How to Make Deviled Eggs 101–The Devil's Details
Tips and Recipes: Making and Transporting these Diabolical Treats
Dec 14, 2008
Plain or fancy, deviled eggs tempt us as one of the most economical and easiest appetizers you can make.
Deviled eggs are great for whipping up ahead. Whether you're serving them at home or traveling to the party, for the freshest presentation, follow the tips under “Transporting” for making up the elements in advance, but waiting until serving time to pipe in the fillings and garnish.
The common ingredient in all of these recipes is the perfectly peeled hardboiled egg. For those who have ever had trouble cleanly peeling a hardboiled egg, be sure to read the easy tips in How to Boil an Egg to bubble away the possible frustration from making these recipes. The devil says you need not suffer.
All of these recipes make about 20 appetizer portions. Multiply or divide for your target number of guests. How many you make depends on what other niblicks will be competing temptations, but figure on two per person. Even with fifty other elegant hors d'oeurves, the deviled eggs are still a good bet to be gone first.
The math whizzes among readers will see a dozen eggs in the ingredients and calculate that should make 24 appetizers rather than 20. Stuff happens. The devil does wield power. Eggs crack while boiling or peel less than perfectly. And besides, the cook must yield to temptation and test the finished product.
Transporting:
Transporting these slippery little devils can be tricky. Even if you have one of those cute serving trays, usually you make more than a dozen, unless there's only four people. Besides slipping around and generally getting messy, the filling discolors quickly. Best practice: transport the un-filled egg whites separately from the filling. Put your fillings and any garnishes in separate zip-lock bags. Give yourself enough time to assemble the deviled eggs once you're on site. It doesn't take long.
Arrange the egg whites on your serving tray. Cut the bottom corner off the bag with the filling and, squeezing from the other end of the bag, pipe in the desired amount of filling. Add your garnish, if using, and serve. Repeat when you need to re-fill the tray. That way you can keep the reserved filling refrigerated (or in the cooler if you're picnicking).
Binders:
While mayonnaise predominates, other binders may be preferred depending on the other flavorings or dietary considerations. The possible binders are:
- Mayonnaise - If you don't make your own, the author strongly recommends Best Foods or Hellman's brand.
- Sour Cream
- Plain Yogurt
To be fair, the imitations should be acknowledged, without recommendation and without any expectation of whipping up a miracle: “salad dressing,” “salad cream” or any of the imitation sour creams.
Garnishes:
Several of the recipes will suggest garnishes, but this is an area where you should give free rein to your creativity, depending on what's fresh and available. Here's a list to get you thinking:
- Sprinkle of paprika or freshly ground black pepper
- Parsley or Cilantro
- Chives or Scallions, snipped or cut in 1½ inch lengths
- Fresh Dill
- Black olive slices
- Stuffed olive slices
- Roasted pepper slivers
- Fresh Bell Pepper slivers
- Thin Avocado Slices
- Bacon Crumbles
- Blue Cheese Crumbles
- Nasturtium leaves
- Fresh herbs
- Pickled Onion Slivers
- Fresh Red Onion Slivers
- Edible Flower Blossoms: chives, rose petals,
- Enoki Mushrooms
- Slivered Almonds
- Chopped Nuts
- Chutney
- Pickled Beet slivers
- Spice Apple Slivers
- Sliver of Lox
- Dot of Anchovy Paste
- Small Cubes of Smoke Gouda or other cheese
- Caviar or Salmon Roe, etc.
- Sliced Truffle
Classic Deviled Eggs
Ingredients:
- 12 hard-cooked eggs
- ½ cup Mayonnaise
- ¼ tsp Dijon mustard
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- Paprika for garnish
- Boil and peel the eggs according to the How to Boil an Egg article linked above.
- Carefully cut each egg in half lengthwise and pop out the egg yolk into your mixing bowl. Reserve the whites until you're ready to serve (in a zip lock bag if you'll be transporting to the party).
- Mash the egg yolks together with all the other ingredients. Transfer the filling to a zip lock bag and refrigerate until you're ready to serve.
- Follow the suggestions in "Transporting" unless you are making these up to serve immediately.
- When you're ready to serve, arrange the egg white halves on your serving tray. Snip off one bottom corner of the zip lock back of filling.
- Grasp the bag and squeeze the filling toward the snipped corner. Position the corner over the target egg and pipe the mixture into the cavity of the egg.
- Add any garnish you desire, serve and watch them disappear. Repeat as necessary to refill the tray.
Variations:
Now that you have grasped the basics and eaten a few, you will want to venture like Orpheus into the underworld for a devil's dozen more ideas:Deviled Eggs: a Dozen Ways and Deviled Eggs: the Other Half Dozen
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