Shredded sharp white cheddar cheese, pimento peppers and a secret dressing are all the ingredients needed to become a local pimento cheese connoisseur. However, Jack Barrett, the mastermind behind the culture of undeniably delicious pimento cheese, only knows the secret dressing. The 32-year-old Jacksonville native has a strong passion for food. His creative nature in the kitchen is not something he likes to share in full detail, but after tasting his cheesy concoction, it's understandable why he wants to keep his recipe a mystery. Leaving the taste buds to determine the ingredients makes the experience of his trademark Pimchee one of a kind.
Jack has been in the restaurant business since he was a teen and is a strong believer in word of mouth promotion to create buzz. He has an Instagram and Facebook page, but Jack believes that you can be successful in Jacksonville just by putting your product in as many local opportunities as possible. It doesn’t hurt that the food editor for Florida Times-Union is a big fan of his cheese. It’s hard to believe that this is a guy who is at the leading edge of a foodie movement in Jacksonville, Fl. He looks the part of the jovial, almost cherubic chef, but he seems more at home, on his computer debating obscure recipes with the dark recesses of the internet than leading a movement. However, this is exactly what makes him so successful. Jack isn’t your typical foodie. He isn’t actively seeking some sort of elitism that justifies the existence of his finely honed craft. Jack is an artist, but he isn’t looking for some arcane detail that defines him as special, though he clearly is. Jack, if given all of the time in the world, would be doing exactly what he is doing in this moment, creating art with his cheese, and all of the wonderful things that you could think of pairing with it. So, where does this cheese mastermind make his Small Batch Pimento Cheese? Jax Kitchen, located off Emerson Street in Jacksonville, is where Jack makes the magic happen. Entering into the kitchen, the smell of food is very apparent, yet nothing is being cooked. The sweet aroma formed over time due to many different caterers coming to prepare large dishes has seeped into the walls. Jack glides around the corner wearing a backwards black Adidas hat with accents of camo, a black T-shirt covered by a black apron, navy shorts, and black, green and red tennis shoes. "Come on back," he shouts. We head to a separate room inside of the kitchen. (An 8 x 8 baby blue room with temperatures averaging between 55-60 degrees.) Despite his attire, the cold didn't seem to bother Jack. Steel counters are occupied by containers filled with shredded sharp white cheddar cheese, a strainer draining pimento peppers of its reddish orange juice into a Tupperware, a scale, red solo cups and a blender. Jack has a separate container full of a thick white substance that looks like some sort of chunky mayonnaise in his hand which he admits is his secret dressing. After weighing the ingredients out, the dressing is first into the blender and then the shredded cheese. He blends the two ingredients together in a pulsating rhythm, never leaving the blender fully on. This method allows the cheese to stay in a relatively shredded form which gives the texture of his Pimchee cheese a certain edge. Jack pours a red solo cup filled with the drained pimento peppers into the blender and pulsates the mixture. After a couple of blends, Jack hands me a spoon sample of his creation. The creamy dressing matched with the chunks of white cheddar cheese and pimento peppers instantly made my stomach cry out, "I love cheese, I love cheese," but from the laughter that followed, I realized it wasn't just my stomach confessing its love. Jack works his magic in other Avant-garde pursuits. He has written several cookbooks that blend the whimsical with the clinical, allowing him to make some extra money outside of making cheese. His newest book, The Daily Cook and Cocktail Maker includes 110 recipes. People don't necessarily know how to cook or where to even begin making cocktails, so the goal of Jack’s cookbook is to help them through that process. Collaborating innovative alcoholic beverages with decadent food is something Jack finds essential to his cheese business. He teams up with Jacksonville’s Aardwolf Brewing Company to host beer and cheese tasting events, where foodies of the community wait with baited breath for these new offerings. The brewing company selects a flight of four beers to go along with Jack’s four flavors of cheese: Classic, Sriracha, Bacon, and Tai Chili. Jack’s Sriracha Pimchee blend is excellent with Aardwolf Brewing Company’s Double IPA. The spicy kick of the sriracha-based cheese blends well with the hops of the Double IPA. All this from someone, who isn’t ideally considered an artist, yet that is exactly what he is. He is a food artist, creating the cutting edge while never leaving his hometown. A gritty, everyman exterior hiding glorious treasures for those who are willing to take a chance and peer in past the roughness. He breaks convention organically, without that specific intention. He gave me a sample of cheese to take home, but it is safe to say it did not make it to my refrigerator.
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AuthorA girl who likes to write about music, sports and current events. Archives
February 2017
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