8/100: Durham County Grilled Pimento Cheese - biscuits and such
southern food blog
8267
post-template-default,single,single-post,postid-8267,single-format-standard,ajax_fade,page_not_loaded,,select-child-theme-ver-1.0.0,select-theme-ver-2.8,wpb-js-composer js-comp-ver-4.3.5,vc_responsive
 

8/100: Durham County Grilled Pimento Cheese

8/100: Durham County Grilled Pimento Cheese

grilled pimento cheese 1

When I started this series creating recipes that represented each of North Carolina’s 100 counties, I always knew that Durham would be the most difficult. As a Durham native who has been living outside of the 919 for almost 10 years, I didn’t know where to start. Do I make a burrito in honor of the many afternoons and late nights spent at Cosmic? Do I honor the fried chicken sandwich at Shrimp Boat, a sandwich I regularly have dreams about? Is it even a post about Durham without a nod to the late great Magnolia Grill? Or should I write about the new restaurants and eateries popping up on the Durham food scene, like Scratch or Mateo? The directions feel endless.

durham durham blt 3

Thankfully, my friends at the Durham Convention and Visitors Bureau were there to help me see my home county through objective eyes. They suggested I stop into Parker and Otis. Immediately I was all, “Duh.” As an alum of Durham School of the Arts, I spent a lot of time frequenting the restaurants in the Brightleaf Square area. Parker and Otis is a stone’s throw away from the school and has been a favorite hangout since it opened many years ago. It’s a favorite place to meet friends and family for coffee, meals, shopping; and it’s a place where I always run into someone that I love. Their food is incredible: Southern, quirky, homemade, and delicious – perfect to represent Durham.

grilled pimento cheese 2 Dan and I both love the grilled pimento cheese with bacon, something that immediately came to mind when I started noodling on what to cook for the blog. I adapted their recipe slightly, adding fresh tomatoes and basil. It turned out to be out of this world. The cheese melts and binds together all the flavors and textures, creating a sandwich that hits it out of the Durham Bulls Park. I originally made this sandwich in the fall when my counters were still bursting with tomatoes, but it’s just about now (in the dregs of February) that this sandwich, made with some local hydroponic tomatoes (I found some and they were heavenly!) or pickled green tomatoes and basil from the plant in my living room, hits the spot exactly.

durham blt 1 It’s hard to express what it means to me to be a native of Durham, especially these past few years. Growing up it often felt like Durham had been abandoned in a different era, a more prosperous era. Its story is one that is common throughout America- it was heavily impacted by industrialization, negative race relations, white flight, the fall of the tobacco industry, the destruction of thriving cultural hubs in the name of “progress.”. During my formative years it felt like Durham was having an identity crisis; being from Durham carried the weight of the feeling that your town was always fighting to be seen, to be heard, to be valued. But  recently it seems as though that underdog spirit is what allowed it to pull itself up and push forward into the amazing place it is becoming. Durham is experiencing a renaissance.  duke 1 When I was a senior in high school my friend Julia and I did a photography project where we documented downtown Durham. More than anything, it felt like we were photographing a ghost town. Today, ten years later, a trip down Main Street feels like a completely different world. There are new restaurants and businesses opening up in spaces that were vacant for years. Instead of continuing to sprawl towards Apex people are coming back downtown, reinvesting themselves in the heart of the community. James Beard nominated restaurants are opening, local urban farms (including my brother’s farm, Sol Patch) are cropping up all over town, young graduates from some of the best universities are choosing to stay in the area, Durhammites are making the choice to return to Durham, to be a part of something great. It’s exciting to watch the town that I love grace the pages of the New York Times touted as an amazing place to visit and live. It makes me proud, as proud as ever, to claim Durham as my own.

durham blt 2

Grilled Pimento Cheese Sandwich

8 slices sourdough bread

1 1lb thick cut bacon

Bunch fresh basil

Red tomatoes

pimento cheese:

3/4 lb cheddar cheese

2 red pimentos (or 1/4 cup jarred pimentos)

1/2-3/4 cup mayonnaise

1 tbsp paprika

1 tsp red pepper flakes

Salt & pepper

Dice the pimentos and toss in olive oil. Roast for 20 minutes or until tender at 425. In a food processor combine cheese, mayo, red peppers, and spices. Pulse until combined, adding more mayo as necessary until pimento cheese is smooth. Cook bacon and set aside. Drain off most of the drippings, leaving some in the pan. Smear each piece of bread with cheese and layer bacon, sliced tomatoes, and basil on each sandwich. Assemble sandwiches and cook in bacon drippings for 2-3 minutes per side. Serve hot.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

8 Comments

  • DessertForTwo

    17.02.2014 at 12:22 Reply

    Such a lovely, lovely post. My Dad grew up in NC (in Bath, outside Raleigh), and he talks about pimento cheese often. On our honeymoon, I had it with fried pickles on top. SO dang good. I’m working on it for the blog soon. :)

    • elena

      18.02.2014 at 10:14 Reply

      YUM! I love pimento cheese, it’s one of my favorite staples. My grandmother used to put the cheese, mayo, and pimentos in a plastic bag for me and let me squish them all together for as long as my heart desired. And the best part was, when I was tired of playing with it, we got a snack!

  • Ale

    19.02.2014 at 04:16 Reply

    beautiful photos and post!

  • Sandylen

    19.02.2014 at 10:58 Reply

    Hope y’all are feeling better. I missed your post from last week. I am from Alabama and pimento cheese always brings back memories of my grandmother. I say the simpler the better.

    • elena

      20.02.2014 at 09:28 Reply

      Thanks, I’m feeling a lot better! This beautiful sunny warm weather we’ve been having definitely helps!

  • Jessica Snead

    20.02.2014 at 12:26 Reply

    Yum… It’s hard to go wrong with a grilled pimiento cheese. Looking so forward to those summer tomatoes though. Beautiful photos!

  • fritzi

    26.10.2015 at 05:11 Reply

    Wow, that is some seriously burnt bacon. Nobody would serve that,and no one would eat it.

    • Elena Rosemond-Hoerr

      26.10.2015 at 12:38 Reply

      Well, there are two things happening. It’s a darker cured bacon, so it was going to be darker than what you might be used to. Also, I like my bacon a little burned (and an informal poll of my Facebook friends tells me that I am not alone in this), which is my personal preference. Since I was making this sandwich for me to eat, nobody had to like it but me. And I did! Feel free to cook your bacon otherwise.

Post a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.