Deviled eggs are a perfect appetizer. They’re beloved by many, with a nostalgic throwback appeal that’s just as at home at a potluck or holiday party as it is on restaurant menus. Deviled eggs are perfectly poppable, taking a max of two bites to eat, and they’re an ideal mix of tangy and savory, with creamy filling and a tender hard-cooked egg white.
They’re also one of those foods that you’ve eaten—and perhaps made—enough times to know that there are good deviled eggs, and there are great deviled eggs. To figure out what makes a standout deviled egg, I spoke to a panel of four chefs.
The Deviled Egg-Sperts
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Suzanne Tracht: Chef and owner of Jar in Los Angeles, California
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Lisa Steele: Fifth-generation chicken keeper and cookbook author of In Season
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Joseph Goldman: Private chef, cookbook author, and restaurant consultant based in Tennessee
Don’t Overcook the Eggs
All four chefs agree on one crucial component to a great deviled egg: The egg can’t be overcooked.
“Deviled eggs are really a texture game,” says Goldman. “You can make the fanciest filling in the world, but if you start with a dry, chalky yolk, you’re already trying to fix something that didn’t need to be broken in the first place.”
Overcooking doesn’t just affect the yolk texture. Steele says, “When you overcook the eggs, the whites can get really rubbery, and you often end up with that unsightly gray/green ring around the yolk that results from a chemical reaction within the egg.” She notes that the chemical reaction is between hydrogen sulfide in the egg white and iron (ferrous) sulfide in the yolk; when eggs are cooked too long, the discoloration occurs.
While you certainly don’t want to overcook your eggs, Tracht and Tobin are both clear that you don’t want to undercook them either, advising you to avoid a soft-cooked egg with a runny yolk or jammy egg, better saved for topping salads. Essentially, you’ve got to start with the perfect hard-cooked egg. “The goal is a tender white, not chewy or with too much bite, and a cooked, but not overcooked, yolk,” says Tobin.
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How To Make Perfect Hard-Cooked Eggs
While the chefs all agree that eggs should not be overcooked, their recommendations on how to make perfectly cooked eggs diverge. Steele put perfectly hard-boiled eggs as done around the 12-minute mark, while Tobin expects them to be done closer to nine minutes.
The timing can change depending on the size of your eggs and how many you’re making at once. We recommend steaming them for 17 minutes for 12 large eggs, or 15 minutes for 6 large eggs (or less time for smaller eggs).
Further, the chefs disagree on the importance (or lack thereof) of egg freshness. Tracht says, “Never use newly bought fresh eggs because they are harder to peel.” Goldman agrees that freshness was less important, adding, “For deviled eggs, a clean peel and properly cooked yolk matter a whole lot more to me than whether the eggs came home from the store that morning.”
Steele didn’t disagree that fresh eggs are harder to peel, but she prefers them to avoid the “unsightly dip” in one end that you tend to get with older eggs as air enters through the pores of the eggshell. “To combat the problem of fresh eggs not peeling well, I recommend using the freshest eggs possible and steaming them instead of boiling them, then cooling them in an ice bath. Once the eggs are cooled, they will peel easily.”
Chef Tips for How To Make Exceptional Deviled Egg Filling
To get the best texture of your yolks when actually assembling your deviled eggs, Tracht says, “We put our yolks through a ricer, which gives them the best outcome. With the right doneness, the yolks will be creamy. Then you can gently fold in aioli until incorporated.” Tobin has a similar trick, and she grates her yolks on the large holes of a cheese grater so the yolks “break up better.”
Finally, consider the yolk-mayo ratio. “No one wants to eat straight mayo,” per Tobin. Her ideal ratio is about 50/50 yolk to mayonnaise so that there’s “enough yolk to hold up with mayo and enough mayo to make the yolk creamy.” Goldman advises gradually mixing in your mayo. “Pay attention to the texture. You can always loosen a filling, but once you make it runny, there’s no easy way back.”
If you like a super-full-looking deviled egg, Steele notes that she sometimes will cook a couple extra eggs to add more yolk to the filling. “That also gives you a few extra egg white halves, so you can choose the best-looking ones to use.”
Read the original article on Simply Recipes