Southern Living Buttery Dijon Deviled Eggs

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here is the recipe:

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

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

4. Stir in salt and white pepper to taste.

5. Spoon mixture evenly into egg white halves.

6. Sprinkle with paprika, if desired.

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

Here are the pictures:

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

Above: adding the lemon juice and red pepper

Above: the finished product, garnished with paprika

Here are the scores:

Overall: 59 out of 100

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

Flavor: 10 out of 20

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

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

Ease of preparation: 15 out of 20

Comments?

Old-Fashioned Deviled Eggs

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?

(Supposedly) Hot Deviled Eggs

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?

Blue Devils

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?

Deviled Eggs with Tarragon

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

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

Mom's Simple Deviled Eggs

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?

Green Onion-Dijon Deviled Eggs

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?