We challenged chefs of three different skill levels - amateur Desi, home cook Emily, and professional chef Joshua Resnick from the Institute of Culinary Education - to make us their take on deviled eggs. Once each level of chef had presented their creations, we asked expert food scientist Rose to explain the choices each made along the way. Which deviled eggs would you swipe from the appetizer tray first?
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00 (egg cracking)
00:02 (upbeat music)
00:05 - I'm Desi, level one chef.
00:07 - I'm Emily, and I'm a level two chef.
00:08 - I'm Chef Joshua.
00:09 I'm a lead chef at the Institute of Culinary Education,
00:12 and I've been a professional chef for over 10 years.
00:14 (upbeat music)
00:17 - Today we're making deviled eggs.
00:18 We're gonna make it smooth, low kick, add a little bacon.
00:21 We're gonna call it the vibe eggs, actually.
00:23 - My deviled eggs are like tangy and creamy and delicious.
00:26 - I'm doing a harissa filling.
00:28 Spicy serrano chips and a cayenne cured egg yolk.
00:31 Emphasis on the devil.
00:33 (whooshing)
00:34 (chimes)
00:36 - Let's get it started.
00:40 - Eggs are the star of the show.
00:42 So I'm gonna be using Eggland's Best eggs
00:44 because of their great taste.
00:45 - Well, we all know the devil likes heat,
00:47 so we can't make deviled eggs without hot water.
00:49 - I like to steam my eggs
00:51 because the eggs are gonna cook more evenly all around,
00:54 and I don't have to worry about how long it's gonna take
00:56 for the water to come to a full boil.
00:58 I'm going to cover them with cold water.
00:59 Really, I want about an inch of water over top of the eggs.
01:02 - We're gonna wait about 15 to 20 minutes.
01:05 - That is a very cooked egg,
01:07 but you know that's super food safe of him.
01:09 - For those who might think it's long ass time,
01:11 that's the perfect time, 15 to 20 minutes.
01:13 - My eggs are boiling.
01:14 I'm going to cover it up, turn it off the heat,
01:17 and let it sit for 11 minutes.
01:18 - All right, it's been about 17 and a half minutes.
01:21 - 12 minutes are done.
01:22 Doesn't look very different,
01:24 but I know that these guys are perfectly cooked
01:25 on the inside.
01:26 When I've got my egg cooked as perfectly as these ones are,
01:30 and I want them to stay that way,
01:31 we shock in the ice water
01:33 so that way they stop cooking as soon as possible.
01:35 - I am shocked to hear that we're all shocking.
01:39 - I think we had a egg hatch.
01:41 It was just one.
01:42 Don't mind that, we good.
01:43 Let my eggs hang out in this little bowl of ice.
01:45 I'm gonna get right to the peeling.
01:47 - The way I like to do it is to tap it on the bottom.
01:49 - Give them a nice light roll.
01:51 Then I'm gonna peel them.
01:52 - It's like removing nail polish.
01:54 I'm playing the scratch off right now.
01:55 You might win, you might lose.
01:56 That's why some eggs come out good and some don't.
01:58 - Yeah, the most important thing
01:59 is keeping the eggs beautiful.
02:01 - The yolk is amazing, but don't mind the busted lip.
02:03 Don't let this discourage you.
02:05 Keep on cooking, don't mind that.
02:06 So now I'm cutting my deviled eggs horizontally,
02:08 a little off the top
02:09 so that we get an easy scoop of the yolk.
02:11 - I would recommend going head to tail
02:13 as opposed to across the waist.
02:15 I like to go with 11 minutes
02:16 so you still get some of that really nice yellow color
02:19 so it's not super hard boiled, Desi.
02:21 - Beautiful yolk.
02:22 - Just the tiniest little bit of the egg yolk
02:25 not being set in the center is perfect.
02:27 We're just gonna make it nice and creamy.
02:28 No discoloration on the outside,
02:30 which means that the egg is gonna taste nice and clean.
02:32 I've got a few extra eggs,
02:33 so let's have a little bit of fun with it.
02:35 I'm gonna make some salt and sugar and cayenne cured egg yolks
02:38 that I can shave over top of my eggs afterwards
02:40 to really put the devil into deviled eggs.
02:42 I just wanna make sure that everything
02:43 is evenly incorporated so that way
02:45 they pick up a nice little bit of spice from the cayenne.
02:47 I wanna create a nice base for the egg yolks
02:49 and I'm just gonna make six divots.
02:51 I'm gonna crack all my eggs into the bowl
02:53 and then I'm gonna separate them from there.
02:55 Place it right into my cure.
