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Pimento and Cheese Sandwiches

A creamy cheese spread made with cream cheese, milk, pimentos, butter, salt, cornstarch, and paprika.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Pimento and Cheese Sandwiches

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine cream cheese, salt, butter, paprika, and cornstarch dissolved in milk in a double boiler. Cook and stir until smooth.

  2. Remove from heat and stir in the chopped pimento.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Cream cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,747 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Cream cheese + milktop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,393 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Cream cheese
Melts into a smooth, creamy base that gives the spread its body and richness.
Cornstarch
Thickens the milk mixture as it heats, helping the spread hold together and stay smooth.
Butter
Adds fat for a softer, richer texture and smoother mouthfeel.
Pimentoes
Add sweet, mild pepper flavor and color to the cheese base.

The step that matters

Cook and stir until smooth. Cornstarch must be heated with the liquid to thicken and lose its raw starchy taste. Stirring over gentle heat in a double boiler prevents scorching and lumps, keeping the cheese from separating or sticking.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

More pimento cheese recipes

Sandwich 8Spread 3

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