Deviled Eggs are the Devil
So, I will say deviled eggs are one thing I did not expect to be making at the restaurant. I haven’t had a deviled egg since 1990. Perhaps I was wearing shoulder pads when I ate it.
Deviled eggs just appeared on our new menu acting as a focal point for our wedge salad that I must say looks quite sexy for a wedge salad. A bold move that has gone over quite well so far.
How difficult could a hard boiled egg be? Fifteen soft boiled eggs later, I decided that hard boiled eggs are not my friend. And as it turns out, yelling and cursing at the eggs does nothing to aide in the cooking process. In my efforts to make the perfect hard boiled egg, and for fear of overcooking them, I wasted a carton and a half of eggs and felt like a culinary disaster who should not have changed careers.
Perhaps I should have consulted How To Hard Boil an Egg for specific instructions. I should have laid the eggs on their sides the night before to “center” the yolks for the perfect deviled egg. And maybe I should have read them a bedtime story so they would have had a good night’s sleep before the big day. I bet they love Good Night Moon.
What seems like the most simple of culinary tasks can make prep feel like a disaster. Screwing up deviled eggs can also make you feel like everyone in the kitchen is staring at you. But have no fear, I will conquer the deviled egg. I was taught never to put all my money in one basket. Now I know not to put all my uncentered eggs in one pot of boiling water either.
So, spill it ES-ers — what kind of hard-boiling secrets do you all have?
I place cold eggs in cold water. Bring to a boil then turn off the heat. Leave covered and let them sit for 10 minutes. Then run them under cold water until they have cooled down. Perfect every time!
I follow the gospel according to Alton Brown: http://www.foodnetwork.com/videos/hard-cooked-heaven/44247.html [video]
Works every time, perfectly hard-cooked with no icky greenish edges. Amen.
Or Altons original non-steaming method: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsgx6NeHlWk (Start at the 9:00 min mark)
I concur with Maggie and Edward – Alton Brown has never done me wrong. I awe others with my hardboiled egg mad skilz. 🙂
get the eggs from a bantam chicken. boil them. peel them. oh my! they peel so freakin’ easy! only drawback is there is less egg to peel, however, this does not diminish my adoration for the lil’ bamtams.