My mom’s deviled eggs are famous in our family, but in all honesty it’s a classic deviled egg recipe that uses hot dog relish. The recipe is not revolutionary, but she taught me a few tips and tricks that get the texture of her deviled eggs to come out perfect every time. I combined my mom’s advice with the directions from KenjiLópez-Alt ofSerious Eats for cooking perfect hard-boiled eggs. The prefect hard boiled egg will help with getting a nice texture and color on the yolks and will hopefully help make peeling your deviled eggs simple.
How many deviled eggs per person?
If my Uncle Steve is coming there can never be enough! The number of my mom’s deviled eggs you will need per person will depend on what else you are serving. If mom’s deviled eggs are the star of the buffet at an Easter party figure at least 2+ eggs (4+ halves) per person. If the eggs are going to be one of many rich and tasty appetizers or sides then more like 1 egg per person will work. My uncle on the other hand gets a whole tray for himself.
Tips for hard boiling and peeling deviled eggs
Older eggs often peal easier so use up the ones you already have instead of going out to buy new. According to Kenji López-Alt a few other things are important. Make sure the eggs are kept cold right up to the moment you dunk them in the large pot of boiling water. And when done shock them by dumping them into a bowl of ice water. This stops the eggs from over cooking and helps to make them simpler to peel. I also believe that putting the cooked un-peeled eggs in the fridge overnight helps with peeling.
Mom’s special techniques for perfect deviled eggs
Once you peel and slice you eggs in half. Put all the yolks on to a plate or flat bowl, then use the back of a dinner fork to crumble them up. Do not whip or stir, you have to mash/crumble. Mix the mayo and hot dog relish into the yolks using the same fork method. Also don’t try to pipe this filling into the eggs, it’s too dry and the relish makes it chunky and you will end up very frustrated. Mom and I both agree that you must taste the filling as you go, measuring is not enough.
What to do with leftover deviled eggs
My husband and I love to make a simple breakfast sandwich with the leftover deviled eggs. We toast wheat bread, slather with butter then cut the slice in half. Then put two deviled eggs on one side, we like one egg half face up one face down. On the other side we put a slice of cheese. Grind some fresh salt and pepper over the eggs and enjoy. Of course, you can always just make egg salad, but that’s pretty boring.
Eggcellent
Whenever I make deviled eggs I think of my mother and I making them for a dear friend’s birthday party about ten or more years ago. We made dozens and dozens and dozens of eggs, peeling until our fingers were raw. We bought every party supply in town out of those cute little plastic deviled egg trays and when we drove, very carefully, to the party the entire back of my mother’s SUV was stacked full of egg trays. The caterer at the party swooped in and got all the trays out of the car thinking we were crazy for making so many eggs. Well we were spot on; the staff could not bring trays of eggs out fast enough everyone at the party was gorging on these simple deviled eggs. The birthday “girl” was so thrilled with her gift of eggs, I will never forget it. This is one of those food memories that I will always treasure as Diane is no longer with us. Bringing joy to friends and family is why I cook, and this will always be a favorite memory.
