4 Levels of Deviled Eggs: Amateur to Food Scientist

[egg cracking] [whisk banging]

[sugar rustling] [filling squelching]

[lively music]

I'm Desi, level one chef.

I'm Emily and I'm a level two chef.

I'm Chef Joshua, I'm a lead chef

at the Institute of Culinary Education

and I've been a professional chef for over 10 years.

[lively music]

Today we're making deviled legs.

We're gonna make it smooth, a little kick,

add a little bacon.

We gonna call it the vibe eggs, actually.

My deviled eggs are like tangy and creamy and delicious.

I'm doing a harissa filling, spicy serrano chips,

and a cayenne cured egg yolk, emphasis on the devil.

[text whooshes]

[metal rings]

[upbeat music]

Let's get it started.

Eggs are the star of the show,

so I'm gonna be using Egg-Land's Best eggs

because of their great taste.

[Desi] Well, we all know the devil likes heat,

so we can't make deviled eggs without hot water.

I like to steam my eggs

because the eggs are gonna cook more evenly all around

and I don't have to worry about how long it's gonna take

for the water to come up to a full boil.

[Emily] I'm going to cover them with cold water.

Really, I want about an inch of water over top of the eggs.

We're gonna wait about 15 to 20 minutes.

Oh. That is a very cooked egg,

but you know that's super food safe of him.

For those who might think it's long ass time,

that's the perfect time, 15 to 20 minutes.

My eggs are boiling.

I'm going to cover it up, turn it off the heat

and let it sit for 11 minutes.

Alright, it's been about 17 and a half minutes.

12 minutes are done, doesn't look very different,

but I know that these guys

are perfectly cooked on the inside.

When I've got my egg cooked

as perfectly as these ones are,

and I want them to stay that way.

we shock in the ice water, so that way,

they stop cooking as soon as possible.

I am shocked to hear [laughs] that we're all shocking.

Yeah, I think we had a egg hatch.

It was just one. Don't mind that, we good.

I let my eggs hang out in this little bowl of ice.

I'm gonna get right to the peeling.

The way I like to do it is to tap it on the bottom.

[egg taps]

[Joshua] Give them a nice light roll,

then I'm gonna peel them.

Like removing nail polish.

I'm playing the scratch off, right now.

You might win, you might lose.

That's why some eggs come out good and some don't.

Yeah, the most important thing

is keeping the eggs beautiful.

Yolk is amazing, but don't mind the busted lip.

Don't let this discourage you.

Keep on cooking, don't mind that.

So now I'm cutting my deviled eggs horizontally.

Little off the top so we get an easy scoop of the yolk.

[Emily] I would recommend going head to tail

as opposed to across the waist.

I like to go with 11 minutes,

so you still get some of that like really nice yellow color

so it's not super hard boiled, Desi.

[Desi] Beautiful yolk.

Just the tiniest little bit of the egg yolk

not being set in the center, is perfect,

which is gonna make it nice and creamy.

No discoloration on the outside, which means

that the egg is gonna taste nice and clean.

I've got a few extra eggs,

so let's have a little bit of fun with it.

I'm gonna make some salt and sugar

and cayenne cured egg yolks

that I can shave over top of my eggs afterwards,

to really put the devil into deviled eggs,

I just wanna make sure

that everything is evenly incorporated

so that way they pick up a nice little bit of spice

from the cayenne.

I want to create a nice base for the egg yolks

and I'm just gonna make six divots.

I'm gonna crack all my eggs into the bowl

and then I'm gonna separate them from there.

Place it right into my cure.

I'm gonna cover them up with some more of the cure,

and I'm gonna let them sit for five to seven days

in the fridge, until they're nice and firm.

See you in a week.

[transition whooshes]

One week later, time to take the egg yolks outta cure.

Rinse them in some cold water.

All that cayenne is infusing its color into it.

That's also obviously flavor.

Last thing I need to do is I'm gonna dry these off.

Look how these are still kind of sticky.

I want them to be nice and dry.

Now I'm gonna pop them into a low oven

set to about 150 degrees for about 30 to 60 minutes

so I can grate them on my deviled eggs.

Egg yolks are all set now.

They're not sticky anymore to the touch.

They almost have a slight little jelly feel

to them on the inside.

They're gonna be nice and sweet from the sugar.

They're gonna be salty from the cure,

but most importantly, they're gonna be spicy.

So now it's time for me to prepare my filling.

So I'm going to separate my egg yolks from my egg whites

and put the yolks into my food processor.

Take your time scooping.

This is the part of the deviled egg that everyone knows.

That way it's easier to mix with the cream.

That egg yolk texture could be a little soft, little hard.

[Emily] I'm gonna let these sit in the fridge

for a while while I finish my filling.

I got everything I need to make my filling.

Dunk my egg yolks in the bowl first.

