In Search Of The Best Deviled Eggs

A Deviled Egg EXTRAVAGANZA at Supper restaurant in Philadelphia

2009-07-01T14:43:00.000-07:00

This column (http://tinyurl.com/kryvlq), which recently appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer food section, contains one line that makes me smile like I have never smiled.

Mitch Prensky, owner of Supper restaurant in Philadelphia (http://www.supperphilly.com/), says, "Nobody doesn't like a deviled egg." Well, Mitch, that's the premise of this blog - everyone loves deviled eggs, there are an infinite number of possibilities of deviled egg recipes, and we want to find the BEST one.

Mitch even goes into detail about how to hard-boil an egg, differing only slightly from TheBestDeviledEgg technique we discussed when we began this blog. He then, much like we have said, claims that the basic deviled egg recipe is the "mother sauce" to which any taste can be added, tweaked, or altered to taste.

But here's where Mitch becomes the hero of TheBestDeviled Eggs. Mitch has created 12 different varieties (see above), all of which are available at Supper, and he launched his deviled egg-stravaganza on July 1 with some amazing promotions ($1 per egg, or all dozen for $9).

Throughout the rest of July, this promotion will be $6 for 4 deviled eggs, appearing on a rotating basis.

Three recipes are included in the Philadelphia Inquirer article (Mitch's Classic Deviled Egg recipe, his Bacon and Cheddar Deviled Egg recipe, and a recipe for Chevre Deviled Eggs with Asparagus) and TheBestDeviledEggs will taste and review all three. Perhaps Mitch will be so kind as to share the other 9, so then at least we can determine which of HIS dozen recipes represents TheBestDeviledEggs.

Deviled Eggs in the New York Times

2009-07-01T06:49:00.000-07:00

Deviled Eggs are HOT! More and more restaurants are featuring deviled eggs as part of their menus, and more and more food industry insiders are taking note. Many restaurants have expanded their appetizer menus, often including small-plate tapas as part of their offerings, and deviled eggs are PERFECT for a tapas menu. Inexpensive, relatively simple-to-make, bite size, and redolent of a simpler time, deviled eggs have begun to emerge in the mainstream food world as a legitimate attraction for "foodies." In addition, these challenging economic times, some people theorize, have pushed Americans into a mindset where they embrace nostalgia, relics of a more comfortable, worry-free time. Read: deviled eggs that Grandma made for those hot summer picnics of yore.

And as the popularity of deviled eggs has begun to skyrocket, the focus of this blog will also change. Rather than just tasting and testing dozens upon dozens of deviled egg recipes (and simultaneously redlining our cholesterol), The Best Deviled Eggs will now add links to articles that discuss deviled eggs. As the popularity of deviled eggs on restaurant menus has increased, so has the popularity in the blogosphere and the rest of the web world.

In fact, Melissa Clark of the New York Times has a story (linked here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/01/dining/01appe.html?_r=1&src=twt&twt=nytimesdining) out where she ponders the perfect warm-weather sustenance for both her "nostalgia and appetite" and concludes that deviled eggs fit this description perfectly. Without a recipe to satisfy her craving, Melissa sought to conceptualize her own deviled egg recipe that fit the description of "deviled", and settled on fashioning a deviled egg recipe that would be both spicy and red. Thus was born her recipe for "Smoky Red Deviled Eggs", linked here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/01/dining/011arex.html?ref=dining.

Certainly creative, Melissa adds tomato paste to make the filling red, then tops her deviled eggs with one of our favorites - smoked paprika. Besides a little garlic and some red wine vinegar, Melissa keeps her recipe pretty uncomplicated. Sounds like a good start, but we have yet to try her recipe.

Look at how RED Melissa's eggs are.

A complete review of Melissa's recipe will be posted on TheBestDeviledEggs later this week.

Texas-Style Deviled Eggs

2009-05-18T08:41:00.000-07:00

At The Best Deviled Eggs, I get a TON of suggestions for deviled eggs that aren't really recipes. Just a lot of comments like "I use caviar on top of my deviled eggs" or that suggest other deviled egg toppings. From these topping suggestions came the recipe that, so far, I think is truly the BEST deviled egg recipe - the April 2008 recipe for "Crispy-Fried Prosciutto Deviled Eggs" seen here: http://thebestdeviledeggs.blogspot.com/2008/04/crispy-fried-prosciutto-deviled-eggs.html

That recipe came from a suggestion of crispy-frying prosciutto for a deviled egg topping, combined with a very good, but very basic, recipe I received from a friend's mother.

Also, in January 2008, I noted in this entry (http://thebestdeviledeggs.blogspot.com/2008/01/oregano-deviled-eggs.html) that whenever a deviled egg recipe seems like it's missing something, that "something" is usually pickle relish.

Well, this recipe, credited online to Sheila Chase, is a very simple deviled egg recipe that uses pickle relish. Is it great? No... it's OK, but it's pretty basic and has no flourishes. And as this blog has taught us, it's the flourishes that "make" deviled egg recipes complete. Just mayonnaise, relish, salt and pepper, and a little mustard. The original recipe wasn't really specific about proportions, and the suggested proportions left a filling that was too dry, so I corrected them for the purposes of this test. In fact, the original recipe says that mustard is "optional", but in fact, it's actually pretty necessary.

What this recipe IS, however, is the perfect "base" deviled egg recipe, and a recipe I will probably use in the future to test recipes where I'm just given a suggested topping.

Here is the recipe:

6 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and sliced in half
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon sweet pickle relish
1 teaspoon yellow mustard
salt and pepper to taste

1. Slice eggs in half and remove yolks.
2. Mash yolks in a bowl until fine.
3. Add mayonnaise, relish, and mustard.
4. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
5. Mix well and fill egg halves with mixture.
6. Allow eggs to chill for one hour before serving.

Here are the pictures:

Above: adding the mayonnaise, relish, and mustard

Above: the final product (notice the lack of garnish)

The lack of garnish is what makes this recipe just TOO basic. But I guess "basic" means that this recipe is the perfect base for future recipes, where just a garnish is suggested.

Here are the scores:

Overall: 65 out of 100

Texture: 15 out of 20 (once the proportions were fine-tuned)

Flavor: 15 out of 20

Uniqueness: 8 out of 20

Appearance: 8 out of 20

Ease of preparation: 19 out of 20

Comments?

BestDeviledEggs Now on Twitter!

2009-05-11T07:42:00.000-07:00

I am now twittering about all things deviled egg related. Follow me on Twitter - BestDeviledEggs.

As point of reference, yesterday was Mother's Day and there were nearly 50 deviled-egg-related tweets on Twitter.

Look for our Mother's Day deviled egg recipe later this week!

Deviled Eggs back in the news

2009-05-05T11:01:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've updated, but with the month of May comes a renewed vow to post and review one deviled egg recipe a week from now until the end of the year.

And deviled eggs are VERY trendy and popular. Check out this story from the Asheville (NC) Citizen-Times, a story that appeared just before Easter: http://http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090411/LIVING/904110302

This article is particularly interesting because of the great advice the writer, Pervaiz Shallwani, about how to choose the right eggs, then how to hard boil them. While not long on creative ideas for making great deviled eggs, the story is very informative and just another example of the popularity of deviled eggs.

See you later this week with a new recipe!

Pancetta and Maytag Blue Cheese Deviled Eggs

2008-10-16T08:20:00.000-07:00

I REALLY loved this recipe. Pretty simple, yet uses some unique ingredients. Doesn't get too fancy, yet the double use of the pancetta is a creative way to incorporate into the flavor AND the appearance. Just egg yolks, mayonnaise, Maytag blue cheese, pancetta, and a little salt and pepper. As simple as it seems, I honestly believe that adding ANYTHING else (mustard, relish, red pepper, even paprika) would just take away the brilliant simplicity of this recipe.

And the requirements of using Maytag blue cheese might seem like mere conspicuous consumption, but because the result was so good, I think it might be necessary.

Here is the recipe:

6 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and sliced in half

1/4 lb pancetta, finely diced before cooking

2 1/2 tablespoons mayonnaise

1 1/2 tablespoons Maytag blue cheese, crumbled

salt and pepper to taste

1. Finely dice pancetta before cooking.

2. Cook pancetta over medium heat until crispy.

3. Slice eggs in half and remove yolks.

4. Mash yolks in a bowl until fine.

5. Add mayonnaise and Maytag blue cheese.

6. Add 2/3 of the cooked pancetta.

7. Add salt and pepper to taste.

8. Mix well and fill egg halves with mixture.

9. Allow eggs to chill for an hour before serving.

9. Garnish with remaining 1/3 of cooked pancetta.

Note: do NOT chill the pancetta as a garnish. In fact, 10 second in a microwave before garnishing and serving will really punch up the crispiness and flavor of the pancetta garnish.

Here are the pictures:

Above: adding the mayonnaise, Maytag blue cheese, and pancetta

Above: the finished product, garnished with the pancetta.

And now a couple of caveats so you enjoy this recipe as much as I did. One of my tasting panelists did not like this recipe. Why? He doesn't like blue cheese. So, to enjoy this recipe, and to believe it's high score, you must be a lover of blue cheese. It is a strong flavor, and is clearly the dominant flavor in this recipe.

Another caveat: do NOT allow the pancetta garnish to chill. Chill the eggs so the flavors meld and so the texture sets up nicely, but a few tasters didn't like the chilled pancetta as a garnish. So just garnish the eggs immediately before serving - something that is very different from most deviled egg recipes.

One last comment. One taster asked why this recipe required pancetta rather than just bacon. Well, pancetta and bacon are VERY similar, but pancetta is cured and spiced, and those spices are what provide enough subtleties in the flavor in this recipe that the simplicity of just mayonnaise, Maytag blue cheese, and pancetta (and a little salt and pepper, if you wish) provides, counter-intuitively, enough complexity.

Here are the scores:

Overall: 86 out of 100

Texture: 17 out of 20 (the blue cheese MUST be crumbled and well-blended, which is a bit of a challenge)

Flavor: 19 out of 20

Uniqueness: 18 out of 20

Appearance: 18 out of 20

Ease of preparation: 14 out of 20 (because you have to fry the pancetta)

Comments?

Southern Living Buttery Dijon Deviled Eggs

2008-10-09T10:12:00.000-07:00

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?

Grandma Stanley's Deviled Eggs

2008-10-01T17:49:00.000-07:00

An eagle-eyed deviled egg fan recently sent me this piece, which originally ran in the Atlanta (GA) Journal-Constitution as part of its amazing Southern Recipe Restoration project.

http://projects.eveningedge.com/recipes/grandma-stanleys-deviled-eggs/

It's always great to read a brief story along with a recipe, and this recipe has that story. Unfortunately for Grandma Stanley and her progeny, this blog does not have a scoring category for "background story."

However, it doesn't really matter in this case. This recipe boils down to one thing: sometimes, simple is better.

These may be the simplest deviled eggs that I have made since I began this blog, but believe it or not, they do not disappoint. Just mayonnaise, sweet relish, and some salt and pepper. That's it. Yet, it's great.

In case you didn't read the link, here is the recipe:

6 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and sliced in half
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 tablespoons sweet pickle relish
salt and pepper to taste.

1. In a small bowl, combine the yolks, mayonnaise, and pickle relish.
2. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
3. Fill the egg white halves with the filling.

Yep, that's it.

Here are the pictures:

Above: adding the mayonnaise and relish

Above: adding the pepper and salt

Above: the finished product

Is this recipe perfect? Of course not. When I made it, I did have to add more salt and pepper than I had expected in order to "season to taste", in this case, my taste. Plus, with no garnish at all, these eggs look very plain.

But the tasting panel loved them, one panelist even calling them "the best yet." Well, they aren't the BEST yet, but they are damn good. And they are good enough that I will even try some of the suggested relish substitutions like chopped sun-dried tomatoes or chopped ham. If I do, I will grade them on here as well.

This recipe is also serves as a great base recipe for deviled eggs. If you have a serving idea or topping idea and need just a BASE recipe, this is it. Maybe a little mustard, maybe a little less relish (since that's clearly the dominating flavor), but this is a great base.

Here are the scores:

Overall: 69 out of 100
Texture: 15 out of 20
Flavor: 14 out of 20
Uniqueness: 13 out of 20 (extra points because their simplicity is so unique)
Appearance: 8 out of 20
Ease of preparation: 19 out of 20

Up next will be a report on the OTHER recipe suggested in the backstory of Grandma Stanley's deviled eggs.

Comment?

Trudy's Deviled Eggs

2008-09-01T10:40:00.000-07:00

After the disaster that was the Norwegian Deviled Eggs, I was ready for something different. ANYTHING different.

Trudy's Deviled Eggs did not let me down.

These aren't the best deviled eggs I've tried, nor are they necessarily unique. They basically use horseradish, both horseradish sauce and horseradish root, and some vinegar. They also use Miracle Whip rather than mayonnaise, which provides a little bite that the horseradish ingredients also provided. (Note: the original recipe I used called for either mayonnaise or Miracle Whip, and I went with Miracle Whip. The recipe was good, but not good enough to try again with mayonnaise.)

And again, this recipe calls for "1 tablespoon horseradish" and the debate between horseradish root and horseradish sauce rages again. I went with the Solomonic solution of using half of each, which serves two purposes. First, it allows enough horseradish root to give the eggs some bite without making them overwhelming. Second, it allows me to confidently use Miracle Whip rather than mayonnaise as the base, since horseradish sauce has some mayonnaise in it.

But most importantly, this recipe was NOT the disaster that was the Norwegian Deviled Eggs. My tasting panel KIND OF liked this (one taster does NOT like horseradish, so was turned off), but no one absolutely raved. It was just "good". But compared to the Norwegian Deviled Eggs, just by virtue of being palatable, this recipe is great.

Here is the recipe:

6 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and cut in half
2 tablespoons Miracle Whip
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
dash of pepper
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 tablespoon horseradish root
1/2 tablespoon prepares horseradish
paprika, for garnish

1. Mash egg yolks in bowl.
2. Mix in Miracle Whip, vinegar, salt, pepper, mustard, and both horseradishes.
3. Blend well and fill egg whites with mixture.
4. Garnish with paprika.

Above: adding the Miracle Whip, apple cider vinegar, and salt.

