Deviled Eggs
I large teaspoonful of French mustard 2 heaping tablespoonfuls of cold boiled ham or tongue 1 tablespoonful of olive oil Salt and cayenne to taste (74) Cover the eggs with warm water, and boil fifteen minutes, then throw them into cold water for half an hour; this prevents the whites from turning dark. Remove the shells, and cut the eggs in halves lengthwise. Take out the yolks carefully without breaking the whites. Rub the yolks to a smooth paste with the mustard and oil, then add the ham or tongue finely chopped, the salt and pepper, and mix thoroughly. Fill the hollowed whites with this mixture, and serve on a bed of water cress or salad.
For picnics or garden parties, put the two corresponding halves together and press them gently. Cut white tissue paper into pieces six inches square, fringe the opposite sides, roll one egg in each paper, twist the fringed ends same as the candied secrets. Serve on a napkin, in a pretty little basket, garnished with smilax or myrtle.
A straightforward stuffed-egg formula from a book built around cold food for warm days. Two things need attention: the boiling time and the missing egg count.
- Fifteen minutes is too longEggs held at a rolling boil for a quarter hour give chalky yolks and a green-grey ring where sulphur meets iron. Bring to a boil, cover, take off the heat and leave 10-12 minutes, then chill. The cold-water plunge the recipe calls for is exactly right and does the same job the author claims.
- How many eggsThe quantity is not stated in the ingredient list as printed. The filling as given — mustard, oil, and two heaping tablespoons of chopped meat — would suit something in the region of half a dozen eggs, but the book gives no number and any figure is an estimate.
- French mustardNot the bright yellow American kind. This means a smooth Dijon-style prepared mustard, vinegar-sharp rather than sweet.
- TongueCold boiled tongue was a normal larder item when this was written and is now a butcher-counter or deli order. Any good cooked ham, finely chopped rather than minced to paste, does the same work.
- Oil, not mayonnaiseA tablespoon of olive oil is the only binder. It gives a firmer, more savoury filling than the mayonnaise most modern versions use — worth trying as written before reaching for the jar.
- Salt and pepperThe list specifies cayenne; the method then says pepper. Use cayenne, sparingly — it is the "devil" in deviled.
- The garnish is decoration onlySmilax and myrtle are florist's greenery, not food. Keep them off the eggs themselves, or use watercress as the recipe's first serving suggestion does.
- The picnic wrappingPressing two halves back together and twisting them in fringed paper is a sound transport trick; parchment or waxed paper holds a twist better than tissue. Keep them cold in transit — filled eggs should not sit out in the heat this book was written for.
"Deviling" appears as an English culinary term by the later eighteenth century, meaning to season something aggressively with mustard, cayenne or pepper and often to brown it; the word was being applied to hard-boiled eggs treated this way by the nineteenth century. Stuffed and seasoned eggs of this kind were staple picnic and garden-party food, and the elaborate finish — fringed tissue papers twisted like party favours, a basket lined with a napkin, trailing smilax — is a reminder that the presentation of cold dishes carried much of the effort that hot dishes got from the stove.