02:56 I'm gonna cover them up with some more of the cure
02:59 and I'm gonna let them sit for five to seven days
03:00 in the fridge until they're nice and firm.
03:02 See you in a week.
03:04 One week later, time to take the egg yolks out of cure.
03:06 Rinse them in some cold water.
03:07 All that cayenne is infusing its color into it.
03:11 That's also obviously flavor.
03:12 Last thing I need to do is I'm gonna dry these off.
03:15 Look how these are still kinda sticky.
03:17 I want them to be nice and dry.
03:19 Now I'm gonna pop them into a low oven
03:21 set to about 150 degrees for about 30 to 60 minutes
03:24 so I can grate 'em on my deviled eggs.
03:26 Egg yolks are all set now.
03:28 They're not sticky anymore to the touch.
03:30 They almost have a slight little jelly feel
03:32 to them on the inside.
03:34 They're gonna be nice and sweet from the sugar.
03:36 They're gonna be salty from the cure.
03:38 But most importantly, they're gonna be spicy.
03:40 So now it's time for me to prepare my filling.
03:42 - So I'm going to separate my egg yolks from my egg whites
03:44 and put the yolks into my food processor.
03:46 - Take your time scooping.
03:47 - This is the part of the deviled egg that everyone knows.
03:49 - That way it's easier to mix with the cream.
03:51 The egg yolk texture could be a little soft, a little hard.
03:53 I'm gonna let these sit in the fridge for a while
03:55 while I finish my filling.
03:56 - I got everything I need to make my filling.
03:58 Got my egg yolks in the bowl first.
03:59 Me, I don't go for measurement, I go for vibes.
04:02 Right now we're gonna vibe out to some mayo first.
04:03 - It's about two tablespoons.
04:05 - Instead of mayo, I'm gonna make my own aioli.
04:07 I'll barely make my own best.
04:08 I know I'm not gonna make my own Crioli, whatever that is.
04:10 A lot of people think that aioli and mayonnaise
04:12 are the same thing, and they're not
04:14 because mayonnaise does not have garlic.
04:16 I'm gonna start by microplaning some garlic into a bowl
04:19 and then I'm gonna add into it some egg yolks.
04:21 Add a little relish, relish gives a little kick.
04:23 Spicy mustard for that ah!
04:25 - Dijon.
04:26 - You need a little ah for this, you know what I'm saying?
04:27 A little onion powder.
04:28 Creole seasoning, butoni,
04:30 you gotta add a little toni when you're cooking from the south.
04:32 - Tabasco.
04:33 Hot sauce adds a little heat, a little tang,
04:35 and just a little bit of depth to the flavor.
04:37 And then Worcestershire, just a squeeze of lemon juice.
04:39 - Lemon juice to provide a nice, bright flavor
04:41 and to help cut through all the richness of the oil.
04:43 Dijon mustard, it likes to bind with liquid and fat,
04:47 which is gonna help emulsify our mayo
04:50 so that way it all holds together.
04:51 And I'll just add a little salt.
04:52 - Salt. - Pepper.
04:52 - Pepper at this phase too.
04:53 - Now I'm gonna start whisking together my sauce.
04:55 Now I'm gonna slowly stream in my canola oil.
04:57 I'm working with a neutral oil here
04:58 'cause I don't want it to overpower
04:59 the rest of the flavors in the aioli.
05:01 The sauce has a good consistency to it,
05:04 nice and spreadable.
05:06 Mm, delicious.
05:07 - I'm going for a bright yellow filling,
05:09 so I'm gonna give this a quick pulse at this phase.
05:11 - I'm gonna use my food processor
05:12 to combine all the ingredients that I have.
05:14 Egg yolks from my hard-boiled eggs.
05:16 Aioli, I'm gonna add in some spice with the cayenne.
05:19 The paprika is gonna bring out the smoke
05:21 from the fire-roasted peppers.
05:23 Salt, a nice smoky note from the harissa.
05:26 And the brown mustard is gonna give it
05:27 a little bit of extra kick.
05:28 - I'm looking for the yolks to be mostly broken up
05:30 and the mayo to be incorporated.
05:32 - The reason I'm using a fork
05:32 is because you gotta crush some of the yolk as you whip.
05:34 Crush, smush.
05:35 - But I wanna scrape down the sides.
05:37 I'm also gonna add in just a little bit of cold water
05:40 so that way the sauce doesn't get too hot and break.
05:43 - I'm going to add a teaspoon of capers.
05:44 Capers are super salty and briny, they're delicious.
05:46 - I'm just going for a rough chop on my pickles,
05:49 similarly with my dill,
05:50 and then I wanna break these guys up,
05:52 but not much more than that.
