Live entertainment at Hardees! 

Linda and Ken suggested we meet at the Hardees in Troutville where they could leave their car.  Randal and I arrived early enough for me to run in for coffee and be surprised by live music being played!   This band was good!  Linda arrived in time for the final song, “Will the Circle be Unbroken,” definitely a favorite of everyone listening. 

We drove the scenic route to Lexington which would take us past the Blue Ridge Farm Center near in Buchanan where Randal just had to make a stop; but it was so much nicer than going down 81.  Our first stop in Lexington was lunch which is where we encounter the pimento cheese.

The Southern Inn Restaurant http://www.southerninn.com/  was recommended by Linda, and I pass that recommendation along if you happen to be in Lexington at lunch time.

My bacon/salmon club on a toasted garlic bagel!  Almost kosher…..  But it wasn’t the star of the show.  The four of us shared a Fried Pimento Cheese Skillet Cornbread, Red Pepper Jelly appetizer . 

I’m not sure I’ve ever knowingly eaten a pimento cheese sandwich, but this appetizer was just too tempting to pass up so we all shared.  I do vaguely remember not liking something called pimiento loaf, you know that deli stuff with green bits in it.  Google seems to think pimiento cheese is a ‘southern’ staple unknown above the Mason-Dixon line but I think I remember it and my friend Becky who grew up in Ohio thinks she remembers it. 

    “Pimiento Cheese, barbecue, catfish, and grits— all examples of true Southern culinary icons. Yet despite their humble beginnings, the dixie-born gems have become popular across the country. Enter pimiento cheese. A cookbook containing one true pimiento cheese recipe, let alone the many regional variations such as adding paprika or jalapeño peppers, is almost impossible to find; favorite recipes survive by way of oral tradition. Therefore, the popularity of this unique spread remains largely confined to states below the Mason-Dixon line, where it assumes its place as a Southern delicacy.

“I’ve seldom met a non-Southerner who knew what it was,” says novelist and north Carolina native Reynolds Price. But once the unfamiliar have a chance to sample pimiento cheese, Reynolds adds, “They take to it on contact.”

What is Pimiento Cheese?

To the uninitiated, it’s little more than grated cheese, chopped pimiento peppers, and a little mayonnaise. However, to those fans who rank pimiento cheese right next to cold fried chicken and deviled eggs as essentials at any proper country picnic, it’s much more. To devotees, pimiento cheese becomes a must-have—elevating an ordinary grilled cheese to something heavenly and dramatically raising the bar on cheeseburgers and omelets.

What Cheese is Best for Pimiento Cheese?

Admirers agree that sharp Cheddar cheese is pimiento cheese’s backbone. High-quality mayonnaise, such as Hellmann’s or Duke’s, is also a given. But here’s where the opinions begin to fork off. On the issue of texture, Southern cookbook author James Villas shares common questions such as should the cheese be grated or mashed? If grated, coarse or fine? If mashed, is the fork or the modern food processor the best tool?

In our search for the definitive blend, we asked Senior Food Editor Mary Allen Perry for her secret pimiento cheese recipe. She agreed, but admitted, “My recipe was originally that of my great grandmother Kersh, who lived until she was 98 years old—slim, trim, and fearless of fat content.”

Mary Allen drew upon childhood memories to record this fabulous formula. So, whether you use pimiento cheese to fill celery sticks or to spread on crackers or a slice of your favorite bread, you should feel confident with this terrific version and its variations.

Basic Pimiento Cheese Recipe

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups mayonnaise

1 (4-oz.) jar diced pimiento, drained

1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp. finely grated onion

1/4 tsp. ground red pepper

1 (8-oz.) block extra-sharp Cheddar cheese, finely shredded

1 (8-oz.) block sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded

Stir together first 5 ingredients in a large bowl; stir in cheese. Store in refrigerator up to 1 week.”

http://www.southernliving.com/food/kitchen-assistant/pimiento-cheese-recipes

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/29/dining/giving-northern-cuisine-its-due.html?_r=0  from the New York Times also proclaims pimiento cheese southern fare while trying to identify what can be easily pointed to as “northern cuisine.”

A Pimiento Pepper is…..

Pimiento peppers, also commonly spelled pimento, are red, heart-shaped sweet peppers that are about 2 to 3 inches wide and 3 to 4 inches long. They are barely spicy, very mild and sweet in flavor, and actually register the lowest on the Scoville scale (which measures heat). Fresh pimientos are harvested late summer to early fall, but most of the harvest is canned or bottled.  http://www.thekitchn.com/what-are-pimiento-peppers-ingredient-intelligence-214958

And the Scoville Scale is…….

“When the scale was invented in 1912 by pharmacist Wilbur Scoville in search of a heat-producing ointment, it was based on human taste buds. The idea was to dilute an alcohol-based extract made with the given pepper until it no longer tasted hot to a group of taste testers. The degree of dilution translates to the SHU. In other words, according to the Scoville scale, you would need as many as 5,000 cups of water to dilute 1 cup of tobacco sauce enough to no longer taste the heat.

     And while the Scoville scale is still widely used, says Dr. Paul Bosland, professor of horticulture at New Mexico State University and author or several books on chile peppers, it no longer relies on the fallible human taste bud.

Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/how-hot-is-that-pepper-how-scientists-measure-spiciness-884380/#fvVEWCT3mehiJKi0.99

And this being the South, we’re almost, but not quite related to our lovely waitress Nadia.

Ken and Nadia laughing over family stories; Nadia being the daughter of Sonia and the granddaughter of Eunice both longtime friends of the Johnson family. 

Thinking about pimento cheese reminded me of pimento loaf which I do think I distinctly remember disliking.

http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/perspective-chance-folks-meat-135278  is a very short funny history of deli meats and how spelling Oscar Mayer can be a challenge.