Deviled Eggs | Hard Boiled Eggs Facts & Techniques
When life gives you hard boiled eggs, we say, let’s make Deviled Eggs. Holidays like Easter, often, we are left with a bunch of leftover eggs we aren’t always sure what to do with before they perish.
What would be better than making a batch of deviled eggs?
Be sure to make extras because we all know there is never enough 🙂
Let’s answer the main question of the day.
Why are they called deviled eggs?
Sounds kinda odd, doesn’t it? Rest a sure it has nothing to do with the devil, yet they are called deviled eggs in part due to the ingredients used to season them.
Etymology of the Term “Deviled” Eggs
The term “deviled”, in reference to food, was in use in the 18th century, with the first known print reference appearing in 1786. In the 19th century, it came to be used most often with spicy or zesty food, including eggs prepared with mustard, pepper or other ingredients stuffed in the yolk cavity.
In parts of the Southern and Midwestern United States, the terms “stuffed eggs”, “salad eggs”, and “dressed eggs.” The term “angel eggs” has also been used in association with deviled eggs stuffed with “healthier” (less fat and cholesterol) alternatives
What makes a great Deviled Egg?
The honest answer is passion and cooking with love. These words could not be truer 🙂 Yet, the cooking of the egg is the “Key” to great deviled eggs.
Believe it or not, in culinary school, this was a contested answer of” how to perfectly boil an egg”. I’ll explain some of the things to consider when your goal is perfection.
Here are my Finds & Facts on Hard Boiled Eggs
- Always start with cold water – If you add the eggs to hot water, the exterior of the eggs will be overcooked and rubbery
- Cooking time changes by one minute for every 500ft feet above sea level. The reason is this raises the boiling point of water by one degree. Meaning the temperature of boiling water increases by one degree as your elevation moves 500ft higher. At sea level -to- 500ft, water boils at 212 degrees. Yet, if you are at 1000ft above sea level the temperature of boiling water increases to 213 degrees. This means you must adjust your cooking time per 500ft. This could be why you’ve heard so many different cooking times to boil an egg.
How to adjust for elevation. At sea level the perfect boiled egg takes 12 minutes from the time the water reaches a boil. Each step above 500ft above sea level adds one minute of cooking time.
- Do not overfill the pot with eggs. If you add a bunch of eggs that are cold this will increase the cook time due to the fact the water will take longer to come to a boil due to the cold eggs. If you must add a bunch of eggs at once, make sure the eggs are room temperature.
- When in doubt, cook the eggs for less time versus longer. Overcooked eggs are gross.
- How can you tell if the boiled egg is overcooked? Overcooked boil eggs will have a green hue around the outside of the egg. The eggs will also have a harder texture and become grainy.
Do You Know Just How Good Eggs Are For You?
Check Out The Amazing Truths About Eggs
Click Photo Below
How to Hard Boil the Perfect Egg
Steps
- Add eggs to pot, do not stack eggs on top of each other, at a maximum cover the bottom of the pot with eggs.
- Add “Only” cold water to cover the eggs. Add enough water that the tops of the eggs are well below the waterline.
- Heat the water on high heat. The faster you can get the water to boil the better. If you heat the water slowly the eggs are going to be overcooked.
- Once the water reaches a rapid boil turn off the heat and remove from the heat. Cover with a lid or plate and start your timer. At sea level, set the timer for 12 minutes exactly.
- Once the timer goes off remove the eggs immediately and place them into an ice bath to stop the cooking process.
- The ice water will make peeling the hard boil egg a little easier.
I have a new ingredient for you to add to your deviled eggs recipe
Avocado
Adding avocado to the creamy egg yolks creates an amazing texture.
Avocado adds such a smooth texture you could even reduce the number of eggs you use.
We all know Avocadoes are good for us. Did you know they are a Super Food now?
Here’s an article I wrote on Avocadoes. A really good read.
The Power of Avocados
click photo
Add To Your Yummly Recipes
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 24
- 12 Boiled Eggs (Halved)
- ⅓ cup Mayonnaise
- 1 tsp Dijon Mustard
- ¼ cup Shallots (Chopped) or two medium shallot
- 3 Gherkins Pickles, (Finely Chopped) sweet pickles work really well
- 1-to-2 tsp Fresh Chives (sliced thin - save some for garnish)
- Optional (Angeled Ingredient) - Half of one Avocado
- Optional (Deviled Ingredient) - 2 Slices Bacon (Cooked and Chopped)
- Garnish ( ½ tsp Paprika )
- ½ tsp of Sea Salt
- ¼ tsp of Pepper (Black or White)
- Place the eggs in a large pot and cover completely with cold water. Bring to a boil and then cover and remove from the heat. Let the eggs sit in the hot water for 11 minutes, then drain and cool in an ice bath.
- Peel Eggs and cut lengthwise and remove the yolks and place into mixing bowl.
- Add, mayonnaise, mustard, shallots, pickles, chives(part-save some for garnish, avocado, bacon, salt and pepper. Mix ingredients.
- You could use a piping bag, I like using ziplock plastic bags. Or you could use a spoon to fill.
- Be generous, fill over the top of the egg side.
- Garnish with Paprika and chives.
Chef Steven Pennington
Content Creator
Le Cordon Bleu Chef sharing food adventures from around the world with a style of cooking rooted in southwestern flavors using French culinary technique.
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