Me, I don't go for measuring, I go for vibes.

Right now, we gonna vibe out to some mayo first.

[Emily] Mayo, it's about two tablespoons.

Instead of mayo, I'm gonna make my own aioli.

I don't barely make my own bed,

so I know I'm not gonna make my own Creole,

whatever that is, no.

A lot of people think that aioli and mayonnaise

are the same thing and they're not,

because mayonnaise does not have garlic.

I'm gonna start by microplaning some garlic into a bowl

and then I'm gonna add into it some egg yolks.

Add little relish.

Relish gives it a little kick.

Spicy mustard for ah.

Dijon. Need a little ah for this.

See what I'm saying?

Little onion powder, Creole seasoning.

Got Tony, got a little Tony, we cooking from the south.

[Emily] Tabasco.

Hot sauce adds a little heat, a little tang,

and just a little bit of depth to the flavor.

And then Worcestershire, just a squeeze of lemon juice.

Lemon juice to provide a nice bright flavor

and to help cut through all the richness of the oil.

Dijon mustard, it like to bind with liquid and fat,

which is gonna help emulsify our mayo,

so that way it all holds together.

[Emily] And I'll just add a little bit-

Salt. Pepper.

This piece too.

Now I'm gonna start whisking together my sauce.

Now I'm gonna slowly stream in my canola oil.

I'm working with a neutral oil here

'cause I don't want it to overpower

the rest of the flavors in the aioli.

The sauce has a good consistency to it.

Nice and spreadable.

Hmm, delicious.

I'm going for a bright yellow filling,

so I'm gonna give this a quick pulse at this phase.

I'm gonna use my food processor

to combine all the ingredients that I have.

Egg yolks from my hard-boiled eggs, aioli.

I'm gonna add in some spice with the cayenne.

The paprika is gonna bring out the smoke

from the fire roasted peppers, salt,

a nice smoky note from the harissa

and the brown mustard is gonna give it

a little bit of extra kick.

I'm looking for the yolks to be mostly broken up

and the mayo to be incorporated.

The reason I'm using the fork,

'cause it gotta crush on the yolk as you whip.

Crush, smoosh.

But I wanna scrape down the sides.

I'm also gonna add in just a little bit of cold water

so that way the sauce doesn't get too hot and break.

I'm going to add a teaspoon of capers.

Capers are super salty and briny. They're delicious.

I'm just going for a rough chop on my pickles,

similarly with my dill.

And then I wanna break these guys up,

but not much more than that.

I don't want things so mixed in that my mixture turns green.

I just want everything to be well incorporated

and broken down a little.

I would say that this is exactly

the texture I was going for.

It's nice and fluffy, but also creamy.

Mm, look at that.

The vibe is right.

Little spice and little mild, it's like half and half.

Now I'm seeing that I've got a nice smooth consistency

and it looks like everything is properly combined.

Oh, that flavor is spot on. Ooh.

This looks good and ready.

I'm going to load it into my Ziploc bag

to pipe it into my eggs.

I like using a plastic bag

because this makes it look a lot prettier

when I'm piping my filling into my deviled eggs.

This is similar to the Ziploc method,

except I can use a metal piping tip

so I can get a nice design into my egg

and I have a little bit more control.

This look good to go.

Now all we gotta do is fry up some bacon.

As y'all can see, I got my best friend with me.

Time to air fry some bacon. Let's get it.

Line this up nice, give it a little space.

Put it on 400, leave it there

for about seven, eight minutes. Come back.

Bacon is delicious, but you know what else

goes great with an egg, is any other kind of pork.

So I have these delicious fried pork skins, chicharrones.

To up the spice one more level,

I'm gonna use crispy Serrano pepper chips

as the garnish on my egg.

[air fryer clangs]

Mm, as always, nice and crispy.

Eggs and bacon go together, they're perfect,

just like peanut butter and jelly

and Beyonce and Jay,

but you can't have one without the other.

The chiccharrone, you can just buy it as is

and it's always perfect.

Crunchy, it's light and it brings that nice pork flavor

that pairs so well with the egg.

I'm just gonna crumble them basically,

and I'm gonna put them on top of my deviled eggs

as a little garnish.

I'm making chips, so I want to go for as thin as I can.

I'm gonna dredge them in some flour.

This is gonna help provide a nice coating

on the outside of my pepper,

which is gonna make it nice and crispy.

Now I'm gonna toss everything

so everything gets evenly coated with the flour

and give it a nice crunchy exterior

and it's gonna help it brown up nicely.

Here are my chiccharrone crumbles ready to be a garnish.

And now they're gonna go into the oil

to fry up and get beautiful crispy brown.

My peppers are just starting

to get a little brown on the edges.

This is actually probably the first time

that a serrano pepper has ever

been put on a deviled egg before,

and that just makes me a genius, I guess.

