deviled eggs

I never liked deviled eggs until one of my friends brought them to a party, still warm. They weren't rubbery at all, and they tasted great. I asked him his secret--it was something to do with the cooking--at then promptly forgot it.

Recently, though, B pulled out New Best Recipe to make himself some hardboiled eggs. And there was the same secret cooking method--bringing them just to a boil, turning off the heat, and allowing them to sit for ten minutes before putting them in cold water to stop the cooking.


B's eggs turned out so well that I decided to devil them, again using NBR. They were delicious, and we ate the entire batch by the end of the night.

deviled eggs (New Best Recipe, Editors of Cook's Illustrated)

7 large eggs
.75 tsp whole-grain mustard
3 TB mayonnaise
1.5 tsp cider vinegar (or vinegar of your choice)
.25 tsp Worcestershire sauce
salt and ground black pepper

1. Place eggs in medium saucepan, cover with one inch of water, and bring to a boil over high heat. Remove the pan from heat, cover, and let stand 10 minutes. Fill a medium bowl with 1 qt cold water and 1 tray ice cubes. Transfer eggs to ice water with a slotted spoon; let sit 5 minutes.
2. Peel the eggs and slice each in half lengthwise with a paring knife. Remove the yolks to a small bowl. Arrange the whites on a serving platter, discarding the two worst-looking halves. Mash the yolks with a fork until no large lumps remain. Add the mustard, mayo, vinegar, Worcestershire, and salt and pepper to taste; mix with a rubber spatula, mashing against the side of a bowl until smooth.

3. Fit a pastry bag with a large open-star tip. Fill the bag with the yolk mixture, twisting the top of the pastry bag to help push the mixture toward the tip of the bag. Pipe the yolk mixture into the egg white halves, mounding the filling about .5 inch above the flat surface of the whites. [I didn't mash mine smoothly enough and my star tip was a little on the small side, so I got tired of unclogging it and just spooned in the filling.] Serve immediately.