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Devilled or Stuffed Eggs
Boil 5 or 6 eggs twenty or thirty minutes. When cold remove the shells and cut in halves with a sharp knife. Take out the yolks and mash them smooth with a teaspoonful each of very finely minced onion and parsley, a teaspoonful of lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste, and a little mustard. Fill each half of the egg whites with the mixture, rounding each one to appear like a whole yolk. Cut a small slice from the lower side of the white, just enough to make it stand evenly, arrange on a platter, and put a border of cress around and springs of the cress in the spaces between the eggs. A few drops of onion juice may be substituted for the minced onion, or, if objectionable, omitted altogether, and finely chopped pickle or very finely minced ham may be used with the addition of a few drops of Worcestershire or any other hot sauce.
If they are to be used for a picnic or traveller's lunch, fill only one-half of the egg whites, cover with the other half, and wrap in squares of waxed paper, twisting the ends to hold the egg in shape.
A plain, pre-mayonnaise version of devilled eggs, bound with nothing but lemon juice and seasoning. Only one instruction really needs overturning.
- Ignore the boiling timeTwenty to thirty minutes gives a chalky, greenish-rimmed yolk and a rubbery white. Lower the eggs into simmering water for 10 to 12 minutes, then cool them at once in cold water.
- PeelingEggs a week or two old shell far more cleanly than very fresh ones. Cracking and peeling them under running water helps the membrane release.
- The filling needs fatYolks, lemon juice and seasoning alone mash into a stiff, crumbly paste. A teaspoon or two of softened butter, mayonnaise or cream per six eggs brings it to a pipeable consistency, at some cost to the plainness the recipe intends.
- Mustard"A little mustard" most likely means dry mustard powder, though prepared mustard was also common; about a quarter teaspoon of powder for six eggs is a reasonable reading. Prepared mustard works but adds vinegar and water, so hold back on the lemon juice.
- CressWatercress or garden cress, used here as both garnish and a peppery counterpoint. Small young sprigs, arranged after the eggs are plated so they do not wilt.
- Onion juiceGrate a piece of onion on a fine grater and use the liquid that collects; a few drops carry a surprising amount of flavour. Minced raw onion also gives noticeable crunch. The recipe offers onion juice as a substitute and allows the onion to be left out entirely if objectionable.
- Yield and holdingFive or six eggs gives 10 to 12 halves, enough for four to six as a first course or part of a cold table. Fill them the day you serve them and keep refrigerated; the cut whites weep and toughen after a day.
- The picnic methodReassembling the two halves around the filling and twisting waxed paper around them works, but the eggs still need to travel cold. Treat them as you would any other cooked egg dish out of the refrigerator and eat within a couple of hours in warm weather.