(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?

Shallot Deviled Eggs

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?

Hell's Eggs

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?