which is when I started to do research, but Queen Charlotte from Charlotte, North Carolina, and they're a stuff you should know listener. They send us some, if you'll remember, and it is just absolutely amazing stuff.

It's really, really good. I've never got any of that cheese. If you can get your hands on Queen Charlotte pimento cheese, you've got pretty much the best you can get. But the fact is... Why are you hoarding the cheese? Huh? They send us cheese.

You're hoarding the cheese. This was years ago, and I offered it to you, and I think you turned it down. I would never just hoard something that somebody sent to us. You're crazy. I don't remember. You're like, no, here, have some of this mustard.

Mustard. They send us mustard, and then some other stuff you don't care about. Well, I'll have to try that Queen Charlotte. You should. Yeah, of course I would have, I would not have just hoarded something somebody sent to us.

Come on. All right. So the great thing about pimento cheese too is you can just make it yourself at home. Sure. You got those three things? Yeah. So that's what I would suggest trying.

You could also, Chuck, go to the masters, which are very well known for pimento cheese, right? Yeah, they just had the new fall classic. So if you go to the masters, even if you've never been to the masters like me, you know that they have a pimento cheese sandwich there that's as important as the golf that's being played, and they sell them for $1.50.

But apparently there was a bit of a scandal because they used a guy named Nick Rangos who made their pimento cheese from the mid-1950s all the way until 1998. And the Augusta national people said, you know what, we're gonna switch over to somebody else. Why would they do that? I don't know.

They're all about tradition. But get this, the caterer they switched to is named, is their company's called Wifesaver, which if I have ever encountered a company that's owned by a man who's not married, it's whoever named Wifesaver, caterers. But he couldn't get the recipe from Nick Rangos. Nick Rangos said, you know what?

You're gonna drop me? This secret recipe is going to stay secret. And in fact, he carried the secret recipe to his grave, but Wifesaver figured out how to make it and figured out that there is indeed a secret ingredient to that recipe and they're keeping that recipe secret too. So no one knows how to make the pimento cheese at Augusta national except for John Wifesaver.

And also, you know, if you're from a different part of the country, you've never had it. It's generally eaten cold. Like you spread on a cracker, you can eat just a pimento cheese sandwich between two pieces of bread. Or you can use it as your cheese if you have like a turkey sandwich or something

and you wanna use pimento cheese instead of sliced cheese. That's delicious. It's also good with cheeseburgers. Is the cheese on a cheeseburger? Yeah, like you can eat it hot or warm. It's generally served cold, but it is pretty good on a cheeseburger. It is good.

It's totally different hot than it does cold. I mean, not like, oh, this is the hot version of pimento cheese. It tastes like a different thing almost. How do you think? I think so. It really brings out the heat in the pimento to me. I don't find pimentos to have any heat.

I need to branch out. I need to grow some pimentos. I'm curious to do that. Go down to Griffin and be like, hey, give me some pimentos. Yeah. You got anything else? I got nothing else.

Well, that's it for short stuff, everybody. Pimento cheese away. Stuff You Should Know is a production of iHeartRadio's How Stuff Works. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app. Apple podcasts are wherever you listen to your favorite shows.