Above: after the pepper was added, adding in the dry mustard, horseradish root, and horseradish sauce

Above: the finished product, garnished with paprika.

All in all, this recipe is OK. It's not entirely unique, and some of the vagaries (the mayonnaise vs Miracle Whip; the horseradish root v horseradish sauce) mean that there is probably some wiggle room in the flavor here, but given the banality of the rest of the ingredients, I'm not going to futz around trying different variations of this. Since school has started back, I give this recipe a solid C+

Here are the scores:

Overall: 57 out of 100
Texture: 14 out of 20
Flavor: 11 out of 20
Appearance: 1o out of 20 (again, paprika as the only garnish isn't creative enough)
Uniqueness: 8 out of 20
Ease of preparation: 14 out of 20

Comments?

Norwegian Deviled Eggs

2008-08-28T08:48:00.000-07:00

Now that people know I have been testing and reviewing deviled egg recipes for my blog, they often ask, "What is the WORST deviled egg recipe you have tried?"

Well, now I have the answer!

"NORWEGIAN DEVILED EGGS", hands down, are the WORST DEVILED EGGS I have tried. This is the only recipe I have tried that literally made me gag while trying them, and I could not even eat a single egg. Neither could my tasters... and all of them went to waste.

This recipe, in theory, should be THAT bad. It's got smoked salmon, a little swiss cheese, and some dill which matches with the smoked salmon. But... this recipe doesn't have any mayonnaise!

20% of the score in this blog is for "uniqueness," just like 1/3 of the score was for "originality" on Puttin' On The Hits back in the 1980's. And I guess that using softened butter and sour cream is somewhat original, but this recipe... if there ever was one that did... SCREAMS for some mayonnaise.

Not all recipes that eschew mayonnaise as the binding are terrible. In fact, I recently tested one by a well-known chef (soon to be reviewed on the blog) that uses an aioli in place of mayonnaise. But sour cream and butter, especially with salmon and dill, just fails miserably.

Beyond that, the original recipe I used called for 8 hard-boiled eggs, and I use recipes on this site based on 6 eggs (which are easily doubled to a nice round dozen). Further, they mis-spelled "Norwegian" in this recipe, and I guess that should have been a major hint. Alas, it wasn't, and my gag reflex was tested.

6 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and sliced in half
1/4 cup chopped smoked salmon
1 tablespoon butter, softened
1 tablespoon sour cream
3 tablespoons grated Swiss cheese
1/2 teaspoon dill.

1. Mash egg yolks in bowl.
2. Add in smoked salmon, butter, sour cream, cheese, and dill.
3. Mix together well and stuff egg whites with yolk mixture.

Above: adding the smoked salmon, butter, and sour cream

Above: adding the Swiss cheese, and the finished product

Where to start... hmmm...

First of all, the texture was just a grainy disaster. The filling didn't stuff correctly, and the texture was so bad that I literally gagged. There wasn't really anything "smooth" to make the filling work like a deviled egg filling should.

The proportions were all out of whack. Let's assume that butter and sour cream are an acceptable substitute for mayonnaise. There was only 2 total tablespoons of butter and sour cream, whereas there was 3 tablespoons of the cheese, which didn't make the filling smooth at all.

The recipe called for incorporating the dill into the filling, but that looked so disgusting to me that I just used the dill as garnish. Dill and smoked salmon and sour cream... should be great, right? Well, in a deviled egg, it was gag-inducing.

Here are the scores:

Overall: 31 out of 100
Texture: 0 out of 20
Flavor: 3 out of 20
Uniqueness: 13 out of 20
Appearance: 5 out of 20
Ease of preparation: 10 out of 20

Comments?

Old-Fashioned Deviled Eggs

2008-08-15T10:04:00.001-07:00

Who the hell knows what the term "old-fashioned" really means? This recipe is touted as "Old-Fashioned Deviled Eggs," so in this case, I guess old-fashioned could mean simple. Or boring. Or quaint. Or really pretty expressionless. There just wasn't anything special, at all, about this recipe.

When I established this blog nearly a year ago, a very important component was the scoring system I chose. I selected five criteria by which to grade deviled eggs - texture, flavor, uniqueness, appearance, and ease of preparation. Texture and flavor were givens. I considered proportion, but declined to include it since so many deviled recipes are not written, and since I can always adjust proportions according to the ingredients. I also think the appearance of a deviled egg is important, so I included that.

The two "wild card" scoring criteria I chose were uniqueness and ease of preparation. These run sort of counter, as something unique may have an ingredient that is somewhat difficult to find or prepare. Similarly, something really easy to prepare may just have a few ingredients, and thus may not be unique. A great recipe finds the middle ground and is both unique AND easy to prepare.

This recipe certainly is easy. But unique? Nope. Just "old-fashioned," which I now think is code for "boring." There's nothing WRONG with this recipe, there's just nothing special about it.

Here is the recipe:

6 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and cut in half
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 1/4 teaspoons Dijon mustard
Tabasco sauce (to taste)
Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper (to taste)
3 tablespoons minced fresh chives.

1. Mash egg yolks in a bowl until fine.
2. Add mayonnaise, mustard, Tabasco sauce, salt and pepper.
3. Fill egg whites with mixture.
4. Garnish with chives.
5. Allow eggs to chill in refrigerator for at least an hour before serving.

Above: adding the mayonnaise and Dijon mustard

Above: adding the Tabasco sauce, and the salt and pepper

Above: the finished product

I guess I do have to give these eggs some credit for using fresh chives - a topping I like because of both the visual appeal and the flavor they provide. But all in all, just boring.

Here are the scores:

Overall: 58 out of 100
Texture: 14 out of 20
Flavor: 10 out of 20
Uniqueness: 7 out of 20
Appearance: 12 out of 20
Ease of preparation: 15 out of 20

Comments?

"Here It Goes" Deviled Eggs

2008-08-07T08:51:00.000-07:00

This recipe is called the "Here It Goes" Deviled Eggs because that's how the recipe was introduced when posted on a popular message board. The recipe goes on to not give any amounts for each ingredient, and also suggests making them "a couple times" to suit them to a person's taste.

I don't mind taking a person's recipe that has never been quantified and testing and quantifying it, but the recipe has to be worth the effort. This recipe was just all over the place - the instructions referring mayo even though the ingredient list calls for Miracle Whip. The honey Dijon added as an afterthought. The overwrought masturbatory praise using terms like "very addictive flavor" and "soo good". But all in all, I'm not sure these are worth making more than once, and I also am not going to take the time to tinker with the ingredients.

Here is the recipe:

6 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and sliced in half
2 tablespoons Miracle Whip
1/4 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
2 dashes Tabasco sauce
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon honey Dijon mustard
Hungarian sweet paprika

1. Mash egg yolks very finely in bowl.
2. Add Miracle Whip, apple cider vinegar, Tabasco sauce, sugar, and honey Dijon mustard.
3. Mix well and fill egg whites with mixture.
4. Garnish with paprika.
5. Allow eggs to chill for 1 hour for flavors to blend.

Above: adding the Miracle Whip, vinegar, and Tabasco sauce

Above: adding the sugar and honey Dijon mustard

Above: the finished product

I just don't think everything went well together. The bite of Miracle Whip cut with the sweetness of sugar AND honey Dijon mustard doesn't make a ton of sense. And then add in the heat of the Tabasco sauce, and it's basically a mish-mash. Oddly, the dominant flavor ended up being the mustard - not the Tabasco, not the honey, not the sugar, not the vinegar. But the mustard. Everything else just sort of mish-mashed together, and then the eggs were garnished with the boring garnish of paprika. I've come to appreciate Hungarian paprika, but the filling itself wasn't good enough to warrant just paprika as a garnish. All in all, while not bad, sort of a disappointment

Here are the scores:

Overall: 53 out of 100
Texture: 14 out of 20
Flavor: 7 out of 20
Uniqueness: 9 out of 20 (adding too many ingredients doesn't make a recipe unique)
Appearance: 9 out of 20
Ease of preparation: 14 out of 20

Comments?

(Supposedly) Hot Deviled Eggs

2008-07-21T08:46:00.001-07:00

It's been a while since I've posted. Lots of reasons:

1. I've been traveling a bit and haven't made deviled eggs for my travels.
2. I've made a few recipes, but have yet to post them.
3. I HAVE made deviled eggs a few times to share with people, but I've been sticking to "tried and true" recipes rather than experimenting.

And I've realized something else in making "tried and true" recipes. I LOVE the Bacon And Cheese Deviled Eggs (http://thebestdeviledeggs.blogspot.com/2007/09/bacon-and-cheese-deviled-eggs.html) tested last September, and I make them relatively often. In fact, they received a VERY high composite score of 83 out of 100. However... other people don't like them as much. Such is life, and this serves as a reminder that my personal preferences influence the deviled egg grading more than the opinions of my panelists.

Here is the newest recipe, which I actually made a few weeks ago but just now got around to posting.

The key to this recipe, which supposedly originated in Gourmet magazine btu I'm not so sure - and the key to a few others I will make and post about intermittently - is HOT Hungarian paprika. Hungarian paprika comes in several varietes, and the most common is sweet Hungarian paprika. But this recipe specifically calls for HOT Hungarian paprika, which I found at a local international grocery. It is pictured below:

The recipe doesn't call for much of it (just 1/8 of a teaspoon) but the recipe ALSO calls for 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper. So I expected heat, and lots of it. In fact, I looked forward to the reactions of the tasting panel to the heat in this recipe. And alas... it wasn't that hot. Really, it was OK, easy to make, and just sort of plain. Here is the recipe:

6 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and halved
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/8 teaspoon HOT Hungarian paprika
chopped fresh chives

1. Mash egg yolks in a small bowl.
2. Add mayonnaise, mustard, cayenne pepper, and paprika.
3. Blend well and fill egg whites with mixture.
4. Garnish with fresh chopped chives.
5. Allow eggs to chill in refrigerator for at least 1 hour before serving.

Above: adding the mayonnaise and Dijon mustard

Above: adding the cayenne pepper and HOT Hungarian paprika

Above: the finished product, garnished with the fresh chives.

Part of the scoring of deviled egg recipes, to me, considers the expectations. In other words, there wasn't anything WRONG with this recipe, but it didn't match my expectations. Could I make it again and double the amount of cayenne and paprika? Sure... but the flavor itself wasn't good enough to warrant additional tries to perfect this recipe, like I do with others. I have other recipes that use HOT Hungarian paprika, and I'll try them and grade them, but I'm not really going forward with this specific recipe. It just doesn't have anything in it that warrants more effort.

Here are the scores:

Overall: 63 out of 100
Texture: 15 out of 100
Flavor: 6 out of 100 (lowered because of the heat expectations)
Uniqueness: 12 out of 100 (2 extra points because of the hot Hungarian paprika)
Appearance: 12 out of 100
Ease of preparation: 18 out of 100

Comments?

Shallot Deviled Eggs

2008-06-25T07:25:00.000-07:00

A shallot is simply a smaller, slightly milder version of an onion. While an onion's strong smell and flavor might be overwhelming in a deviled egg recipe, a shallot seems like a perfect idea. Nice flavor, nice scent, shallots just would seem to be a great idea as the primary component in a deviled egg recipe.

And they were. This recipe uses the deviled egg staples - mayonnaise and mustard - and supplements the shallots with a little celery salt, a dash of cayenne pepper on top, and an additional topping of fresh chives. I like the idea of the double garnish, if only for visual reasons. These eggs look really cool and very appetizing.

Here is the recipe:

6 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and sliced in half

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

2 tablespoons yellow mustard

1 shallot, finely minced

pinch celery salt

pepper to taste

cayenne pepper, as needed

minced fresh chives, as needed

1. Mash egg yolks with mayonnaise, mustard, shallot, celery salt and pepper.

2. Place a scoop of the mixture in each egg white half.

3. Sprinkle with chives and a generous amount of cayenne pepper.

4. Allow eggs to chill for at least an hour for flavors to blend.

Above: adding the mayonnaise, mustard, and shallots

Above: adding the pinch of celery salt, the eggs with the cayenne pepper garnish, and the final product with the chives as a garnish.

This recipe is easy, quick, a bit unique, looks good with the double garnish, and is tasty to boot!

Here are the scores:

Overall: 79 out of 100
Texture: 16 out of 20
Flavor: 16 out of 20
Uniqueness: 15 out of 20 (extra because of the double garnish)
Appearance: 15 out of 20 (more extra because of the double garnish)
Ease of preparation: 17 out of 20

Comments?

Gourmet Magazine Deviled Eggs

2008-06-16T05:32:00.000-07:00

Old Cleveland Municipal Stadium had a secret recipe for spicy brown mustard, and I will never forget my only trip to watch an Indians game there. Today, that stadium sits at the bottom of Lake Erie, shoved in the lake in whole to become what is one of the world's largest man-made lakes. I fondly remember the hot dog with the spicy mustard at Cleveland Municipal Stadium, so I'm a spicy mustard fan.

But a little too much spicy mustard is way too much spicy mustard. And this recipe supposedly came from Gourmet magazine.

I expected more from Gourmet magazine. I don't know whether this recipe really appeared in Gourmet magazine or not, but they can do better. I like that this recipe at least tried something new - in this case, using more mustard than mayonnaise - but it didn't work out. The use of the spicy brown mustard made THAT the dominant flavor, and you couldn't really taste anything else. This recipe also included capers, parsley, hot sauce, and vinegar, but all were lost under the spicy brown mustard.

I also sort of liked the idea that everything, including the capers and parsley, were mixed in the filling rather than used as a garnish. I liked it until I saw the result, which looked like Stewie Griffin had eaten a Toblerone and deposited it in these egg whites.

The only other interesting concept with this recipe is that it suggests thinning the mixture with a little water. I'm not a fan of this. Runny filling is always a deviled egg problem, and adding water makes the filling MORE runny, plus adds no flavor. Just not a great concept.

Here is the recipe:

6 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and cut in half
3 tablespoons spicy brown mustard
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
3/4 teaspoon white-wine vinegar
1/8 teaspoon hot sauce
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves
2 teaspoons drained bottled capers
1 to 2 tablespoons water
salt and pepper to taste

1. Crumble egg yolks in a small bowl untilyolks are very fine.
2. Stir in mustard, mayonnaise, vinegar, hot sauce, parsley, and capers.
3. Stir in enough of the water to reach desired consistency.
4. Add salt and pepper to taste.
5. Mound filling in egg whites, and allow to chill before serving.

