Gourmet Magazine Deviled Eggs

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?