Divine Deviled Eggs

With 44 laying hens at the Funkalow we get creative with eggs, we have to. Deviled eggs aren’t exactly the new craze, but some are above average. Some divine. Fresh eggs are certainly a blessing, until it comes to peeling those just-laid cackleberries. We bring the deviled destined to room temperature for 3 days to make them easier to peel. An egg straight from the hen will stay fresh for weeks.

Coming up on a related note: “The Tea Egg”.

2 dozen large eggs, makes 48 deviled egg halves

Gently place the eggs in a saucepan so they cover the bottom. May need to use two pans or do in two batches. Fill with cold water, just enough to cover. Add a splash of any kind of vinegar. Put on a medium high burner and bring to a boil gently jiggling the pan early on once or twice (this centers the yolks). When they reach a boil turn the burner off, cover the pan and set the timer for 10 minutes. At the end of ten minutes pour off the hot water and fill the pan with cold water, leave the cold water running to expedite chilling the eggs.

Once cool, peel by tapping either end sharply and rolling the egg across a hard surface to crack the shell. Start at the large end and peel under a trickle of cool water.  With a sharp thin blade cut the eggs in half cleaning the blade with a damp paper towel as to keep the yolks from smearing the whites. Arrange the whites or store loosely in a covered container. Plop the yolks into a mixing bowl.
(I like to use a stand mixer to blend the yolks because it does a nice job of whipping and I don’t have to hold anything.)

½ cup mayonnaise

1/3 cup Miracle Whip (yes!)

2 Tablespoons whole grain mustard

1 teaspoon of Tabasco or other pepper sauce

1 teaspoon of Worcestershire

¼ cup either sweet pickle relish or dill pickle relish or a racy combination thereof

½ teaspoon turmeric

Salt and pepper

Beat these ingredients until light and fluffy. It’s so fun and spiffy to pipe this into the eggs with a pastry bag (get the disposable kind, you will thank me) but you can spoon. Heap it high as this stuffing fluffs up.

GARNISH

What you have now is delish. But let’s dress it up.

My favs:

Minced chives

Minced chive blossoms

A leaf of parsley or cilantro

Caviar

Black Sesame Seeds

Smoked Paprika

A touch of curry

Cornichons

Capers

Parsley

Minced orange bell pepper

A Dab of Grainy Mustard

A paper thin slice of jalapeno, pickled or fresh

Wisp of scallion

Radish wedge

Ahead of Time

Prep eggs

Make yolk filling (bring yolk mix to room temp before filling whites, the filling can be already packed into your pastry bag. Keep a chopstick handy in the event of clogs.)

Later

You can construct yolks and whites, garnish up to ½ hour before serving and keep cool.