Peppers are nice and golden brown, but not too dark.

Now I'm gonna get 'em onto my tray

and season 'em up with some salt.

Time to eggsecute the filling of these eggs. [laughs]

I'm just yolking around.

Hey, come here.

I'm gonna let you guys in on a little secret.

If your eggs wobble, you can just go ahead

and trim off a little bit from the bottom over here,

and that way they sit flat and they won't move around.

And now look, see,

it stays stable, so when you walk with them,

they don't roll everywhere.

Don't tell them I told you.

I like to use a spoon

because it's easier to fill a hole in

versus a Ziploc or a fork or your hands.

We're gonna make sure it fits a little, little shot glass.

We're gonna call these shot glasses.

[Emily] See, Ziploc bag, you can do a lot with.

I leveled up.

[Joshua] I'm gonna start in the middle

and pipe in a circle

and finish with a little star in the middle.

[Desi] Look at all these shot glasses.

Now let's make them even more fancy.

[Desi] Paprika on it. Perfect way to end it.

It's like putting candles on a birthday cake.

I'm gonna microplane over some

of my cayenne cured egg yolks.

It grates just like a nice firm cheese

and just gives you something

a little different on your eggs, you know.

Play with your food, guys. That's how it should be.

Now with the bacon, break it up, a little sprinkle.

[Emily] Some dill sprigs. [chuckles]

Some serrano pepper chips.

And then I'm gonna finish it off with a piece of chive.

The onion flavor of the chive is gonna actually

help bring out some of that garlic flavor

that's in the aioli that we made,

but it's also gonna provide a nice, bright,

fresh herb note to help cut through all the spice.

[Desi] I wanted to eat them when I was making them.

I'm ready to eat them right now.

[Joshua] Egg looks exactly how I wanted it to look.

They have a nice, beautiful striking color.

And there you have it, Desi's wonderful deviled eggs.

[text thumps]

Here are my beautiful, stunning,

absolutely delicious looking deviled eggs.

[text thumps]

And these are my deviled eggs.

[text thumps]

Bon appetit.

I cooked the Egg-Land's Best eggs exactly how I wanted.

The whites are nice and soft,

cooked through, but not rubbery.

The filling is so bright and yellow and creamy

and I can't wait to dig in.

Mm.

Mm.

Mm-hmm. That's it.

There is spice, as there should be

if I'm gonna call this a deviled egg.

The relish, the mustard, and the bacon,

the pepper, taste the yolk.

The chiccharrone adds such a great crunch.

A way, but it tastes amazing.

We get this to go.

It tastes good though. Thank you.

I'd make these for every dinner party

for the rest of time.

That is so spot on for what I'm looking for. Yes, yes.

[text thumps]

Deviled eggs are a great starter snacker meal.

Let's see how each of our three chefs made theirs.

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Eggs are the highlight of this dish.

It's best to use older eggs.

The shell is partially porous,

allowing air to slowly pass through.

Older eggs, a few days or more after harvest,

allow for enough of an air exchange

that the inner and outer shell membranes separate,

creating an air cell at the wider end of the egg,

making peeling smooth and easy.

Hard-boiled means that the egg white

and yolk are completely solid.

Egg whites become solid between 145 and 150 degrees

and yolks at 158 degrees.

Prolonged heating can cause a greenish ring

to form around the yolk.

It's a reaction between iron and the yolk.

With hydrogen sulfide in the white

producing the greenish ferrous sulfide.

It might taste a little like iron or sulfur too.

Emily started her eggs in cold water

and increased the water temperature to boiling.

This gradually heats the eggs so it's gentler.

The white and the yolk cook by conduction.

That means that the heat energy

is directly transferred from one molecule to another,

so the white cooks and then heats the yolk.

Joshua steamed his eggs.

This is the most gentle method of cooking

because you completely avoid the turbulence

of boiling water, which can cause cracking.

Joshua elevated his level three deviled eggs

by salt curing yolks.

Salt has a direct impact on the coagulation of eggs.

It dissolves into positive and negatively charged ions

that interact with charged parts of yolk proteins

to neutralize them and allow them to bond with each other,

but in a less constricted way.

This makes the yolks firm, but still tender,

so that he could grate them as a garnish.

[drums thump]

[metal clangs]

[gentle music]

Desi includes classic ingredients like mayonnaise,

an egg and oil-based dressing,

along with mustard and acidic tangy pickle relish

to balance the richness in the egg yolk.

Emily also kept it traditional

with a few components like capers that added brininess,

a contrast with the creamy egg yolk.

Josh made aioli, a garlicky emulsion of oil and egg yolks

and spiced it up with harissa, a hot pepper paste.

Adding a little spice works.

They are devilish eggs, after all.

If you're making hard boiled eggs

and feeling a little devilish and super heavenly,

we hope you'll take some of these tips

from our three wonderful chefs.