Above: adding the mustard, mayonnaise, and vinegar

Above: adding the hot sauce, parsley, and capers

Above: the finished product (notice no garnish)

The picture of the finished product doesn't do it justice - they looked a lot worse. Maybe SOME garnish would help, but the spicy brown mustard becomes the dominant color, and the eggs just don't look that appetizing. Couple that with the overwhelming spicy brown mustard flavor, and these just don't work that well.

Here are the scores:

Overall: 58 out of 100
Texture: 14 out of 100 (bonus points for trying the water addition, although I didn't like it)
Flavor: 8 out of 100
Uniqueness: 14 out of 100
Appearance: 7 out of 100
Ease of preparation: 15 out of 100

Comments?

Champagne Vinegar Deviled Eggs with Chives

2008-06-07T09:01:00.000-07:00

I like using chives from my herb garden in the summer, so this isn't the first deviled egg recipe I've tried that uses chives. I had high hopes for this recipe because it thins the mixture with a little heavy cream, which I thought might be a good idea I hadn't explored yet, and because the recipe uses champagne vinegar, which I thought might give the flavor a little upscale kick.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. The texture was a little runny, the flavor was a little bland, and these eggs didn't even get eaten up by my tasters. This was one of the rare occasions where I had to throw away a couple of deviled eggs.

Not that they were THAT bad. They just weren't that GOOD either. The ingredients that should set this recipe apart - sugar and champagne vinegar - just got lost. When you could taste them, they weren't that good. But you mostly couldn't taste them.

Here is the recipe:

6 hard boiled eggs, peeled and split in half

1/4 cup mayonnaise

3/4 tablespoon heavy cream

1/8 teaspoon sugar

1/2 tablespoon champagne vinegar

good quality sea salt to taste

snipped fresh chives

1. Mash the egg yolks.

2. Add mayonnaise, cream, sugar, vinegar, and sea salt

3. Fill egg white halves with filling.

4. Garnish with chives.

5. Let deviled eggs sit in the refrigerator for at least an hour before serving.

Above: adding the mayonnaise, cream, and sugar

Above: adding the champagne vinegar and the sea salt

Above: the finished product, garnished with fresh snipped chives

Here are the scores:

Overall: 59 out of 100
Texture: 9 out of 20 (the cream was a good idea, but they were a little runny)
Flavor: 8 out of 20
Uniqueness: 11 out of 20
Appearance: 15 out of 20
Ease of preparation: 16 out of 20

Comments?

Blue Devils

2008-06-03T09:34:00.000-07:00

Well, I hate the name. So would Aminu Timberlake, I imagine. Or anyone else with any class. It's hard to imagine that anything with the words "Blue Devil" in the title would be anything other than an arrogant, amoral, holier-than-thou basketball program. But this recipe is REALLY REALLY good.

The first time I made this recipe, I thought I might class it up a little by using pancetta rather than bacon bits. Mistake. No need to class up these - they are great on their own.

It's stunning how simple this recipe is - and it has a unique ingredient, blue cheese. Three ingredients, one garnish, and BOOM you're done. The proportion is great (an odd amount of mayonnaise, but it works), the flavor is unique, and they look good, too. You don't even have to cook the bacon, just use Hormel bacon bits. It's certatinly not haute cuisine, but what deviled egg recipe is? It's quick, easy, delicious, and unique.

Here is the recipe:

6 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and cut in half
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons mayonnaise
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons crumbled blue cheese
salt and pepper to taste
about 3 tablespoons bacon bits

1. Crumble egg yolks.
2. Add mayonnaise, mustard, and blue cheese and mix well.
3. Fill egg whites with yolk mixture.
4. Garnish with bacon bits.

Here are the pictures:

Above: adding the mayonnaise, mustard, and blue cheese

Above: the finished product, garnished with bacon bits

Here are the scores:

Overall: 82 out of 100

Texture: 17 out of 100

Flavor: 15 out of 100

Uniqueness: 16 out of 100

Appearance: 15 out of 100

Ease of preparation: 19 out of 10

Comments?

Martin's Mother-In-Law's Deviled Eggs

2008-05-30T09:09:00.001-07:00

The recently-referenced Atlanta Journal-Constitution column (http://www.accessatlanta.com/living/content/shared-blogs/ajc/tabletalk/entries/2008/04/29/devilish_eggs.html?cxntnid=din043008e) on deviled eggs was interesting in a few ways. First, it showed that deviled eggs are sort of a trend in the vein of culinary kitsch, memoribilia, and "staycations." People are actually sort of into deviled eggs, even though they are hardly new!

But also interesting was that the AJC column also included a series of user-generated comments. Some of these comments went so far as to attempt to describe recipes that the reader himself, or a friend or relative of the reader, had been using for deviled eggs for years. I will try to duplicate some of these recipes as well, testing and grading them here.

An AJC reader named "Martin" described the "wonderful" recipe his Tennessee-bred mother-in-law made. Lots has been said about mothers-in-law, much of it negative, but Martin's mother-in-law's deviled egg recipe doesn't really warrant any negative comments. Unfortunately, with just a couple of exceptions, it doesn't warrant any glowing positive comments either.

Martin's mother-in-law makes a very simple deviled egg recipe. Interestingly, she uses both mayonnaise AND Miracle Whip, which I guess should give the recipe a little bite. Further, she uses some butter, which stiffens up the filling and really does help with the texture. But beyond that, it's just a little yellow mustard, a dash of white vinegar, and she's done. Nothing really unique, nothing to make the eggs special, and absolutely no garnish that would have made the eggs much more visually appealing.

I thought about adding a garnish to this recipe myself. Often, I do slightly change a recipe - add something here or there to step up a recipe, or even combine suggested elements of multiple recipes to create something I think is really special. In fact, the highest-scoring deviled egg recipe ever tried on this blog (the Crispy-Fried Prosciutto Deviled Eggs) came about from a combination of two deviled egg ideas. But I didn't want to mess with Martin's mother-in-law's recipe. I suspect that, like her recipe, Martin's mother-in-law is a sturdy woman, strong in her convictions, but not gussied up at all. I'm thinking a more masculine version of Janet Huckabee, although a more masculine version of Janet Huckabee is basically Hugh Downs. So maybe Janet Reno.

Anyway, here is the recipe:

6 hard-boiled eggs
1 heaping tablespoon mayonnaise
1 heaping tablespoon Miracle Whip
1/2 stick butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon yellow mustard
1/8 teaspoon white vinegar

1. Crumble egg yolks.
2. Add mayonnaise, Miracle Whip, butter, mustard, and vinegar.
3. Combine well and fill egg white halves.
4. Allow eggs to chill for at least an hour before serving.

Here are the pictures:

Above: adding the mayonnaise, Miracle Whip, and softened butter

Above: adding the mustard and vinegar

Above: the finished product.

As you can tell, these eggs don't LOOK very good. The flavor is alright, good even, but nothing spectacular. Using BOTH mayonnaise and Miracle Whip gives a slight tang to the flavor, but there isn't anything here to stand out. The butter in the filling gives the eggs a sturdier texture, but on the second day, the reviewers said the texture was TOO thick. The lesson is: a little butter adds some sturdiness if you are serving your eggs that day, but later on they are too thick.

Here are the scores:

Overall: 65 out of 100
Texture: 18 out of 20 (I like the butter even if the second-day reviewers didn't)
Flavor: 10 out of 20
Uniqueness: 12 out of 100 (gets 4 more points for both mayo and Miracle Whip)
Appearance: 7 out of 100 (really needs a garnish - badly)
Ease of preparation: 18 out of 100

Comments?

Michael's Genuine Food & Drink Deviled Eggs

2008-05-27T07:42:00.000-07:00

This recipe threw me off in about half a dozen ways. It appeared in a recent Chicago Tribune column that a reader sent to me, but, according to the column, it's a recipe from Michael Schwartz from Michael's Genuine Food & Drink in Miami, FL (http://www.michaelsgenuine.com/). Not sure why the Chicago Tribune is printing a recipe from a Miami restaurant, but that's what it did. (A google search couldn't determine if the story originally appeared in another paper first).

There was one unique aspect to this recipe, and it referred to a two-word phrase I heard long ago: "proportion control." Or something like that. This recipe specifically states to hard-boil eight eggs, then use the yolks of all eight eggs in the filling... but fill only six of the egg white cups. I've noticed that a lot of the recipes I've tried are sort of skimpy when you fill all the eggs, and this idea addresses that issue. Further, if you have a hard-boiled egg or two that don't have the yolk in the center, or break when peeling, or anything else... well those become one of the two discard yolks. In fact, in the future, I might try hard-boiling seven or eight eggs at a time when trying to make only six eggs (12 deviled eggs).

I also have developed a renewed appreciation of paprika as a deviled egg garnish. I was making a conscious effort to try recipes that did NOT use paprika as a garnish because I was thinking that paprika was sort of a lazy garnish - it's easy, cheap, and ultimately very simple. However, after trying this recipe, I have a new appreciation for paprika. It IS easy, it IS cheap, and it IS simple... but it also looks cool and provides a unique flavor aspect. I want to try some recipes that incorporate different types of paprika - maybe a hot Hungarian paprika or a smoky paprika.

But that's about where the coolness of this recipe ends. After that, it's pretty boring.

Here is the recipe:

8 hard-boiled eggs

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

freshly ground pepper

1 teaspoon minced fresh parsley

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1. Peel and slice eggs in half.

2. Scoop out the egg yolks and place only 12 egg white halves on a tray. (I recommend using the 6 eggs or 12 egg white halves that look the best, with the yolks centered, etc.).

3. Mash yolks and add mayonnaise, lemon juice, salt, and pepper.

4. Fill the 12 egg white halves (from 6 eggs) with the filling of all 8 eggs.

5. Sprinkle with parsley and paprika.

6. Allow eggs to refrigerate for at least an hour so flavors may blend.

Above: adding the mayonnaise and lemon juice

Above: adding the coarse salt and fresh ground pepper

Above: the finished product, garnished with both parsley and paprika

So here's where I was DOUBLY thrown off. The end of this recipe has what should be a simple note. However, the note says that the "yolk mixture may be seasoned with 1 teaspoon minced thyme, parsley, chives, or dill; 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard; 1 1/2 teaspoons sherry vinegar and/or, for a more 'deviled' flavor, 1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper."

What the hell? What do they serve at Michael's Genuine Food & Drink? Does their recipe have any or all of those herbs? Or mustard? Or vinegar? And/or ground red pepper? I guess you can make it to your preference, but then it's hard to grade. This just totally threw me off. If YOU have been to Michael's Genuine Food & Drink in Miami, and YOU know what they put in their deviled eggs, please let me know!

Here are the scores:

Overall: 69 out of 100

Texture: 15 out of 20

Flavor: 10 out of 20 (might be better with some of those alternate ingredients)

Uniqueness: 10 out of 20

Appearance: 17 out of 20 (I like both the parsley and paprika as garnishes)

Ease of preparation: 17 out of 20

Comments?

Deviled Eggs with Capers

2008-05-19T08:57:00.000-07:00

This recipe made me change my mind about a few things.

1. In previous blog entries, I've bashed butter as a deviled egg ingredient.http://thebestdeviledeggs.blogspot.com/2007/08/decadent-deviled-eggs.html and http://thebestdeviledeggs.blogspot.com/2008/04/beckys-deviled-eggs.html However, when used correctly, butter works - less as a flavoring agent and more as a textural ingredient that thickens up a deviled egg filling. In this recipe, it definitely works.

2. I've also been critical of recipes that don't have any "heft" to them, and I define heft as some sort of meat. Doesn't matter if it's chicken, bacon, prosciutto, whatever... I like recipes with meat and have been critical of recipes that tend to rely on herbs for the flavoring. But after the disaster that was the deviled ham in the filling (http://thebestdeviledeggs.blogspot.com/2008/05/double-deviled-eggs.html), I guess I was ready for something new. And this one delivers.

3. Lastly, I've been open about wanting to try a series of recipes that use something other than paprika as a garnish. It started here - http://thebestdeviledeggs.blogspot.com/2008/02/hells-eggs.html. So I've tried recipes that use parsley, herbs, all sorts of stuff, as a garnish. This recipe suggested either parsley or parsley sprigs as a garnish, and I went half and half. The parsley really didn't add much except visual appeal, but frankly, I really liked the paprika! It looked kind of cool, it added a bit of bite, and it was very easy. So... a new appeciation of paprika as a deviled egg garnish has been developed, and I'm going to try to test a few recipes that use DIFFERENT types of paprika. To be continued...

But back to this recipe. A reader sent me this recipe, which is credited to the classic magazine Southern Living, and it worked well on a warm spring day. In fact it worked so well, I made it TWICE - once for testing, and once just to enjoy. When you write a deviled egg blog and have a backlog of about 75 recipes to try, it's a rare occurance to make a deviled egg recipe just for your own personal enjoyment. That says a lot about the quality of this recipe. The capers added a nice crunch, but didn't dominate the flavor. And again, I like the fact that I can use the fresh chives out of my herb garden.

Here is the recipe:

6 hard-boiled eggs
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon butter, softened
2 teaspoon drained capers
1 teaspoon fresh chives, chopped
1/8 teaspoon dry mustard
salt and pepper to taste
paprika (optional)
fresh parsley sprigs (optional)

1. Mash egg yolks.
2. Sit in mayonnaise, butter, capers, chives, and mustard.
3. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Fill egg whites with yolk mixture.
5. Garnish with paprika or parsley.
6. Cover and chill at least 1 hour or until ready to serve.

Above: adding the mayonnaise, butter, and capers

Above: adding the chives and dry mustard

Above: the finished product, half with paprika as a garnish and half with the parsley

This recipe surprised me with how good it was. The butter made the texture sort of thick and manageable, a problem I've had in other recipes where the flavoring is basically herbs. The capers were crunchy and flavorful, but not dominant, and the chives were a nice seasonal hint. Also, the mustard was just BARELY there, but was very good. This recipe really combines and uses all of its ingredients well in every way.

