The devil is in the details
BY JENN HARRIS If there aren’t any deviled eggs at a cocktail party, did the party really happen? I have a friend who is adamant that a celebration is not a celebration without a platter of deviled eggs. And she isn’t the only one. Deviled eggs make an ap
Iterations of the dish have come a long way from the 1940s, which mostly consisted of mayonnaise, paprika and mustard. Chef Sam Jung puts pickled mustard seeds and crunchy croutons on the deviled eggs at Church & State in downtown L.A.
There’s gochujang paste and kimchi juice in the eggs at Faith & Flower, another downtown restaurant. And at Barbara Jean in Fairfax, chef Jason Fullilove spikes his deviled eggs with yuzukosho, then tops them with uni.
Just think of the deviled egg as a perfectly composed dish: bite(Alta), sized flavor bombs that offer a study in both texture and balance. The acid component — often from vinegar, mustard or lemon — should pop. The texture, smoothed by an aioli or mayonnaise, should be silky and luxurious. And
the garnish — which can vary from sprigs of dill to crumbled chicharrones, a quenelle of caviar or a sprinkle of Everything Bagel spice — should tie all the flavors together while riffing further on the textures of the dish.
Because any party you throw should be a celebration, particularly one thrown on the last night of the year, here are distinctly different ways to make deviled eggs — with recipes from chefs Thomas Keller, April Bloomfield (the Hearth & Hound) and Jung (Church & State). Online, we also have takes from Daniel Patterson
Govind Armstrong (Post & Beam), Roy Choi (Commissary) and more.
How long you boil your eggs — and whether you use an immersion blender, or good old-fashioned elbow grease to make your own aioli — is up to you. Some eggs call for garlic aioli, others require a little Kewpie mayonnaise. Some require a dash of Tabasco sauce, while others favor a couple splashes of Champagne vinegar. Whatever you decide, just be sure you make enough for everyone.