05:54 I don't want things so mixed in
05:55 that my mixture turns green.
05:57 I just want everything to be well incorporated
05:58 and broken down a little.
05:59 I would say that this is exactly the texture I was going for.
06:01 It's nice and fluffy, but also creamy.
06:03 - Look at that.
06:04 The vibe is right.
06:06 A little spice, a little mayo, it's like half and half.
06:08 - Now I'm seeing that I've got a nice, smooth consistency
06:11 and it looks like everything is properly combined.
06:13 Oh, that flavor is spot on.
06:17 - This looks good and ready.
06:18 I'm going to load it into my Ziploc bag
06:20 to pipe it into my eggs.
06:21 I like using a plastic bag
06:22 because this makes it look a lot prettier
06:24 when I'm piping my filling into my deviled eggs.
06:26 - This is similar to the Ziploc method,
06:27 except I can use a metal piping tip
06:29 so I can get a nice design into my egg
06:31 and I have a little bit more control.
06:33 - This looks good to go.
06:34 Now all we gotta do is fry up some bacon.
06:36 As y'all can see, I got my best friend with me.
06:37 So I'm gonna air fry some bacon.
06:39 Let's get it.
06:39 Line this up nice, give it a little space.
06:41 Put it on 400, leave it in there for about seven,
06:43 eight minutes, come back.
06:45 Bacon is delicious, but you know what else goes great
06:46 with an egg is any other kind of pork.
06:48 So I have these delicious fried pork skins, chicharrones.
06:51 - To up the spice one more level,
06:53 I'm gonna use crispy Serrano pepper chips
06:55 as a garnish on my egg.
06:56 - Mm, as always, nice and crispy.
07:00 Eggs and bacon go together, they're perfect.
07:02 It's like peanut butter and jelly,
07:03 and Beyonce and Jake.
07:04 You can't have one without the other.
07:05 - The chicharrones, you can just buy it as is
07:07 and it's always perfect.
07:09 Crunchy, it's light, and it brings that nice pork flavor
07:12 that pairs so well with the egg.
07:13 - I'm just gonna crumble them basically
07:14 and I'm gonna put them on top of my deviled eggs
07:16 as a little garnish.
07:17 - I'm making chips, so I wanna go for as thin as I can.
07:20 I'm gonna dredge them in some flour.
07:22 This is gonna help provide a nice coating
07:24 on the outside of my pepper,
07:25 which is gonna make it nice and crispy.
07:26 Now I'm gonna toss everything
07:28 so everything gets evenly coated with the flour
07:30 and give it a nice crunchy exterior,
07:32 and it's gonna help it brown up nicely.
07:34 - Here are my chicharron crumbles, ready to be a garnish.
07:37 - And now they're gonna go into the oil
07:38 to fry up and get beautiful, crispy brown.
07:40 My peppers are just starting to get
07:42 a little brown on the edges.
07:44 This is actually probably the first time
07:47 that a charnel pepper has ever been put
07:48 on a deviled egg before,
07:49 and that just makes me a genius, I guess.
07:53 Peppers are nice and golden brown, but not too dark.
07:56 Now I'm gonna get 'em onto my tray
07:57 and season 'em up with some salt.
07:58 - Time to egg-secute the filling of these eggs.
08:01 I'm just yoking around.
08:03 - Hey, come here.
08:04 I'm gonna let you guys in on a little secret.
08:06 If your eggs wobble, you can just go ahead
08:10 and trim off a little bit from the bottom over here,
08:12 and that way they sit flat
08:14 and they won't move around.
08:15 And now, look, see?
08:17 It stays stable, so when you walk with 'em,
08:20 they don't roll everywhere.
08:22 Don't tell them I told you.
08:23 - I like using a spoon because it's easier
08:25 to fill a hole in, versus a Ziploc or a fork or your hands.
08:29 We're gonna make sure it fits the little shot glass.
08:31 We're gonna call these shot glasses.
08:32 - See, Ziploc bag, you can do a lot with.
08:34 I've leveled up.
08:35 - I'm gonna start in the middle and pipe in a circle
08:38 and finish with a little star in the middle.
08:39 Look at all these shot glasses.
08:41 - Now let's make 'em even more fancy.
08:43 - I'm gonna put a little paprika on it.
08:44 First way to end it.
08:45 It's like putting candles on a birthday cake.
08:46 - I'm gonna microplane over some of my cayenne cured
08:49 egg yolks.
08:50 It grates just like a nice firm cheese.
08:52 And just gives you something a little different
08:54 on your eggs, you know?
08:55 Play with your food, guys.
08:56 It's how it should be.
08:57 - Now the bacon, break it up.
08:59 Add a little sprinkle.
