Southern Living Buttery Dijon Deviled Eggs

Deviled Eggs, in many people's eyes, are a distincly Southern delicacy.

So who better to suggest a Deviled Egg recipe than that bastion of all things Southern, Southern Living magazine?

This recipe (supposedly) comes from a recipe that originally appeared in an issue of Southern Living magazine. If that's true, I'm a little surprised and a little more disappointed. While this recipe is good, it's not great... and I expected great from that scion of Southern culture, Southern Living magazine.

This recipe is called "Buttery Dijon Deviled Eggs" but that title doesn't really describe what's going on here. First of all, as we have learned throughout this blog, the use of butter in deviled egg filling is less about the flavor and more about the texture. And as with all deviled egg recipes I have tried that use butter, the filling in this recipe solidifies when the eggs are chilled. There isn't a whole lot of butter flavor, per se, but the butter has a large effect - most of it negative and most of it on the texture of the deviled egg filling. Perhaps if someone wanted to thicken a deviled egg filling, he or she could use a LITTLE butter - but equal parts butter to mayonnaise just makes a solid filling when chilled, not a good result.

Second, the title implies that Dijon mustard will be a dominant flavor, but it wasn't. In fact, there wasn't really a dominant flavor - just the thickness of the butter.

That doesn't mean that this recipe was bad, because it wasn't. It just wasn't as good as I expected from Southern Living magazine.

Here is the recipe:

6 eggs, hard-boiled, peeled, and cut in half
1/8 cup butter, softened
1/8 cup mayonnaise
1/2 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
salt to taste
ground white pepper to taste
paprika (optional)

1. Cut eggs in half lengthwise and remove yolks.
2. Mash yolks in a smal bowl.
3. Stil in butter, mayonnaise, mustard, lemon juice, and ground red pepper

4. Stir in salt and white pepper to taste.

5. Spoon mixture evenly into egg white halves.

6. Sprinkle with paprika, if desired.

7. Cover and chill at least 1 hour or until ready to serve

Here are the pictures:

Above: adding the mayonnaise, softened butter, and Dijon mustard

Above: adding the lemon juice and red pepper

Above: the finished product, garnished with paprika

Here are the scores:

Overall: 59 out of 100

Texture: 8 out of 20 (I just don't like the thickness the butter provides)

Flavor: 10 out of 20

Uniqueness: 12 out of 20 (extra for the use of white pepper)

Appearance: 14 out of 20 (again, extra for the use of white pepper)

Ease of preparation: 15 out of 20

Comments?