Deviled or Stuffed Eggs?

Summertime is typically the time when we see old favorites like 'deviled or stuffed eggs' make their appearance at family picnics and events.  Whether you call them deviled or stuffed depends to a large extent upon what part of the country you are from and if you add a little 'heat' to the mixture that goes back into the hard cooked egg halves.  To learn everything you ever wanted to know about the egg click on the link!  'The Food Lover's Companion' by Sharon and Ron Herbst describes the 'stuffed egg' like this,

"A hard-cooked egg that has been cut in half lengthwise and the yolk removed, mashed and mixed with any of various flavorings, such as minced fresh herbs, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, curry powder, and so on.  Other finely chopped ingredients including chives, toasted nuts, bell peppers, chutney, and so forth, may be added.  Enough mayonnaise or sour cream is blended into the mixture to make it soft and moist.  This mixture is spooned back into the egg-white halves, the top garnished with a sprinkle of paprika.  Adding cayenne pepper or a hot sauce like Tabasco pepper makes it a deviled egg."

Aha!!  So.  Now we know.  Even more enlightening is that in my 1958 cook book 'Thoughts for Buffets', the authors suggest making a large broccoli mold and filling the center of the mold (once successfully unmolded...good luck) with chicken salad.  To decorate surround the mold with 'Deviled eggs'!  Below is a picture I found on www.pinterest.com of devilled eggs made out of jello - perfect!

I make deviled eggs frequently for family and friends for extra special occasions.  I can guarantee you that I would not be making them as a 'garnish' for any reason!  They are a labor of love.  Emphasis on labor.  These are not for the weak of heart.  Just getting hard cooked eggs to peel cleanly and properly is a matter of perfect timing with a good dose of patience thrown in.  I'll tell you one thing that I learned - don't use super fresh eggs.  Really.  Let them sit awhile in your fridge.

Fresh eggs don't want to peel cleanly.  I think they're still trying to be chicks because that egg white does not want to separate from the shell!!   After I had been completely stressed out from some especially 'difficult to peel' eggs I found that my favorite store Stew Leonards' offered the perfect solution!  They have a huge salad bar where perfect hard cooked and sliced eggs are sold by the pound.  I'll visit them next time for sure.  Visit their website at www.StewLeonards.com!  Here's a simple way to hard cook eggs from my reference book 'How to Pick a Peach' by Russ Parsons,

"Cover the eggs with cold water in a small saucepan and set over high heat.  When the water comes to a rolling boil, remove from the heat and let the eggs sit in the water until they are cool enough to handle."

There are many other ways to do this.  My husband prefers a method involving a digital timer (16 minutes) and a lot of fussing.  Not my thing.  Below is the recipe from 1958 if you want to try a very traditional recipe.

Deviled Eggs

4 hard-cooked eggs
3 ounces cream cheese
1 Tbsp. mayonnaise
1 Tbsp. prepared mustard
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vinegar
1 dash cayenne
1/8 tsp. dry mustard

Cut eggs in half, lengthwise.  Remove yolks; put through strainer and add remaining ingredients.  Blend until smooth.  Fill hollow of egg white and decorate with slices of pimento-stuffed olives.*

*Remember to save some of those olives to go with the martinis you're going to need by the time this is all put on the table!  1958...could happen.

The following is a recipe for 'stuffed eggs' from the book 'The Food of a Younger Land' by Mark Kurlansky.  This is a record of recipes gleaned from writers who toured our country documenting how we ate as a country during the 1930's.  This particular recipe is from Port Gibson, Mississippi.  It is very unusual.  You'll see...

Stuffed Eggs

12 eggs
1 lb. can of spinach or equal amount of fresh spinach
1 small onion, cut fine
salt and pepper to taste
juice of 1 lemon or 1/2 cup vinegar
1/2 cup melted butter or oil
1 large can mushroom soup

Boil eggs hard, peel, and cut lengthwise.  Mash yolks fine.  Add butter, seasoning, and spinach.  Stuff each half egg, press together, and pour over them mushroom soup thickened with cornstarch, and chopped pimento for color.

I don't think I've ever seen deviled or stuffed eggs prepared this way.  Are you supposed to bake it?  Hmmm.

M.F.K. Fisher in her 1942 book, "How to Cook a Wolf" discusses the indigestibility of hard cooked eggs.  She writes,

"A biochemist once told me that every minute an egg is cooked makes it take three hours longer to digest.  The thought of a stomach pumping and grinding and laboring for some nine hours over an average three-minute egg is a wearisome one, if true, and makes memories of picnics and their accommpanying deviled eggs seem actively haunting."

Isn't that a pleasant thought? 

To end today I wanted to provide a recipe for deviled eggs from a silly cook book I have called, "Aunt Bee's Mayberry Cookbook".  Andy Griffith died today and it reminded me that I had this collection of recipes from that time period and southern location.  Enjoy.

Sly Devil Eggs

6 hard boiled eggs
1/4 cup melted butter
1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp. dry mustard
1 - 2 and 1/2 oz. can deviled ham
3 scallions, minced
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
salt and pepper to taste
Grated cheese
English muffins, toasted

Butter a 9-inch casserole dish.  Cut the eggs in half and remove the yolks.  Mix the yolks with the melted butter, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, ham, and scallions.  Blend until smooth.  Stuff the mixture into the egg whites.  Arrange the egg halves in the prepared dish.

Melt the remaining butter in a saucepan.  Stir in the flour to form a paste and cook for 1 to 2 minutes.  Blend in the milk and season to taste.  Heat until thickened.  Pour the sauce over the eggs and sprinkle with grated cheese.  Bake in a 350 oven for 20-25 minutes.  Serve over toasted English muffins.  Serves 6.


Look what I found on You-Tube!  It's Andy Griffith doing a short USDA propoganda type short on the price of food!!  Priceless.