Here are the scores:

Overall: 77 out of 100 (a very good score for an herb-based recipe)
Texture: 18 out of 20
Flavor: 15 out of 20
Uniqueness: 15 out of 20
Appearance: 13 out of 20
Ease of preparation: 16 out of 20

Comments?

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Likes Deviled Eggs, Too

2008-05-16T15:27:00.000-07:00

A reader recently sent me a link to a story that appeared in the Food section of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The article (http://www.accessatlanta.com/living/content/shared-blogs/ajc/tabletalk/entries/2008/04/29/devilish_eggs.html?cxntnid=din043008e) is linked here.

AJC food writer Meridith Ford makes a bold statement in a brief deviled egg primer. Ford states, "There are few things on the planet as good as a deviled egg." Well we couldn't agree more! In fact, it's an important enough axiom in this blog's household that, as you know, an ENTIRE blog is dedicated to the art of creating the BEST deviled egg.

But here's where it gets interesting. In January, we reviewed the EXACT SAME deviled egg that Meridith Ford discussed and pictured in the AJC column. That entry (http://thebestdeviledeggs.blogspot.com/2008/01/bricktops-deviled-eggs.html) is linked here.

Ford's column is, of course, slightly different than our bit about Bricktop's. We squirreled the Bricktop's recipe out of an officious Bricktop's server on our visit (our adaptation of it is posted in our blog). Also, we sliced the applewood smoked bacon into single serving sizes, and we ignored the giant parsley garnish that Bricktop's uses because we just focus on the eggs and not the presentation. Lastly, Ford appreciates Bricktop's "towering" deviled egg filling, something we didn't note on our visit (to a Nashville Bricktop's).

The most interesting part of Ford's column is the suggestion of a couple of additional Atlanta deviled egg outlets: Maxim Prime in downtown Atlanta and Cakes & Ale in Decatur. In the comments section, AJC readers also suggest JCT Kitchen and the S & S Cafeteria. As an aside, the DeviledEggBlogger had a meal planned at the JCT Kitchen for a March trip to Atlanta, but that damned tornado put a stop to that.

You will also notice that there are several recipes suggested in the comments section. Maybe someday those will also be reviewed on this blog!

Comments?

Double Deviled Eggs

2008-05-16T14:55:00.000-07:00

Well, I guess it was bound to happen. This is the first recipe I've tried - and hopefully the last - that I actually could not eat. I didn't know what "deviled ham" was, and I wish I had never found out. Opening that can of ham allowed to sit and fester in its own juices reminded me so much of a childhood horror. Each morning before school, I would open a can of wet cat food to feed the cat - at least until my mom ran over the cat in the driveway and crushed its head into a pulp right outside the kitchen window.

And that's what deviled ham is. Stinky, horrendous, cat food allegedly fit for human consumption. It looks gross. It smells awful. And its texture is simply not edible. Look below, and you will see.

Here is the recipe:

6 hard-boiled eggs
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon grated onion
1 teaspoon prepared yellow mustard
1/2 teaspoon A-1 sauce
1 2 1/4 ounce can deviled ham
1/8 teaspoon pepper
parsley, for garnish

1. Mash egg yolks until they are the consistency of coarse corn meal.
2. Add the mayonnaise, onion, mustard, and A-1 sauce.
3. Mix all well and then add the deviled ham and the pepper.
4. Mix again and fill egg white halves with mixture.
5. Garnish each deviled egg with a sprig of parsley.

Above: adding the mayonnaise, onion, and mustard.

Not a bad start, to be honest. A simply deviled egg base, with a little onion thrown in for character.

Above: adding the A-1 sauce, the deviled ham, and the pepper

Here is where it all went wrong. First of all, I like a little meat in a deviled egg. Maybe some bacon, maybe some chicken, but not the vomitous concoction known as deviled ham. Further, adding A-1 sauce to anything other than a tough steak is just offensive.

Above: the finished product, which doesn't look that bad.

So the irony is that my tasting panel, which never saw the deviled ham in its grotesque natural state, actually enjoyed these eggs. They didn't rave over them, but they didn't eschew eating them like usually happens when I present a sugary dessert-inspired deviled egg.

But I couldn't eat them, at all. So the score reflects my gag reflex, which was truly tested during the test of this recipe.

Here are the scores:

Overall - 44 out of 100
Texture - 5 out of 20 - the deviled ham is just a gritty awful texture that cannot be masked
Flavor - 2 out of 100 - just couldn't stand it. I guess a "0" is reserved for the deviled egg recipe containing human stool.
Uniqueness: 12 out of 100
Appearance: 11 out of 100 - the finished product, with the parsley, looks OK.
Ease of preparation: 14 out of 20

Not the worst score yet, but truly horrible.

Comments?

Chive-Tarragon Deviled Eggs

2008-05-11T07:57:00.001-07:00

As the weather warms up, so must the style of deviled eggs. Spring herbs have sprung, so I was glad to use a couple in this recipe. Plus, it was good to get the taste of Becky's Nasty Deviled Eggs out of my mouth, even if it was just a simple, light recipe. There was a lot of stuff going on in this recipe, some interesting ingredients, and I really liked that I could use some fresh chives from my herb garden.

I prefer that deviled eggs be more substantive. I like bacon in them, maybe some other meat as heft. And these eggs are definitely light, almost refreshing. I didn't think they would be particularly well-received, but my tasting panel gobbled them up pretty quickly.

Here is the recipe:

6 hard-boiled eggs
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
few drops hot sauce
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh chives
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh tarragon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
additional chives for garnish

1. Mash egg yolks.
2. Stir in mayonnaise, lemon juice, hot sauce, herbs, salt, and mustard.
3. Fill egg white halves with yolk mixture.
4. Garnish with additional finely chopped chives
5. Allow to chill for at least 1 hour before serving.

Above: adding the mayonnaise, lemon juice, and hot sauce

Above: adding the chives, tarragon, salt, and dry mustard

Above: the finished product, with chives as garnish

So, in the end, this was a pretty good recipe. The lemon juice gave the eggs a little bit of a refreshing flavor. The herbs worked well in this season. The slight hot sauce was there for just a LITTLE bite. And the mustard made the flavor just a little more complex. These aren't the best recipe I've tried, but they are pretty good.

Here are the scores:

Overall: 65 out of 100
Texture: 14 out of 100
Flavor: 14 out of 100
Uniqueness: 12 out of 100
Appearance: 11 out of 100
Ease of preparation: 14 out of 100

Comments?

Becky's Deviled Eggs

2008-04-29T15:32:00.000-07:00

Becky, no! From the best to what surely are the worst. Boring, bland, different in a bad way, just awful. Just egg, a little melted butter, a little mayonnaise, and a little sugar. And it doesn't go together well. At all. And to save Becky the humiliation of submitting what certainly is the worst recipe I've tried, I won't include her last name.

Some people put sugar in deviled eggs. I don't care for it. Others put butter in deviled eggs. I can handle that in some instances, but it's not my favorite. And this recipe is just mayonnaise, butter, and sugar. And in such a small quantity that it was hard to fill the eggs with filling because there just wasn't enough of it! The original recipe actually called for 8 eggs, which would have made for even LESS filling than I used because I used 6 eggs, and the same proportion of other ingredients. The original recipe also called for either mayonnaise or Miracle Whip, and prior to testing this recipe, I thought I might test it with both. But it's not worth it, trust me.

Here is the recipe:

6 hard-boiled eggs
2 teaspoons melted butter
2 teaspoons mayonnaise
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar

1. Mix all ingredients together and fill egg halves.

Above: adding the butter, mayonnaise, and sugar

Above: the finished product

This thing was just a total mess and really doesn't deserve any more discussion. It had really no good flavor, the texture was gritty because of the sugar without much else, and there was no garnish. I've tried to move away from paprika as a garnish, and although it wouldn't be any good on this recipe, at least it would make them more visually appealing.

Here are the scores:

Overall: 33 out of 100
Texture: 3 out of 20 (just too gritty)
Flavor: 4 out of 200
Uniqueness: 5 out of 20
Appearance: 2 out of 20
Ease of preparation: 19 out of 20

Comments?

Crispy-Fried Prosciutto Deviled Eggs

2008-04-22T14:56:00.000-07:00

It's been a while! Where have I been? Did you think I had run out of deviled egg recipes?

Well, I've been traveling, I've been busy with work, I've even had some weather-related delays. But I'm back with MORE deviled eggs recipes. And I have a goal to try one new recipe each week.

Really, I spent a few weeks perfecting the most recent recipe. Not every recipe or idea that is sent to TheBestDeviledEggs@gmail.com is a complete recipe, just ready for me to make it, taste it, and review it. In fact, this recipe is an amalgam of about three or four different things. The impetus was just an innocent comment someone made to me when I was bitching that all the recent deviled egg recipes I had tried used paprika as a garnish - I wanted MORE than paprika. Someone said, "Hey, why not just crispy-fry some prosciutto, stick it in the filling and call it a day?"

So that's what I did. And it must have taken half a dozen attempts before I could even figure out how to crispy fry prosciutto well enough to stand up in a deviled egg.

But I had to also have a great base deviled egg recipe. Mary is the mother of a friend of mine, and Mary's deviled egg recipe is LEGENDARILY delicious. So, after much cajoling and prodding, my friend finally stole his mom's deviled egg recipe and forwarded it to me. And, truth be told, it IS a great recipe - just mayonnaise, mustard, and a little salt and pepper. But it needed something extra to put it over the top. And I had something extra, crispy-fried prosciutto, looking for a great base recipe.

And, thus, a star was born. Officially, these are "The Best Deviled Eggs." Here is the recipe:

6 hard-boiled eggs
3 slices prosciutto di parma
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons prepared mustard
fresh ground pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley (optional)

1. Slice the prosciutto into strips that are approximately 2-3 inches long a 1/2-1 inch wide.
2. Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat.
3. Crispy fry each piece of prosciutto in the olive oil, approximately 10-15 seconds each side.
4. Drain the crispy fried prosciutto on paper towels.
5. In a separate bowl, crumble egg yolks until very fine.
6. Add mayonnaise, mustard, and pepper (to taste)
7. Fill egg white halves with egg yolk mixture.
8. Carefully stand a small strip of crispy fried prosciutto in each deviled egg.
9. Garnish with parsley (if desired)

Above: the prosciutto before cooking, a piece of prosciutto being crispy fried, the finished crispy fried prosciutto

Above: adding the mayonnaise, mustard, and pepper

Above: the deviled eggs with prosciutto in them, and garnished with parsley

It took about a dozen tries, but this recipe was worth it. First of all, I don't use any salt in the base recipe (although my friend's mom, Mary, does) because I thought the prosciutto added enough saltiness. And with just egg yolks, mayonnaise, mustard, and some pepper, this base is, quite frankly, as good as it gets. It lets the cool factor of the crispy fried prosciutto stand out. Second, I kind of like the simplicity of the deviled eggs with JUST prosciutto, but the parsley as a garnish does make them look better.

Crispy frying prosciutto was a trial and error process, too. First, I tried to crispy fry the prosciutto THEN cut it up, but it was so crumbly that it became unusable. Then I experimented with using other oils, or no oil at all. Big mistake. Then I experimented with how big to make the slices, since they shrink up substantially when being fried. About 2-3 inches long by about 1/2-1 inch wide works perfectly. And you might have a little extra to use as a delicious snack! Plus, crispy frying prosciutto is MUCH easier than frying bacon, if a little smokier.

Here are the scores:

Overall: 85 out of 100
Texture: 18 out of 20 (Mary's recipe is a nearly perfect proportion)
Flavor: 19 out of 20
Uniqueness: 17 out of 20
Appearance: 16 out of 20 (when you use the parsley)
Ease of preparation: 15 out of 20

So, yep, these are the winners (so far). After 30+ recipes tested trying to find "The Best Deviled Eggs", the math proves it. With a score of 85 out of 100, this recipe outscores everything - even the delicious Bacon and Cheese Deviled Eggs which had been the winner.

Comments?

Hell's Eggs

2008-02-26T06:31:00.001-08:00

This is the 29th different deviled egg recipe tasted by this blog, and this one has the best name BY A MILE. "Hell's Eggs." It says it all, right? Not quite.

These eggs, apparently, are supposed to be hot. Very hot. I am not one of those people who subscribe to the philosophy of "the hotter the better," I care more about what the flavor and texture of the food item are. So I was prepared to think these things were just too hot. A serrano chile, some cayenne powder, and pure chile powder were all ingredients, so I was ready for some HEAT. Further, I don't like cilantro - I'm one of those people who think it tastes like soap - so I expected THAT to just make me dislike these eggs even more.

But that's not what happened. Were they hot? Sure. But they were also tolerable. In fact, they were interesting in a lot of different ways. The minced garlic and finely diced chile added an interesting crunch to the texture, and the scant amounts of the cayenne chile powders added some heat, but didn't overwhelm. Plus, this is recipe #1 of 5 in a row where I refuse to use paprika as a garnish. And this recipe included paprika in the filling, but the garnish was chopped chives - and they really looked good! All in all, a pleasant surprise based on my expectations of the recipe. However... I guess these eggs didn't really live up to their tremendous name - Hell's Eggs.

Here is the recipe:

6 hard-boiled eggs
1 clove of garlic
1 serrano chile, seeded
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon dried mustard
1/8 teaspoon cayenne powder
1/8 teaspoon pure chile powder
1/8 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon chopped cilantro
1/2 teaspoon chopped chives

1. Finely mince both garlic and serrano chile.
2. Crumble egg yolks until very fine.
3. Add garlic and chile.
4. Add mayonnaise, lemon juice, mustard, and spices.
5. Add chopped cilantro.
6. Fill egg white halves with filling.
7. Top with chopped chives.

Above: adding the minced garlic, minced serrano chile, and mayonnaise

Above: adding the lemon juice and mustard powder

Above: adding the cayenne pepper, pure chile powder, and paprika

Above: adding the salt and cilantro

Above: the final product, Hell's Eggs, topped with chives

The ingredients work really well together here. The chile and the cayenne and chile powders add heat. The chile and the garlic add some textural crunch. The garlic and the mustard, and even the cilantro, add some subtle flavor. And the lemon juice, I suppose, not only moistens the filling but also seems to cut the heat from the cayenne and chile powder so that it's a flavor more than heat. And maybe it's my sudden anti-paprika-garnish bias, but I really like both the flavor and texture of the chives as a garnish.