09:00 - Some dill sprigs.
09:01 - Some serrano pepper chips.
09:03 And then I'm gonna finish it off with a piece of chive.
09:06 The onion flavor of the chive is gonna actually
09:08 help bring out some of that garlic flavor
09:10 that's in the aioli that we made,
09:12 but it's also gonna provide a nice, bright, fresh
09:14 herb note to help cut through all the spice.
09:17 - I wanted to eat 'em when I was making 'em.
09:18 I'm ready to eat them right now.
09:19 - Egg looks exactly how I wanted it to look.
09:21 They have a nice, beautiful, striking color.
09:24 - There you have it.
09:25 Desi's Wonderful Devil Eggs.
09:27 [camera shutter]
09:27 - Here are my beautiful, stunning,
09:29 absolutely delicious-looking deviled eggs.
09:32 [camera shutter]
09:33 - And these are my deviled eggs.
09:34 [camera shutter]
09:42 - Bon appetit.
09:43 - I cooked the Egglund's Best Eggs exactly how I wanted.
09:45 The whites are nice and soft,
09:47 cooked through, but not rubbery.
09:48 The filling is so bright and yellow and creamy,
09:50 and I can't wait to dig in.
09:51 - Mm-hmm.
09:52 Mm.
09:55 - Mm.
09:56 - Mm-hmm.
09:58 - That's it. - Yep.
09:58 - There is spice, as there should be,
10:00 if I'm gonna call this a deviled egg.
10:02 - The relish, the mustard, and the bacon,
10:05 the pepper takes the yolk.
10:06 - The chicharron adds such a great crunch.
10:08 - A way, but it tastes amazing.
10:09 You get this to go, it tastes good, though.
10:11 - Thank you.
10:12 - I'd make these for every dinner party
10:14 for the rest of time.
10:15 - That is so spot on for what I'm looking for.
10:17 Yes.
10:18 Yes.
10:19 - Deviled eggs are a great starter, snack, or meal.
10:22 Let's see how each of our three chefs made theirs.
10:25 Eggs are the highlight of this dish.
10:30 It's best to use older eggs.
10:32 The shell is partially porous,
10:34 allowing air to slowly pass through.
10:37 Older eggs, a few days or more after harvest,
10:40 allow for enough of an air exchange
10:41 that the inner and outer shell membranes separate,
10:45 creating an air cell at the wider end of the egg,
10:47 making peeling smooth and easy.
10:49 Hard-boiled means that the egg white and yolk
10:52 are completely solid.
10:53 Egg whites become solid between 145 and 150 degrees,
10:57 and yolks at 158 degrees.
10:59 Prolonged heating can cause a greenish ring
11:02 to form around the yolk.
11:03 It's a reaction between iron in the yolk
11:05 with hydrogen sulfide in the white,
11:07 producing the greenish ferrous sulfide.
11:10 It might taste a little like iron or sulfur, too.
11:13 Emily started her eggs in cold water
11:15 and increased the water temperature to boiling.
11:18 This gradually heats the eggs, so it's gentler.
11:21 The white and the yolk cook by conduction.
11:23 That means that the heat energy is directly transferred
11:26 from one molecule to another,
11:27 so the white cooks and then heats the yolk.
11:30 Joshua steamed his eggs.
11:32 This is the most gentle method of cooking
11:34 because you completely avoid the turbulence of boiling water,
11:38 which can cause cracking.
11:39 Joshua elevated his level three deviled eggs
11:42 by salt-curing yolks.
11:43 Salt has a direct impact on the coagulation of eggs.
11:47 It dissolves into positive and negatively charged ions
11:50 that interact with charged parts of yolk proteins
11:53 to neutralize them and allow them to bond with each other,
11:56 but in a less constricted way.
11:57 This makes the yolks firm, but still tender,
12:00 so that he could grate them as a garnish.
12:02 [dramatic music]
12:06 Desi includes classic ingredients like mayonnaise,
12:09 an egg and oil-based dressing,
12:11 along with mustard and acidic, tangy pickle relish
12:15 to balance the richness in the egg yolk.
12:17 Emily also kept it traditional with a few components
12:20 like capers that added brininess,
12:22 a contrast with the creamy egg yolk.
12:24 Josh made aioli, a garlicky emulsion of oil and egg yolks,
12:28 and spiced it up with harissa, a hot pepper paste.
12:31 Adding a little spice works.
12:33 They are devilish eggs after all.
12:35 If you're making hard-boiled eggs
12:36 and feeling a little devilish and super heavenly,
12:40 we hope you'll take some of these tips
12:41 from our three wonderful chefs.
12:43 (logo chiming)