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?

"Here It Goes" Deviled Eggs

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?