Trudy's Deviled Eggs

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?

Grandpa's Angry Deviled Eggs

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?

Horseradish and Black Pepper Deviled Eggs

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?