Here are the scores:

Overall: 77 out of 100
Texture: 18 out of 20
Flavor: 16 out of 20
Uniqueness: 17 out of 20 (plus 2 because of the name Hell's Eggs)
Appearance: 16 out of 20
Ease of preparation: 10 out of 20 (downgraded because of the chopping - plus I had to go to a specialty store to get pure chile powder)

Comments?

Parsley and Vinegar Deviled Eggs (Round 2)

2008-02-25T11:50:00.000-08:00

I originally tested this recipe on January 6 (http://thebestdeviledeggs.blogspot.com/2008/01/parsley-and-vinegar-deviled-eggs.html) and made an error. This recipe called for half mayonnaise and half Miracle Whip, and I used all Miracle Whip. Since then, I've taken some classes in basic reading fundamentals, and I was able to successfully test this recipe AGAIN, this time actually following the recipe.

And the difference was noticeable. Whereas in the original recipe, the Miracle Whip became the dominant flavor, in the redo the Miracle Whip just provided a little tang and the mayonnaise provided the rest of the substance. That allowed the other ingredients - the parsley, the vinegar, and the hot sauce - to stand out a little more.

But the change didn't make this recipe "great." It's adequate - in fact, it was VERY popular with the tasters when I made it - but it's just nothing special.

Here is the recipe:

6 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and sliced in half
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 each salt and fresh ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon dry parsley flakes
1/2 tablespoon white vinegar
couple dashes hot pepper sauce (to taste)
just less than 1/4 cup mayonnaise
just less than 1/4 cup Miracle Whip
paprika, to garnish

1. Mash yolks with a fork until crumbly.
2. Add mayonnaise and Miracle whip a little at a time until the yolk mixture if of a paste consistency.
3. Add dry mustard, salt, pepper, and parsley and mix with fork.
4. Add vinegar and hot pepper sauce.
5. Fill egg white halves.
6. Sprinkle with paprika to garnish.
7. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Above: adding the mayonnaise, Miracle Whip, and dry mustard

Above: adding the salt, fresh ground pepper, and parsley flakes.

Above: adding the white vinegar, the hot sauce, and the finished product.

The texture and flavor were improved, but everything else remains the same. A slight bump in score, but not a lot. And I'm so goddamn tired of seeing paprika as a garnish of deviled eggs (it's a lazy garnish - just sprinkle, nothing else required) that I vow to make five consecutive recipes that use ANYTHING OTHER THAN PAPRIKA as the garnish.

Here are the scores:

Overall: 58 out of 100
Texture: 13 out of 20 (held up better with mayonnaise used appropriately)
Flavor: 13 out of 20
Uniqueness: 8 out of 20
Appearance: 7 out of 20 (I've had enough of paprika as the garnish - see above)
Ease of preparation: 17 out of 20

Comments?

Grandpa's Angry Deviled Eggs

2008-02-17T10:41:00.001-08:00

This recipe was sent to me along with a little story about its name. Apparently, someone's "Grandpa" was a mean old coot that frightened all the kids. But Grandpa was also a helluva cook, and one of his favorite recipes was for his "Angry Deviled Eggs."

The story continued that the Angry Deviled Egg recipe reflected Grandpa's personality. Lots of fire and anger, sometimes hard to take, but ultimately tolerable to those who give him a chance. What makes Grandpa's deviled eggs "angry"? I guess it's the large amount of prepared horseradish. Or maybe the accompanying story. But I went into the test of Grandpa's Angry Deviled Eggs with high hopes, because the story accompanying the recipe was so much more memorable than the standard recipe I receive.

Here is the recipe:

6 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and sliced in half
slightly less than 1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 to 1/2 tablespoons prepared horseradish (or more to taste)
1 teaspoon yellow mustard
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon white vinegar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon dry mustard
1/8 teaspoon pepper
paprika for garnish

1. Mash egg yolks until smooth.
2. Add all ingredients and blend until smooth.
3. Fill eggs with filling.
4. Sprinkle with paprika as desired.
5. Let eggs sit in the refrigerator for at least one hour so that flavors will blend.

Above: adding mayonnaise, horseradish, and sugar

Above: adding yellow mustard, white vinegar, and salt

Above: adding the dry mustard, the pepper, and a shot of the finished products

I found two things interesting about this recipe, beyond the accompanying story. First, the addition of sugar into a recipe with a LOT of horseradish and described as "angry." But the sugar really does make a difference! You can slightly taste it, and it cuts the pungency of the horseradish just enough to make the horseradish a nice flavor rather than an uncomfortable bite. Second, the use of two mustards - both prepared and dry. I still can't figure this one out, although maybe the prepared mustard allows for more substance to the filling or something. Still, it's the sugar that makes this horseradish-based recipe so good. Maybe Grandpa wasn't really such an asshole, but had a sweet spot in his somewhere. Doubtful.

Here are the scores:

Overall: 72 out of 100
Texture: 14 out of 100
Flavor: 14 out of 100
Uniqueness: 17 out of 100 (3 additional points for the story)
Appearance: 11 out of 100 (I'm getting SO tired of the paprika-as-garnish appearance)
Ease of preparation: 16 out of 100

Comments?

Slightly Sweet Deviled Eggs

2008-02-14T10:34:00.000-08:00

Once in a while, you get really pleasantly surprised by something. And these eggs were really surprising to me. Many people feel like deviled eggs can be used as a quasi-dessert and add some sugar, but I've never agreed with that. Yet here's a deviled egg recipe wher the only real flavor beyond mayonnaise, mustard, etc., is sugar. But the result was very, very good ! I was pleasantly surprised.

That's not to say that this recipe is perfect. As with the last few recipes, the proportion was off. And this recipe said you could add milk, as needed, to change the texture. I like thicker deviled egg filling and I thought the texture was perfect, with no milk needed. The recipe also allowed for either dry mustard or prepared mustard, and I went with prepared mustard. Maybe that made the texture perfect with no milk added.

Here is the recipe:

6 hard-boiled eggs
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons vinegar
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon dry mustard or 1/2 tablespoon prepared mustard
1 teaspoon sugar
milk, as needed

1. Crumble egg yolks until very fine.
2. Mix all ingredients.
3. Add milk as needed to smooth the mixture.
4. Fill eggs with filling.
5. Sprinkle with paprika or garnish as needed.
6. Let sit in the refrigerator for at least one hour so flavors will blend.

Above: adding mayonnaise, vinegar, and salt.

Above: adding pepper, mustard, and the sugar.

Above: the finished product

So, again, notice that there are only 9 deviled eggs rather than 12. There just wasn't enough filling to fill all 12 egg halves, but like most deviled egg recipes, this one is easily scalable. Also, I'm getting bored with just paprika as garnish and I'm going to look for some recipes in my unused stack that use something OTHER than paprika as garnish. It's just a little pedestrian, and I've got enough recipes that use something other than paprika that I need to use some.

But these eggs, flavor-wise, were very good. The sugar didn't make them TOO sweet - had they tasted like a deviled egg dessert, I'm sure I wouldn't have cared for them. And my reviewers LOVED them - gobbled them up in a hurry (and the reviewers were tasting them in combination with another recipe that will appear soon).

Lastly, I've also got a stack of recipes that I have reviewed and said I would try again with some change. Look for those soon or I'll get to too far behind.

Here are the scores:

Overall: 70 out of 100
Texture: 18 out of 100
Flavor: 14 out of 100
Uniqueness: 12 out of 100
Appearance: 8 out of 100
Ease of preparation: 18 out of 20

Comments?

Curry Deviled Eggs (Round 1)

2008-02-14T09:45:00.000-08:00

I struggled with this recipe, since it listed some ingredients with amount and some without. And after making this recipe, I think some of the amount listed were wrong, and some of the amount I chose to use were also wrong.

Because this thing ended up like a salt lick. With no curry. The idea seems great, the recipe is easy, and the end product looks very good. In fact, it even TASTES good in the first instant you put it in your mouth. But the salt just overwhelms, so I'll try again with a some altered ingredient amount (and I welcome suggestions, as always).

Beyond all that, the proportion wasn't right (I didn't have enough filling to fill all my egg whites), one "squirt" of mustard seemed to drown out any curry, but the white pepper did add a nice bite to the flavor. I really like the idea of mixing half mayonnaise and half sour cream, as the mayonnaise is a subtle flavor rather than a dominant flavor, but it seemed to allow the salt to dominate rather than the curry.

Here is the recipe:

6 hard-boiled eggs
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1 tablespoon sour cream
1 squirt yellow mustard
1/8 teaspoon curry powder (or to taste)
paprika

1. Crumble egg yolks until very fine.
2. Add dry ingredients, except curry powder.
3. Add wet ingredients.
4. Add curry powder.
5. Spoon filling into egg halves and allow to become firm by refrigerating for at least one hour.
6. Garnish with paprika.

Here are the pictures:

Above: adding the garlic salt and white pepper

Above: adding the mayonnaise, sour cream, and mustard.

Above: adding the curry, and the finished product. (Notice only 11 eggs had filling)

I think this recipe has enough potential that I will retry it, altering the proportions. A little more mayonnaise and sour cream, so the proportion works out. A little less mustard and a little more curry so that the curry flavor is more obvious. And less salt. I might even use a little garlic powder rather than garlic salt (something the original recipe offered - but it also calls for straight salt and I used garlic salt rather than both). We will see...

And one more thing. I'm getting a little tired of recipes that use JUST paprika as garnish. The original recipe suggests paprika, but also says you may use a black or green olive, or caviar, or a "sweet midget pickle" as garnish. Once I figure out what a sweet midget pickle is, I think I might use it as a garnish on the retry of this recipe.

Here are the scores:

Overall: 62 out of 100
Texture: 13 out of 100 (the texture was very good; the proportion was out of whack)
Flavor: 7 out of 20 (potential here, just ruined by the salt)
Uniqueness: 12 out of 100
Appearance: 12 out of 100
Ease of preparation: 18 out of 20

Comments?

Oregano Deviled Eggs

2008-01-29T07:22:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, simple really is the best. And wow are these deviled eggs simple. Way back in August, when this blog was just getting started, this entry appeared: http://thebestdeviledeggs.blogspot.com/2007/08/deviled-eggs-way-i-like-them.html We learned then that the complete basic template for deviled eggs always contains sweet pickle relish, and if you feel like something's missing, it's almost always sweet pickle relish. Well today, we create an addendum to that - DRAIN the sweet pickle relish. Otherwise, you run the risk of having runny deviled egg filling, a fate worse than having to listen to a Celine Dion CD.

So here's how I drain sweet pickle relish for deviled egg recipes. Very simply, I wrap paper towel around a small bowl, then place the amount of relish I want to use on the paper towel, hovering over the bowl. The excess liquid drains right out (maybe 3 or 4 minutes) and I just put the relish into my egg yolk mixture! Simple as that!

And this recipe drains the sweet pickle relish. Nice move!

Beyond that, this recipe is basically just oregano. Does it fall flat? No way! Is it complicated? Not on your life! But is it good? Well, yes, in the same sense that the smell in your clothes after a meal at a red-sauce joint is good. That smell is oregano, and these eggs have it.

Here is the recipe:

6 hard-boiled eggs
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon sweet pickle relish, well-drained
1 teaspoon flake oregano
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

1. Crumble egg yolks until finely ground.
2. Add mayonnaise, well-drained relish, mustard, oregano, and salt and pepper.
3. Spoon mixture into egg whites.
4. Allow to chill for at least one hour for flavors to blend.

Above: adding the mayonnaise, drained pickle relish, and mustard.

Above: adding the oregano, salt, and pepper

Above: the finished product. Not much to look at, unfortunately.

The taste of these eggs is very good. They are amazingly simple to make. But they just don't look very good. The best deviled egg recipe would include SOME sort of garnish for the top of the eggs. The most pedestrian of these garnishes is paprika, but just NOTHING? What a way to make a great recipe be incomplete. As they say, you eat as much with your eyes as you do with your nose and mouth, and this left my eyes feeling hungry.

Overall: 77 out of 100
Texture: 19 out of 20
Flavor: 17 out of 20
Uniqueness: 15 out of 20 (just 1 unique ingredient makes this score a 15)
Appearance: 7 out of 20
Ease of preparation: 19 out of 20

Comments?

Miss Daisy's Deviled Eggs

2008-01-21T14:26:00.000-08:00

"Yes, Miss Daisy!" That's what my relatives said when I made this recipe three or four times while they were holiday houseguests. Seriously, each time I would make this recipe, my relatives would wolf down the finished product within minutes like Peter Griffin ate soup in the Family Guy episode where he found out he was retarded. Just inhaled the eggs. I'm not even sure they chewed.

This recipe really isn't anything complicated or difficult. It's just very, very good. Simple, standard, even a bit pedestrian. The "unique" additions are pretty basic, too - just Worcestershire sauce and some green onions. But as was noted months ago when this blog began, anytime a deviled egg recipe seems like it's missing something, it's missing pickle relish. And sure enough, Miss Daisy includes pickle relish in this recipe.

Here is the recipe:

6 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and chilled
1/4 cup mayonnaise
3/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon prepared mustard
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1 green onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon well-drained pickle relish
paprika for garnish

1. Mash egg yolks until smooth.
2. Combine yolks, mayonnaise, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, salt, and pepper and mix until smooth.
3. Stir in onion and pickle relish.
4. Spoon mixture into egg whites.
5. Sprinkle with paprika.

Above: adding the mayonnaise, Worcestershire sauce, and mustard

Above: adding the salt and pepper

Above: adding the onions and relish; and the finished product

A couple of interesting notes about this recipe. First, Miss Daisy specifies that the hard-boiled eggs be chilled prior to cutting them. So I did this, and the egg whites seemed to be a little more firm than usual. I didn't prefer them this way, but they were not bad or anything - just a different texture that I wouldn't necessarily duplicate. Second, Miss Daisy specifies that the pickle relish be "well-drained." I tried both ways, and amazingly, draining the relish DOES make a difference. The filling is just a little too runny with undrained relish, whereas it's perfect with well-drained relish.

