I like deviled eggs, but rarely make them because I just cannot peel the suckers without ripping off chunks of egg white. More on that later…
This is just your basic Southern Deviled Egg recipe. These are a great snack or appetizer for primal eating – no carbs to speak of!
Ingredients:
- 5 large eggs
- approximately 2 T mayonnaise
- approximately 1 T Dijon mustard
- 1/2 t apple cider vinegar
- Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper – to taste
- Cayenne pepper, onion powder, granulated garlic – to taste
- Paprika (sweet, or try smoked paprika…both are good)
Place the eggs in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to a full boil, then remove the pan from heat and let the eggs stand for 18 minutes (covered).
This is where I run into trouble. Someone out there please send me your suggestions on how to peel hard-boiled eggs! This is what I did, and the photo below is pretty much what resulted. I drained the eggs, shook the pan so that the egg shells were cracked a little, then covered them with cold water to cool. After they cooled some, I tried to remove the eggshell, and it chips and chips…I get frustrated and eventually start yanking off the shell and parts of the egg white. Heck, I don’t even like the egg whites! I would be happy eating the yolk mixture with a spoon…but that’s hardly party food unless you’re by yourself.
So, back to the recipe.
Peel the eggs, then cut each egg in half. Transfer the yolks to a small bowl and mash with a fork. Stir in the remaining ingredients (except paprika) until smooth, and season to your taste. (I like mine a little zippy!)
Distribute the yolk mixture to the egg whites, covering the tops. [Note: I just spoon it on, but if you want to get fancy you can pipe the filling into the egg whites like frosting.] Sprinkle the eggs with paprika and voila! If making ahead of time, refrigerate until ready to serve.
she cooks...he cleans 
After the eggs are boiled empty out the hot water then cover with cold. Do not crack them before covering with cold water. Let them cool for about ten minutes. Then crack on two sides and peel. It also helps to peel under a little running water.
Suggestion for peeling boiled eggs:
Don’t drain eggs. Just run enough cold water in the pan to cool them enough to handle. Hubby taught me that warm eggs are easier to peel…he was right!:)
I admit, I do the piping thing–much easier, prettier and less messy. Also, try adding some curry powder to the filling–mmmm mmmm good! Oh and if you want to pipe the filling in, put your pastry bag into a tall glass and fold the top part of the pastry bag over the outside of the glass, then put the filling in the bag—much easier to fill the bag and also less messy.
Here’s an update for you people kind enough to send suggestions. I made deviled eggs again yesterday, using “older” eggs. Some I cracked a little after cooking, before letting them set in cooler water; others I left intact. I peeled them while they were still a little warm, under running water. They ALL were much easier to peel – I think using older eggs really helped. The eggs I pre-cracked seemed to be the easiest to peel – the shell just slipped off of one of them!
Thanks for the suggestions!
Someone (maybe my great grandmother) told me that the secret to getting the shells off smoothly was to put a little vinegar in the water – just like you would to poach eggs. I haven’t tried it, but I will soon!