Deviled Eggs

When I think of a cookout or any family dinner, my favorite dish has to be deviled eggs, hands down.  How many specific food dishes in this country have a tray made especially for them?  There are cake carriers, but how many different kinds of cakes are there?  What about pies?  Yet again, there are over 1,000 pie recipes.  Deviled eggs are solidly a staple when it comes to America so what better food for a July 4th event?  None.  According to Wikipedia, deviled eggs originated in Rome and were made much like they are in America. The main ingredients are mustard and mayonnaise.  When researching deviled eggs, I found that there are more ways to make then than I ever imagined.  Rachael Ray even has a recipe where she puts caviar on them.  Hmm...eggs on eggs.  Overkill!  I'm sure Paula Dean has a recipe where she puts a pat of butter under the yolk mixture (if she didn't before, she probably will now).

There are many differing ways to make deviled eggs, but they always start the same way...boiling the eggs. No matter how you get there, no one wants green yolks.  This means that your eggs have been over cooked.  No one wants soft egg whites...you'll never be able to hold the deviled egg.  So here's the question... "how do you cook the perfect boiled egg?" Some people talk about cooking and they use the stock phrase, "I can't even boil water." Well, I would have to say that I can totally believe that.  Like making any other dish, everything requires patience. How do I do it? I listened to my mom.

Place your large, white, cold eggs in a pot.  If you want the eggs to peel nicely, make sure they aren't super fresh.  If you haven't prepared and purchased eggs ahead of time, don't worry, it isn't a lost cause (use the fresh ones, but peel more carefully). Cover the eggs completely in cold water. Place your pot of cold eggs and cold water on a cold burner and turn on high until the water comes to a rolling boil. If you have large eggs, you can immediately put a lid on the pot and remove it from the hot burner.  Set a timer for 20 minutes and your eggs are hard-boiled. You may now drain the hot water. Crack the eggs in the pot and fill with cold water (I sometimes add ice).  The shock of the cold water and even more shock with ice cold water helps the egg shells separate from the whites of the egg. I usually peel the eggs under cold water and put the shells down the disposal. If your eggs are extra-large, boil slightly longer before removing from heat.  If your eggs are smaller, lessen the amount of time after the eggs have been removed from burner.

Now that you have boiled and peeled your eggs, it's time to devil the yolks. Have you ever wondered what it means to 'devil' something?  I know I did, so I started searching.  I found that it just means that you're adding hot spices when cooking.  Wikipedia (my favorite go-to source) states that modern cooking has changed to 'seasoned' as opposed to 'spicey'.  Many parts of the country call them 'salad eggs' or 'dressed eggs', because they didn't like how 'deviled eggs' seemed anti-religious.  Who knew? Back to deviling the eggs...I use mustard, mayonnaise, vinegar, salt and pepper. Sometimes, I use a fork, today I decided to let Percy (my Kitchen Aid Mixer) try mixing the filling.  I will probably let Percy do that from now on, because it was the easiest it's ever been (and fastest).

Filling the egg whites:  You can use a spoon or fork to put the filling in the egg whites.  You can scoop the mixture into a Ziploc baggie and cut the corner and fill the egg whites.  This time (to make them look nicer), I decided to put the filling into a pastry bag and pipe it into the egg whites.  Bing bang...it's all done.  Some like to top with paprika or garnish (not me).  Some use many other exotic fillings or pickle juices (not me).  Do whatever you like.  More than likely, people are going to prefer whatever method they grew up with.  I know I do.

Everyone have a happy and safe Independence Day!  Celebrate with your favorite American dish!