Email to Cat      

Country Caviar (Perfect Deviled Eggs)

Source of Recipe

From "Big Food Big Love" by Heather L. Earnhardt


Recipe Introduction

"Deviled egg platters are handed down among Southern families, and a backyard barbecue or church gathering is never complete without 'country caviar.' Once you master the perfect hard-boiled egg, perfect deviled eggs are close behind. If you know in advance you want to make these, buy your eggs the week before: they will be much easier to peel. Make more than you need or think you'll need, because you'll end up eating at least five or six before your guests arrive. You wouldn't want that deviled egg platter to have empty spots! Personally, I can eat my weight alone in deviled eggs."

List of Ingredients

â—¦ 18 Perfect Hard-Boiled Eggs, peeled and halved lengthwise
â—¦ ¾ cup mayonnaise, such as Duke's or Best Foods
â—¦ 1 tablespoon Dijon or Creole mustard
â—¦ 2 teaspoons pickle juice or white vinegar
â—¦ ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
â—¦ ¼ teaspoon cayenne
â—¦ â…› teaspoon kosher salt
â—¦ Smoked paprika, for garnish


Recipe

Carefully, using a spoon or clean fingers, remove the yolks from the halved eggs and put them in a medium bowl. Rinse off any remaining yolk from the egg whites. Place the whites on a deviled egg plate or platter, setting any broken ones aside.

Place the yolks into the bowl of a food processor and pulse until no clumps remain. (Or you can push the yolks through the back of a sieve into a bowl.) Add the mayonnaise, Dijon, pickle juice, pepper, and cayenne. Pulse until combined, adding a bit more mayonnaise if the filling is too dry. Taste the filling and add the salt — deviled egg filling salts easily, and you need to season gradually. Pulse and taste again, adding another small pinch of salt if needed.

Scrape the filling into a pastry bag fitted with a star tip and pipe the filling into each egg white. (Alternatively, you can use a ziplock bag: squeeze the filling to one side, cut off one corner of the bag, and proceed to fill the eggs.) Garnish the eggs with a dusting of paprika. Eat all of the ones that broke. I also like to add a sprinkling of sugar over the assembled eggs and then brûlée them with a blowtorch.

Makes 36 halves




Perfect Hard-Boiled Eggs:

â—¦ 18 large eggs, preferably one week old

Gently place the eggs in a saucepot and cover them with an inch of hot tap water. Turn the heat to high and bring the water to a boil. Right when it boils, turn off the heat, cover the pot with a lid, and remove it from the burner. Leave the pot covered for exactly 9 minutes.

When the timer goes off, immediately pour out the hot water and run cold water over the eggs until you are able to handle them comfortably. Peel the eggs, rinsing any remaining shell off gently with cool water.

Makes 18 eggs