Norwegian Deviled Eggs

Now that people know I have been testing and reviewing deviled egg recipes for my blog, they often ask, "What is the WORST deviled egg recipe you have tried?"

Well, now I have the answer!

"NORWEGIAN DEVILED EGGS", hands down, are the WORST DEVILED EGGS I have tried. This is the only recipe I have tried that literally made me gag while trying them, and I could not even eat a single egg. Neither could my tasters... and all of them went to waste.

This recipe, in theory, should be THAT bad. It's got smoked salmon, a little swiss cheese, and some dill which matches with the smoked salmon. But... this recipe doesn't have any mayonnaise!

20% of the score in this blog is for "uniqueness," just like 1/3 of the score was for "originality" on Puttin' On The Hits back in the 1980's. And I guess that using softened butter and sour cream is somewhat original, but this recipe... if there ever was one that did... SCREAMS for some mayonnaise.

Not all recipes that eschew mayonnaise as the binding are terrible. In fact, I recently tested one by a well-known chef (soon to be reviewed on the blog) that uses an aioli in place of mayonnaise. But sour cream and butter, especially with salmon and dill, just fails miserably.

Beyond that, the original recipe I used called for 8 hard-boiled eggs, and I use recipes on this site based on 6 eggs (which are easily doubled to a nice round dozen). Further, they mis-spelled "Norwegian" in this recipe, and I guess that should have been a major hint. Alas, it wasn't, and my gag reflex was tested.

6 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and sliced in half
1/4 cup chopped smoked salmon
1 tablespoon butter, softened
1 tablespoon sour cream
3 tablespoons grated Swiss cheese
1/2 teaspoon dill.

1. Mash egg yolks in bowl.
2. Add in smoked salmon, butter, sour cream, cheese, and dill.
3. Mix together well and stuff egg whites with yolk mixture.


Above: adding the smoked salmon, butter, and sour cream

Above: adding the Swiss cheese, and the finished product

Where to start... hmmm...

First of all, the texture was just a grainy disaster. The filling didn't stuff correctly, and the texture was so bad that I literally gagged. There wasn't really anything "smooth" to make the filling work like a deviled egg filling should.

The proportions were all out of whack. Let's assume that butter and sour cream are an acceptable substitute for mayonnaise. There was only 2 total tablespoons of butter and sour cream, whereas there was 3 tablespoons of the cheese, which didn't make the filling smooth at all.

The recipe called for incorporating the dill into the filling, but that looked so disgusting to me that I just used the dill as garnish. Dill and smoked salmon and sour cream... should be great, right? Well, in a deviled egg, it was gag-inducing.

Here are the scores:

Overall: 31 out of 100
Texture: 0 out of 20
Flavor: 3 out of 20
Uniqueness: 13 out of 20
Appearance: 5 out of 20
Ease of preparation: 10 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?

"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?

(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?

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?

Champagne Vinegar Deviled Eggs with Chives

I like using chives from my herb garden in the summer, so this isn't the first deviled egg recipe I've tried that uses chives. I had high hopes for this recipe because it thins the mixture with a little heavy cream, which I thought might be a good idea I hadn't explored yet, and because the recipe uses champagne vinegar, which I thought might give the flavor a little upscale kick.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. The texture was a little runny, the flavor was a little bland, and these eggs didn't even get eaten up by my tasters. This was one of the rare occasions where I had to throw away a couple of deviled eggs.

Not that they were THAT bad. They just weren't that GOOD either. The ingredients that should set this recipe apart - sugar and champagne vinegar - just got lost. When you could taste them, they weren't that good. But you mostly couldn't taste them.

Here is the recipe:

6 hard boiled eggs, peeled and split in half

1/4 cup mayonnaise

3/4 tablespoon heavy cream

1/8 teaspoon sugar

1/2 tablespoon champagne vinegar

good quality sea salt to taste

snipped fresh chives

1. Mash the egg yolks.

2. Add mayonnaise, cream, sugar, vinegar, and sea salt

3. Fill egg white halves with filling.

4. Garnish with chives.

5. Let deviled eggs sit in the refrigerator for at least an hour before serving.

Above: adding the mayonnaise, cream, and sugar

Above: adding the champagne vinegar and the sea salt

Above: the finished product, garnished with fresh snipped chives

Here are the scores:

Overall: 59 out of 100
Texture: 9 out of 20 (the cream was a good idea, but they were a little runny)
Flavor: 8 out of 20
Uniqueness: 11 out of 20
Appearance: 15 out of 20
Ease of preparation: 16 out of 20

Comments?