Here are the scores:

Overall: 79 out of 100
Texture: 19 out 20
Flavor: 18 out of 20
Uniqueness: 12 out of 20
Appearance: 13 out of 20
Ease of preparation: 19 out of 20

Comments?

Bricktop's Deviled Eggs

2008-01-10T07:28:00.000-08:00

Recently I was flying through Nashville, TN, and had a delay of a few hours. So I called an old friend and we went to dinner at a West End restaurant she recommended, Bricktop's (http://www.bricktops.com/). Bricktop's is a four-location chain restaurants with locations in Nashville, Charlotte, Atlanta, and Naples, FL. Although Bricktop's is often described as an "American bistro," my dinner companion repeatedly compared it to Houston's, a chain with which I am not familiar.

When I noticed deviled eggs on the appetizer menu, I immediately ordered up a plate and went to town reviewing them in my head and cajoling my capable server into sharing the recipe. Although the recipe he shared was proportioned for "80 eggs," I've scaled it down for 6 eggs.

The deviled egg recipe itself is relatively pedestrian, although it definitely is good. What makes this recipe is the fact that the deviled eggs are served on strips of applewood smoked bacon cooked with brown sugar. Although Bricktop's serves them on entire strips of bacon, I trimmed the bacon to make deviled-egg-sized pieces.

Here is the recipe (as adapted from what the Bricktop's server told me)

6 hard-boiled eggs

3 strips applewood bacon

1/8 cup light brown sugar

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1 tablespoon French's mustard

1/2 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped

1/2 tablsepoon sweet pickle relish

1/2 tablespoon scallions, chopped

1 dash Tabasco saouce

A couple of specifics about the recipe: the server said SPECIFICALLY that French's mustard was to be used. Further, he stated that the measurements weren't as important as making sure there was a 3:1 proportion of mayonnaise to mustard. I have used specific measurements, but as with all deviled egg recipes, the filling can be altered to preferred taste and consistency. Lastly, the server claimed that Bricktop's makes its own sweet pickle relish by pickling its own cucumbers. Whether this is true or not, I used standard sweet pickle relish and didn't notice any difference.

Sprinkle brown sugar on applewood bacon strips and bake in oven at 400 F for 12-15 minutes. Bacon should be placed on a wire rack over a cookie sheet, so that the drippings fall into the cookie sheet. Then, blot bacon dry to remove as much grease as possible. Slice each bacon slice into 4 equal pieces.

Combine egg yolks, mayonnaise, mustard, parsley, relish, scallions, and Tabasco sauce. Mix well and then fill egg white halves. Allow deviled eggs to chill in refrigerator for at least an hour so the flavor combine. When ready to serve deviled eggs, place each deviled egg onto a warm piece of bacon.

Above: adding the mayonnaise, mustard, and parsley to the egg yolks.

Above: adding the relish, scallions, and Tabasco sauce to the egg yolks.

Above: the bacon pieces, and the finished product.

Here are the scores:

76 out of 100
Texture: 18 out of 20

Flavor: 19 out of 20

Uniqueness: 19 out of 20 (bumped up 5 points for serving the deviled eggs on the bacon)

Appearance: 16 out of 20

Ease of preparation: 4 out of 20 (dropped 5 points for the difficulty in making the bacon)

Comments?

Parsley and Vinegar Deviled Eggs (Round 1)

2008-01-06T07:14:00.001-08:00

The main ingredient in deviled eggs is either mayonnaise or Miracle Whip. It's always intriguing to see which way a recipe will go (I lean toward mayonnaise when only a flavorless base is needed) and this recipe uses Miracle Whip to provide a little bite. But the rest of the flavors - dried parsley, white vinegar, a dash of hot pepper sauce - just aren't strong enough to overpower the tang of the Miracle Whip. Thus, the dominant flavor of these eggs is Miracle Whip.

Here is the recipe:

6 hard-boiled eggs
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 teaspoon each salt and fresh ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon dry parsley flakes
1/2 tablespoon white vinegar
dash of hot pepper sauce
just less than 1/2 cup Miracle Whip
paprika to garnish

Combine mustard, salt and pepper, parsley, vinegar, hot pepper sauce, and Miracle Whip with mashed egg yolks. Blend well and fill egg white halves with mixture. Garnish with paprika.

Above: adding the dry mustard, salt, and fresh ground pepper

Above: adding the parsley flakes, white vinegar, hot pepper sauce, and Miracle Whip

Above: a coincidentally suitable picture of the final product; just as this picture is blurry and not very good, the appearance of these eggs wasn't that great either

Here are the scores:

Overall: 52 out of 100
Texture: 10 out of 20 (it seemed good when I made it, but eventually they were a little runny)
Flavor: 10 out of 20
Uniqueness: 8 out of 20
Appearance: 7 out of 20
Ease of preparation: 17 out of 20

So this recipe, looking at the scores, was easy to make but was a letdown in every other way. The texture seemed good when I made it, but whereas most eggs "set up" when they chill, these seemed to become a little runnier. The flavor was entirely average, as the Miracle Whip seemed to drown out the parsley, vinegar, hot pepper sauce, etc. Not very unique, and these eggs didn't look too appetizing - almost taking on a grayish tint.

But... a caveat. I messed up when I made these. I made them in a hurry and didn't notice that the base is supposed to be half mayonnaise and half Miracle Whip. So, all these negatives could, conceivably, be my fault. As such, I'm going to try them again. I have a couple of other recipes I have already made and need to post on the blog, so it might be a couple weeks before the "Parsley and Vinegar Deviled Eggs: Round 2" appears, but wait for it. It will be interesting to see the new score compared to this one.

Comments?

Cheddar Deviled Eggs

2007-12-20T07:28:00.000-08:00

Do you ever feel like something is missing? Something is very enjoyable, good by any standard... yet there just is something missing. That je ne se quois that is keeping it from being perfect. That's what's going on with this Cheddar Deviled Egg recipe. It's fine, it's good, it's actually VERY good. But I've tried nearly two dozen recipes, and even though the ones with bacon always rank highly, this recipe makes it clear to me. Deviled egg recipes that include bacon must also include vinegar or they seem incomplete.

Further, this recipe might be mis-named. The recipe is called "Cheddar Deviled Eggs" but the cheddar cheese is so scant, it's almost goes unnoticed. I double-checked that I used the right amount of cheese, and I did - it's just not very much of it, and it doesn't stand out at all.

However, this is a pretty good recipe. I enjoyed the eggs, they were relatively simple (the bacon frying notwithstanding), and they went quickly with my testers.

Here is the recipe:

6 hard-boiled eggs
1/4 cup mayonnaise
4 slices cooked bacon, crumbled
1 tablespoon finely shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 tablespoon prepared mustard

Combine all ingredients with mashed egg yolks. Fill egg whites with mixture, then chill before serving.

Above: adding the mayonnaise and crumbled bacon

Above: adding the cheddar cheese (not much) and the prepared mustard

Above: the finished product (no garnish included in recipe)

Here are the scores:

Overall: 74 out of 100
Texture: 18 out of 100
Flavor: 17 out of 100
Uniqueness: 14 out of 100
Appearance: 10 out of 100
Ease of preparation: 15 out of 100

Any comments?

Deviled Eggs with Blue Cheese

2007-12-19T08:23:00.000-08:00

I was ALL OVER THE PLACE on this recipe. Before I made it, I was sure it wouldn't be good because of too much bite from the blue cheese; then once it was made, I thought it was surprisingly good and would score very well; yet after sampling a couple, I ended up with extra deviled eggs that no one would eat. Down, then up, then down again. I guess this recipe is what it is - easy-to-make, somewhat unique, but totally average.

The blue cheese, clearly, is the dominant flavor. And the texture of the blue cheese with the mayonnaise worked out nicely. But there is nothing else to these. Yet somehow, it just was totally average.

Here is the recipe:

6 hard-boiled eggs
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup blue cheese (about 4 ounces)
paprika for garnish

Mix all ingredients with mashed egg yolks. Pile yolk mixture into whites and sprinkle with paprika. Cover, and chill before serving.

Above: adding the mustard and the salt

Above: adding the mayonnaise and the blue cheese

Above: the finished product, garnished with paprika

Here is the rating:

Overall: 65 out of 100
Texture: 17 out of 20
Flavor: 8 out of 20
Uniqueness: 10 out of 20
Appearance: 12 out of 20
Ease of preparation: 18 out of 20

Comments?

Jacque's Bacon and Vinegar Deviled Eggs

2007-12-17T09:47:00.000-08:00

I have no idea who Jacque is. But he/she makes some kick-ass deviled eggs. As I've made more than 20 deviled egg recipes, my all-time favorite has been the Bacon and Cheese Deviled Eggs. And now that I have made Jacque's wonderful deviled eggs, I know that the secret to the Bacon and Cheese deviled egg recipe is... not the bacon... not the cheese... but the VINEGAR!

I don't think vinegar would go great with EVERY deviled egg recipe, but I think it goes great with bacon in a deviled egg. Maybe I need to test this theory by making a bacon deviled egg recipe that does NOT use vinegar. Stay tuned...

Here is the recipe:

6 hard-boiled eggs
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon yellow mustard
1/8-1/4 cup mayonnaise (enough to get the texture right)
3 slices bacon, cooked very crisp and crumbled
paprika, for garnish

Mix yolks with all ingredients, adding more mayonnaise (if necessary). Fill egg whites with mixture. Garnish with paprika. Let eggs chill for 1 hour for flavors to meld.

Above: adding the vinegar and mustard

Above: adding the mayonnaise and crumbled bacon

Above: the finished product, garnished with paprika.

So I followed these instructions to the letter. First, I added (as you can see) the ingredients vinegar-first, rather than the usual method of adding mayonnaise first. I have no clue if that makes any difference, but I will say that the vinegar flavor was very noticeable and very good. Second, I added only 1/8 cup of mayonnaise (the minimum amount suggested) and did not add any more. At first, I thought that there wouldn't be enough filling to fill the 12 egg halves, but alas, there was! More mayonnaise would have thinned out the filling and may also have dulled the great flavor.

And I really liked the result ! Here is the rating:

Overall: 79 out of 100
Texture: 18 out of 20
Flavor: 18 out of 20
Uniqueness: 14 out of 20
Appearance: 12 out of 20
Ease of preparation: 15 out of 20 (again, losing points because I had to fry the bacon)

Comments?

Zesty Mediterranean Deviled Eggs

2007-12-04T10:51:00.001-08:00

I got this recipe from a newspaper clipping that credited Rayma Essex Korber of Goddard, KS, the "Deviled Egg Queen." These eggs are pretty good, but royal? I think not ! Surely deviled egg royalty has better recipes than this, particularly royalty pretentious enough to use three names like she's the Immediate Past President of the Junior League of Jackson, MS, or something.

This deviled egg recipe seems to examplify the age old saw of "If you have it in your kitchen, add it to your recipe!" There is just a LOT of stuff going on here - almost too much. There are a lot of really cool things going on here, the main one is the garnish which not only looks really cool but also adds noticeably and uniquely to the flavor, but there also seem to be a lot of extra things going on here, too. With an ingredient list that includes pickle relish, kalamata olives, balsamic vinegar, garlic, AND hot sauce in addition to mayonnaise, mustard, salt, and pepper, there is just a little too much going on here. Further, I've debated in the past the merits of mayonnaise vs. Miracle Whip, and decided that the Miracle Whip just adds a little "bite" the the finished product. So instead of just ONE ingredient that's sort of bland, this recipe calls for Miracle Whip. Nonetheless, the recipe is pretty good and certainly different from the standard deviled egg recipe.

Here is the recipe:

6 hard-boiled eggs
1/6 cup mayonnaise-style salad dressing (Miracle Whip)
1/2 teaspoon Balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon yellow mustard
6 kalamata olives, pitted
1/8 cup sweet pickle relish
1/4 teaspoon minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8-1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
3 drops hot pepper sauce
6 stuffed green olives, halved, for garnish

Mix yolks with mayonnaise, vinegar, and mustard. Finely chop kalamata olives. Add olives, relish, and garlic to the egg yolk mixture. Season with salt and pepper. Add hot sauce. Fill egg halves with mixture. Garnish with halved stuffed green olives.

Above: adding the mayonnaise, balsamic vinegar, and mustard

Above: adding the olives, sweet pickle relish, and minced garlic

Don't those sliced olives look cool as the garnish? And they actually add in a great way to the flavor. Unfortunately the filling looks like something I saw in the 2 Girls 1 Cup video. Here is the rating:

Overall: 68 out of 100
Texture: 13 out of 20
Flavor: 15 out fo 20
Uniqueness: 16 out of 20
Appearance: 15 out of 20 (plus 5 because of the garnish; minus 5 because of the appearance of the filling
Ease of preparation: 10 out of 20 (a lot of work chopping all those ingredients)

Comments?

Cajun Deviled Eggs

2007-12-04T09:05:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I updated the deviled egg blog. I actually have made deviled egg several times - I made 3 types (the three most highly-rated from this blog - Bacon & Cheese Deviled Eggs, Deviled Eggs The Way I Like Them [Round 2], and Chicken Deviled Eggs) for Thanksgiving. And I've tried 2 new recipes, just haven't posted the on the blog yet. So here is one of them, in honor of the LSU Bayou Bengals, who won the SEC Football Championship Game on Saturday and will obliterate a totally outmanned and outclassed Ohio State team in the BCS Championship game after the first of the year. Geaux Tigers!

I had made these Cajun Deviled Eggs before, so I knew that they were pretty good, fairly simple, and needed a slight alteration to the original recipe. The original recipe calls for garnishing the finished deviled eggs with more Cajun spice blend, but when I did this before, the Cajun flavor became overwhelming. I understand that Cajun seasoning is the main flavor of this recipe, but it has to be a pleasant flavor, not one that dominates so much that you can't appreciate anything else.

Here is the recipe:

6 hard-boiled eggs
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 tablespoon yellow mustard
1 teaspoon melted butter
pinch of salt and fresh ground pepper
1/2 tablespoon Cajun spice blend (such as Zatarain's, Paul Prudhomme's Magic, or Emeril's Essence), plus more to garnish

Mix mashed yolks with mayonnaise, mustard, and melted butter. Season with a pinch each of salt and pepper. Mix in Caju spice blend. Fill egg halves and allow to sit in the refirgerator for 30 minutes or more so the texture sets up and the flavors blend.

Above: adding the mayonnaise, mustard, and melted butter.

Above: adding the Cajun spice blend and the finished product.

I think the ingredient that "makes" this recipe is the melted butter. There really isn't butter flavor added, but the texture of these eggs is tremendous - almost perfect. They are fluid enough to easily fill the egg halves, yet firm enough (and they firm up even more as they chill) that they are easy to eat in two bites rather than having to force it all down in one bite. The flavor of these, unmistakably, is the Cajun spice blend, which other than a little salt, pepper, and mustard, is the only ingredient that isn't there to add bulk or texture. All in all, these are very simple and very good. Let's see how they score on the trusty Deviled Egg Blogger scorecard.

Overall: 72 out of 100
Texture: 19 out of 20
Flavor: 14 out of 20
Uniqueness: 10 out of 20
Appearance: 10 out of 20 (these just don't look that cool)
Ease of preparation: 19 out of 20

Comments?

Deviled Eggs with Tarragon

2007-11-16T08:21:00.000-08:00

And it had been so much fun. The last few recipes, maybe a half dozen or so, had all been pretty good. They weren't all the same, but they were all good in their own ways. Then I tried a recipe for "Deviled Eggs with Tarragon." Ouch.

Tarragon, known as the dragon herb, supposedly pairs well with fish, chicken, or egg. So these eggs should be good, right? A little tarragon as the dominant flavor? A little mayonnaise for texture, and a little Dijon mustard and capers to give the flavor a little more complex profile? Doesn't work. Here's the recipe.

6 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and sliced in half
4 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon minced capers
1 1/2 teaspoons minced tarragon leaves
2 tablespoons minced chives.

Mix yolks, mayonnaise, mustard, capers, and tarragon leaves. Fill egg halves with mixture. Allow to chill for at least 1 hour for flavors to meld. Garnish with minced chives.

Above: adding the mayonnaise and Dijon mustard

Above: adding the minced capers and the minced tarragon leaves

Above: the finished "Deviled Eggs with Tarragon, after garnishing with chives

So these are just not that good. I guess the best way to describe them is just "blah." The tarragon flavor is there for sure, it just doesn't work. The texture is alright, although I honestly can't tell that the Dijon mustard adds anything to either the texture or the flavor. The capers are evident in the flavor, but unlike the smoked salmon deviled egg recipe from earlier this week, the capers don't seem to add anything. I guess I like deviled eggs that have a little more flavor to them.

Overall: 45 out of 100
Texture: 13 out of 20
Flavor: 3 out of 20
Uniqueness: 4 out of 20
Appeareance: 10 out of 20
Ease of preparation: 15 out of 20

Comments?

Smoked Salmon Deviled Eggs

2007-11-12T10:53:00.000-08:00

I've been trying to move away from the deviled egg recipes that just incorporate different quantities of the standby ingredients - mayonnaise, mustard, pickle juice or something, salt and pepper, etc. The last one, which I really enjoyed, has some finely diced chicken thrown in the mix. This one adds some smoked salmon. Although I'm not usually a fan of smoked salmon, I was very impressed with this recipe for some ancillary reasons. Here goes:

6 hard-boiled eggs
2 tablespoons sour cream
1 tablespoon cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 teaspoons French Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons smoked salmon, finely chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons scallions, finely chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
capers, for garnish (can also be garnished with caviar)

Combine the mashed egg yolks with the sour cream, cream cheese, and mustard. Stir in the smoked salmon and scallions. Season to taste. Fill the egg whites with mixture and garnish each deviled egg with a couple of capers (or some caviar).

Above: adding the sour cream, cream cheese, and Dijon mustard. Note: I microwaved the cream cheese for a few seconds so it was soft enough to fully incorporate into the egg mixture.

Above: adding the smoked salmon (which must be VERY finely chopped) and the scallions

Above: the final product, with each deviled egg garnished with 2 capers

As I said, I'm not a huge fan of smoked salmon. But this recipe was actually very good. First of all, the texture was great. Rather than the typical mayonnaise base, this recipe uses a base of sour cream and softened cream cheese. I realize that the sour cream is part of the base because of how well it matches with the smoked salmon (which is the intended dominant flavor), but adding the softened cream cheese to thicken the mixture is a stroke of genius. The second reason this recipe is so good is that each of the ancillary ingredients serves to enhance the flavor of the dominant flavor, the smoked salmon. Adding scallions, the sour cream, even the touch of Dijon mustard really help to accent the smoked salmon flavor. And the capers as a garnish, while not only kind of cool looking, also add to the flavor. I didn't use caviar as a garnish, as the recipe said was possible, but I am sure it would be just as good as the capers.

Overall: 79 out of 100
Texture: 19 out of 20 (again, nearly perfect, like the Chicken Deviled Eggs)
Flavor: 12 out of 20
Uniqueness: 19 out of 20 (bonus points for the cream cheese in the mix to help the texture)
Appeareance: 18 out of 20
Ease of preparation: 11 out of 20

Chicken Deviled Eggs

2007-10-31T09:30:00.001-07:00

Nearly all of the deviled egg recipes I have tried so far seem to follow a simple pattern. Mash up the yolks, add in some combination of mustard, mayonnaise, maybe a liquid like vinegar or relish, garnish with parsley or paprika. Maybe bacon here, maybe cheese there, maybe even some cream cheese. But these chicken deviled eggs seem to move beyond that simple deviled egg paradigm. Totally unique and delicious. Here's the recipe:

6 hard-boiled eggs

1/2 cup finely chopped cooked chicken

3 tablespoons mayonnaise

1 tablespoon grated sweet onion

1 tablespoon capers, drained and finely chopped

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon minced parsley

paprika, for garnish

Cook one chicken breast at 350 F for 20 minutes, then chop into very small pieces. Next grate sweet onion, drain and chop capers, and mice parsley. Add chicken, mayonnaise, sweet onion, capers, mustard, and parsley to the mashed yolks. Fill egg white halves with filling and garnish with paprika.

Above: adding the chicken, mayonnaise, and sweet onion to the mashed egg yolks. (Note: at the suggestion of a reader, I have mashed the yolks more finely.)

Above: adding the capers, mustard, and parsley.

Above: the finished product, garnished with paprika.

So there were a lot of interesting things going on in this recipe. First, the filling is basically a chicken salad - and this chicken salad is very good. It has a lot of ingredients, yet none of the ingredients dominate and each contributes something. Most deviled egg recipes I have tried that use parsley use it as a garnish, and here it goes into the filling and paprika is used as the garnish. Yet I think the parsley is needed - maybe it adds just a dash of green, maybe it's just for texture - who knows?

But I really liked these, in spite of the large amount of ingredients and the fact that so many ingredients have to be chopped. The texture, also, is perfect - thick enough to stand up in the egg halves, but not so thick that it can't be easily moved from the bowl to the eggs.

Overall: 77 out of 100 out of 100

Texture: 19 out of 20 (nearly perfect)

Flavor: 18 out of 20

Uniqueness: 17 out of 20

Appearance: 15 out of 20

Ease of preparation: 8 out of 20

Comments?

Horseradish and Black Pepper Deviled Eggs

2007-10-24T15:17:00.000-07:00

This recipe has been quite an adventure. I have made it twice so far and I'm STILL not totally satisfied. Unlike the disastrous Sour Cream and Lemon Deviled Eggs from July, I see potential in this recipe. It might not be perfect, but it continues to be worth tinkering with and trying again.

So here is my Horseradish and Black Pepper Deviled Egg adventure:

When I made these the first time three weeks ago, I was never comfortable with the horseradish I was using. The original recipe called for "prepared horseradish" and I used some horseradish that I had in my refrigerator. According to http://www.horseradish.org/facts, prepared horseradish loses its potency and turns slightly brown as it ages. I think this is what happened with the horseradish I used in my first crack at this recipe (this attempt is represented in the pictures).

The second time I made this, I used "horseradish sauce" rather than prepared horseradish. Although horseradish.org does not distinguish between "prepared horseradish" and "horseradish sauce," I think the horseradish sauce that I used was horseradish cut with some mayonnaise. The result is that the horseradish is not nearly as hot as it was in the first attempt, and not nearly as hot as I think the recipe intends, but is actually a nice flavor. The problem, however, is that the texture is too runny when using "horseradish sauce."

So I'm going to make this recipe again, a third time, using a little less mayonnaise and using prepared horseradish that I know is fresh. But I'm going to try a couple of new recipes first. Perhaps the third time will be the charm.

Recipe:

6 hard-boiled eggs
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 1/2 tablespoons (or more) prepared horseradish
1 tablespoon sweet pickle juice from jar of sweet pickles
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt
12 fresh parsley leaves

Above: adding the mayonnaise and the original prepared horseradish

Above: adding the pickle juice, the freshly ground pepper, and the salt

Above: the finished product, with the parsley garnish

Overall: 65 out of 100

Texture: 8 out of 20 (just too runny)

Flavor: 14 out of 20

Uniqueness: 17 out of 20 (the pickle juice bumps this up a couple points)

Appearance: 12 out of 20

Ease of preparation: 14 out of 20

Comments?

Mom's Simple Deviled Eggs

2007-10-22T09:07:00.000-07:00

So first, an update. I haven't updated this blog in more than a month for several reasons. Here they are:

1. I have been traveling quite a bit, and haven't been able to try as many new deviled egg recipes as I would have liked.

2. I HAVE made two new recipes, I just haven't had time to put them up on the blog. Today's addition is the first one, and by the end of the week I will add the second one.

3. Once I made the "Bacon and Cheese Deviled Eggs", I felt like I had found deviled egg perfection. I've made them several times since then, and sometimes it's hard to try new deviled egg recipes knowing they won't measure up to the "Bacon and Cheese Deviled Eggs" that are (so far) the best I've tried since creating this blog.

Nonetheless, here are "Mom's Simple Deviled Eggs."

Mom must LOVE salt! Her ankles must be bloated, because MAN this had a lot of salt. I actually had to make this recipe twice, as the first time, both I and my taste testers felt that the eggs were great, but just WAY WAY too salty. I wondered if I had accidentally added too much salt, but when I remade the recipe using much less salt, they STILL were kind of salty. Not so overwhelming as the first attempt, and the recipe here reflects my changes to the salt, although the pictures reflect the original recipe as I received it.

Recipe:

6 hard-boiled eggs
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon prepared yellow mustard
2 teaspoons distilled white vinegar
pinch salt, to taste
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
paprika for garnish

Above: adding mayonnaise and mustard

Above: adding the vinegar and the 1/4 teaspoon of salt (reduced to just a pinch for the final recipe)

Above: the final result, after dusting with paprika for garnish.

These deviled eggs are actually very good. Not perfect, of course - they are a bit simple, I had to reduce the salt, and they are a tad runny. All in all, a simple, easy deviled egg recipe that isn't TOTALLY banal since it at least has a little bite from the vinegar.

Overall: 68 out of 100
Texture: 10 out of 20 (just a little runny)
Flavor: 17 out of 20
Uniqueness: 8 out of 20
Appearance: 16 out of 20
Ease of preparation: 18 out of 20

Comments?

Bacon and Cheese Deviled Eggs

2007-09-20T21:34:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, it just all comes together. This blog is called "In Search Of The Best Deviled Eggs" and so far, these are the best. By far. The proportion was perfect. The texture was excellent. And, of course, everything is better with bacon. And everything with bacon is even better with cheese. This recipe even has that unique characteristic that so many recipes lack - in this case, vinegar.

There are some caveats to this recipe, however. It's labor-intensive, since it involves frying bacon. And it's very important that the bacon is cooked very crisp - I cooked twice as many slices as necessary, then used the crispiest parts of each strip. And in order for the texture to turn out right, the cheddar cheese must be grated VERY finely.

Recipe:

6 hard-boiled eggs
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 slices bacon, cooked crisp, crumbled
2 teaspoons vinegar
1/4 cup finely grated Cheddar cheese
1/8 teaspoon salt

Above: adding the mayonnaise, bacon, and vinegar to the crumbled egg yolks.

Above: adding the Cheddar cheese and salt, just a pinch

Above: the finished product - The Best Deviled Eggs (so far)

This is why I created this blog. I won't stop now, but I will be surprised if very many deviled egg recipes surpass this one.

Overall: 83 out of 100

Texture: 19 out of 20

Flavor: 19 out of 20

Uniqueness: 17 out of 20

Appearance: 16 out of 20

Ease of preparation: 12 out of 20 (because of the need to fry bacon)

Comments?

Deviled Eggs "The Way I Like Them" - Round 2

2007-09-03T10:44:00.001-07:00

So I've never re-tried a deviled egg recipe. But last week's "Deviled Eggs The Way I Like Them" was SO CLOSE to being great, I decided to tweak a few of the proportions and give it a go again! And the result was great!

I used less ranch dressing and mayonnaise, the combined total mixture of each was slightly less than 1/4 cup for 6 hard-boiled eggs. This not only reduced the amount of filling, which was WAY too much when I tried this recipe the first time, but also made the filling thicker. Also, I used dry rather than prepared mustard.

Recipe:

6 hard-boiled eggs
slightly less than 1/8 cup ranch dressing
slightly less than 1/8 cup mayonnaise
1/2 tablespoon dry mustard
1 tablespoon sweet pickle relish
seasoning salt to taste

Above: using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, I mixed both the ranch dressing and mayonnaise to total slightly less than 1/4 cup.

Above: adding the dry mustard, the sweet pickle relish, and the seasoned salt.

Above: the finished product, garnished with paprika.

So the taste, again, of this recipe was great. And the texture, finally, works out... as does the proportion. I'm glad I went back and retried this recipe, because these are pretty simple, easy-to-make, yet not bland deviled eggs.

Overall: 80 out of 100

Texture: 18 out of 20

Flavor: 18 out of 20

Uniqueness: 10 out of 20

Appearance: 17 out of 20 (2 additional points because the eggs didn't appear runny)

Ease of preparation: 17 out of 20

Comments?

Deviled Eggs "The Way I Like Them"

2007-08-28T13:44:00.000-07:00

I thought this recipe, which uses equal parts ranch dressing and mayonnaise as the base, was very interesting. Americans like ANYTHING better with Ranch dressing on it, and deviled eggs can be no exception, right?

Well this recipe has a lot of positives... and a pretty big negative. The eggs taste great, are not difficult to make, and have a somewhat complex flavor because of the ranch dressing and the seasoning salt added to taste. Even more, the recipe includes a little sweet pickle relish. As I'm making more and more deviled egg recipes, I realize that whenever I taste a recipe and think "something is missing..." that something is often sweet pickle relish.

Recipe:

6 hard-boiled eggs
1/8 cup ranch dressing
1/8 cup mayonnaise
1/2 tablespoon mustard
1 tablespoon sweet pickle relish
seasoning salt to taste

1. Crumble egg yolks in a bowl.
2. Add ranch dressing, mayonnaise, mustard, sweet pickle relish, and seasoning salt.
3. Fill egg halves.
4. Sprinkle with paprika

Above: adding the ranch dressing, mayonnaise, mustard, sweet pickle relish, and seasoning salt.

Above: the finished Deviled Eggs "The Way I Like Them," after being sprinkled with paprika.

The taste of these eggs was really very good. But the texture and proportion is just flat-out wrong. There was way more filling that was necessary, and the filling was far too runny. I want to try this recipe again, perhaps using dry mustard rather than prepared mustard (the original recipe from which I worked did not specify) and maybe using a little less ranch dressing and mayonnaise.

Overall: 55 out of 100
Texture: 5 out of 20
Flavor: 18 out of 20
Uniqueness: 10 out of 20
Appearance: 15 out of 20
Ease of preparation: 17 out of 20

Comments?

Decadent Deviled Eggs

2007-08-16T11:27:00.000-07:00

Again, I didn't make two recipes on the same day. I just added them to the blog on the same day.

These eggs are self-proclaimed "decadent" deviled eggs, although I'm not sure that "made nearly entirely of butter" means decadent. But these deviled eggs are really unique, in that their texture changed from when I made them... to when I shared them with some testers... to the next day.

Recipe:

6 hard-boiled eggs

1/4 cup softened butter (I microwaved it for about 10 seconds to soften it up)

1 teaspoon dry mustard

1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1/2 teaspoon hot sauce

1/8 teaspoon celery salt

1. Crumble egg yolks in a bowl.

2. Add 1/2 cup softened butter.

3. Add mustard, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, and celery salt.

4. Mix well and fill egg halves.

Above: adding the softened butter, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, and celery salt.

Above: the finished "decadent" deviled eggs

My reviewers had a mixed reaction. One claimed he couldn't tell that the deviled eggs did not contain mayonnaise. Another claimed that he tasted mostly hot sauce. And yet another claimed he tasted mostly celery salt. I don't know if this makes this recipe enigmatic, or just a mess. As I noted above, the eggs had a typical "deviled egg" consistency when they were first made. When they were chilled, they had firmed up, and by the next day, the filling was totally solid, like a cube of butter, and easily slipped out of the egg halves. I'm really not sure what to make of these, so I'd like some feedback.

Overall: 55 out of 100
Texture: 10 out of 20 (because it was so weird)
Flavor: 8 out of 20
Uniqueness: 17 out of 20
Appearance: 10 out of 20
Ease of preparation: 10 out of 20
Comments?

"Classic" Deviled Eggs

2007-08-16T10:26:00.000-07:00

It hasn't really been 10 days since I tried a new deviled egg recipe. It's just been 10 days since I've had time to post about them.

Today's recipe is "Classic Deviled Eggs." I'm not sure what makes them classic, but they are pretty simple, very basic, and kind of generic. But something didn't add up. The proportion of filling to eggs just wasn't right... and without REALLY skimping, I could only fill 10 of the egg whites. My tasters said they liked this recipe, but they didn't say anything about it being better than a standard deviled egg recipe, so it's just... basic... average... middle-of-the-road... ust like Nebraska football.

If this recipe were more unique, or better-tasting, or ANYTHING other than just basic, I would try to rework the recipe with different amounts of ingredients, to make them correctly fill the 12 egg whites. I will say that the paprika mixed into the filling does make the filling look kind of cool, with a bit of brick color to it. But, frankly, this recipe just isn't good enough to warrant any more effort.

Recipe:

6 hard-boiled eggs

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1. Crumble egg yolks in bowl.

2. Add mayonnaise, mustard, and paprika and combine.

3. Fill egg whites with mixture.

Above: adding the mayonnaise, mustard, and paprika

Above: note that there are only 10 deviled eggs.

Overall: 45 out of 100
Texture: 12 out of 20
Flavor: 5 out of 20
Uniqueness: 3 out of 20
Appearance: 15 out of 20
Ease of preparation: 10 out of 20

Comments?

Green Onion-Dijon Deviled Eggs

2007-08-06T08:43:00.000-07:00

Finally! After two disappointing deviled egg recipes, I finally returned to one that people actually want to eat. The sour cream lemon disasters are long-forgotten, and the boring cream cheese deviled eggs are banished to the back of my mind, where I might think of some actually flavorful deviled egg recipe that includes the uniqueness of cream cheese as its base.

But these are very good. The original recipe I used called these "Dijon Deviled Eggs" but the dominant flavor, without a doubt, is the green onion. In fact, the Dijon mustard's lack of presence if the only real drawback to this recipe.

Here is the recipe:

6 hard-boiled eggs
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 green onion, very thinly sliced (slice a little of the green and keep separate from the white)
few leaves of fresh flat-leaf parsley
freshly ground black pepper
salt, to taste
paprika, optional

1. Crumble egg yolks in bowl.
2. Add mayonnaise and Dijon mustard and combine.
3. Stir in white part of the onions and most of the chopped parsley.
4. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
5. Fill egg whites with mixture and sprinkle with green part of onions and remaining parsely.
6. Sprinkle with a little pepper and/or paprika, if desired.

Above: adding the mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, and chopped onions. Also: the final product, after garnished with green part of onion, chopped parsley, and a little pepper and paprika.

Review: these are actually very good, and a little different. Rather than traditional deviled eggs, where the dominant flavor is the mayonnaise or mustard, the dominant flavor here is the onions. The paprika really serves as more of a garnish, and the parsley looks nice but doesn't add much. But these are a little better than the traditional eggs, and pretty easy to make. I think, if making them again, I would add more Dijon mustard so that flavor becomes more notable - it's supposed to be there, I just didn't really taste it much.

Overall: 71 out of 100

Texture: 15 out of 20

Flavor: 12 out of 20

Uniqueness: 13 out of 20

Appearance: 14 out of 20

Ease of preparation: 12 out of 20

Comments?

Cream Cheese Deviled Eggs

2007-07-30T06:26:00.001-07:00

First of all, a follow-up to the "Sour Cream, Lemon, and Herb Deviled Eggs" recipe I prepared last week. These are the FIRST deviled egg recipe I have ever tried where I had to actually throw out the product because people wouldn't eat more than one. Perhaps it's because I'm not in a lunchtime garden club.

Now, on the the next recipe: Cream Cheese Deviled Eggs. This recipe reminds me of a classic Match Game episode. These deviled eggs are just "blank." Here is the recipe:

Cream Cheese Deviled Eggs

6 hard-boiled eggs

1/2 block softened cream cheese

sale and pepper to taste

1. Crumble egg yolks in a bowl.

2. Add softened cream cheese (if cream cheese is not soft enough to mix, microwave it for 10 or 15 seconds).

3. Combine yolks and cream cheese and add salt and pepper to taste

4. Fill egg whites with filling.

Above: adding the cream cheese; the finished product

Review: Seriously, these are the most basic recipe ever. Only egg yolks, cream cheese, and a little salt and pepper. However, the texture, because of the cream cheese, is SO different than any recipe I've ever tried. VERY thick - the cream cheese is taking place of the traditional mayonnaise/Miracle Whip/sour cream. I actually was excited while I was making these because I was also making a GREAT new snack-type appetizer that smelled great and was wonderful. (If you want that recipe, e-mail me!) It would be interesting to try a deviled egg recipe that involves cream cheese but ALSO some other flavorful ingredients - maybe mustard, relish, stronger spices, even bacon (of course).

Overall: 40 out of 100

Texture: 8 out of 20 (if only because it's so unique)

Flavor: 2 out of 20

Uniqueness: 10 out of 20

Appearance: 5 out of 20

Ease of preparation: 15 out of 20

Comments?

Sour Cream, Lemon, and Herb Deviled Eggs

2007-07-25T14:54:00.000-07:00

Well, they aren't all home runs. Some are RBI doubles, some are sharp singles, and some are strikeouts. But this recipe was just a pop foul that the third baseman camps under and catches easily. Not totally worthless, but doesn't accomplish anything. Nonetheless, here it is:

Sour Cream, Lemon, and Herb Deviled Eggs

3 tablespoons sour cream
1 1/2 tablespoons mayonnaise
3/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated lemon peel
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
fresh thyme

Instructions:

Add all ingredients to egg yolks. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Spoon yolk mixture into egg whites, and sprinkle generously with finely chopped fresh thyme.

Adding the sour cream, mayonnaise, and Dijon mustard to the mashed egg yolks.

Grating the lemon zest into the filling mixture, squeezing the fresh lemon juice, and adding the cayenne pepper.

The finished product, after filling the eggs and sprinkling with finely chopped thyme.

Review: first off, the filling is too runny. Way too runny. I'm not sure why the recipe calls for both mayonnaise AND sour cream, but deviled eggs require a firm center, and these did not have them. Second of all, the lemon was overpowering. While lemon is a nice flavor in many things, I thought it overpowered any other flavor. The thyme is sort of wasted, although thyme with lemon is usually a nice combination.

Overall: 40 out of 100

Texture: 2 out of 20 - just way too runny
Flavor: 5 out of 20

Uniqueness: 13 out of 20

Appearance: 12 out of 20

Ease of preparation: 8 out of 20 (grating lemon peel and the messiness of the filling caused this to go down)

Anybody have any comments?

Bacon Deviled Eggs

2007-07-19T16:55:00.001-07:00

A wise man once said, "Everything is better with bacon." Deviled eggs are no exception. Here is a recipe I recently tried for Bacon Deviled Eggs.

6 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and cut in half
1/4 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon reserved bacon drippings
dash hot sauce
pinch salt
2 slices of bacon, cooked crisp
chopped parsley

Above: adding the sour cream, mustard, and bacon dripping, which goes right into the filling.

After preparing the filling by stirring the egg yolks, sour cream, mayonnaise, and bacon drippings thoroughly, place filling into each egg half. Then garnish with chopped fresh parsley and the crumbled pieces of bacon.

The finished product:

Review: The sour cream gives these eggs a nice, creamy texture - really different than traditional deviled eggs, but very very good. With no mayonnaise or Miracle Whip, the eggs really take on more of a bacon flavor - the bacon drippings, a unique touch, certainly help with this. Of course, anything tastes better with bacon. The crumbled bacon not only add to the bacon flavor, they also add a crunch to the texture - the parsley doesn't add much flavor but adds a lot of color.

Overall grade: 75 (out of 100)

Texture: 18 out of 20

Flavor: 17 out of 20

Appearance: 15 out of 20

Uniqueness: 15 out of 20 (because the bacon drippings are added)

Ease of preparation: 10 out of 20 (frying bacon is messy, but the result is great)

Any comments or suggestions?

How To Hard Boil Eggs for Deviled Eggs

2007-07-16T13:21:00.000-07:00

The most important part of preparing deviled eggs is properly hard boiling the eggs. Here is a step-by-step guide with pictures.

1. Place eggs in a roomy saucepan with just enough water to barely cover the eggs.

2. On high heat, bring water to a rapid boil and allow to boil for 30 seconds.

3. After water has boiled for 30 seconds, place lid on pan and turn off the heat. Let sit for 12 minutes.

4. Empty pan of all water, and place eggs, pan and all, in the sink. Run cold water over eggs and pan until the pan is cool to the touch. Let sit at least 5 minutes.

5. When eggs and pan are cool, empty the water from the pan and vigorously shake the eggs in the pan to crack them. Then, under running cold water, gently peel the shell away from the egg.

6. Slice eggs in half lengthwise, then using a spoon, gently remove the hard-boiled yolks and place them in a bowl.

Now you are ready to make deviled eggs !

Simple Deviled Eggs

2007-07-13T14:18:00.001-07:00

Simple Deviled Eggs

Ingredients:

6 hard-boiled eggs
1/2 cup Miracle Whip
1 heaping teaspoon yellow mustard
1 tablespoon milk
dash of salt
ground black pepper or paprika

Above: adding, the mayonnaise, mustard, and milk to the crumbled egg yolks.

Above: the filling mixture and filling the eggs.

The finished product. I sprinkled paprika on the 6 on the left, and fresh ground pepper on the 6 on the right.

Review:

These eggs are the most basic deviled egg recipe I have seen. Just egg yolks, Miracle Whip (which gives a little more bite than mayonnaise), a little milk to thin the filling, some classic yellow mustard, a dash of salt, and some fresh ground pepper or paprika sprinkled on top.

Some people swear by Miracle Whip; others fight to the death for plain mayonnaise. Personally, I think that each has its own benefits, depending on the recipe, but as a rule I like mayonnaise when several other flavors are being added to the filling and Miracle Whip when the filling is very basic. This is the most basic deviled egg recipe out there, so I can see why it calls for Miracle Whip.

However, the Miracle Whip becomes the dominant flavor, with the mustard relegated to a subtle taste and the pepper/paprika seemingly only garnishes. Further, there is a LOT of filling for these eggs, so I think using less Miracle Whip wouldn't hurt.

Overall grade: 60 (on a scale of 1 to 100)
Texture: 15 out of 20
Flavor: 10 out of 20
Appearance: 15 out of 20
Uniqueness: 0 out of 20 (just totally plain)
Ease of preparation: 20 out of 20

What do you guys think?

In Search Of The Best Deviled Eggs

2007-07-13T11:17:00.000-07:00

This blog will seek to find the BEST deviled egg recipe out there.

To submit deviled egg recipes for consideration, or to send other comments, please e-mail TheBestDeviledEggs@gmail.com