Who doesn’t love deviled eggs? Serial puppy killers? Nope. Even serial puppy killers love deviled eggs. I make them for all sorts of occasions: dinner parties, company potlucks, casual drinks at a bar for friends’ birthdays. How do I keep the same dish from getting stale? Aside from copious amounts of tin foil? FLAVOR CRYSTALS.

Or as you might know it, flavored Tabasco.

STEP ONE: BOIL THEM EGGS

Googling “How to Hard Boil Eggs” will give you thousands of recipes to choose from, but few actually customize based on type of stove (gas or electric) or altitude or whatever. I’ve had luck with this method because you can throw the eggs back in if they’re not quite done:

1. Put eggs in a pot that fits them snuggly side by side and fill with tap water until about half inch above the surface of the eggs
2. Bring to a boil
3. Remove from heat and cover
4. After 12 minutes off the heat, peel and cut one egg down the center to see if the yolk is done. The center should be completely cooked, with no gray around the edges. If the yolk looks undercooked, check another egg in two minutes, and so on until you reach the desired level of done-ness
5. Place the cooked eggs into a ice water bath to arrest further cooking

STEP TWO: PEEL THEM EGGS

STEP THREE: MAKE DAT FILLING
You can keep the whole hard boiled eggs refrigerated for up to 48 hours, but fair warning: your fridge will stink. Here’s a pro-tip: Re-use the carton the eggs came in for easy storage. The filling won’t keep as well since it’s all mayonnaise-y, so I recommend waiting until the last moment to make it.

The filling is really all about taste, but the basic ingredients are mayo, mustard, salt and pepper. Here’s how I roll for a dozen eggs:

1/3 c. REAL mayonnaise. Don’t cheap out on me.
3 T. yellow mustard
2 T. spicy mustard
¼ t. table salt
¼ t. fine-grind white pepper

Smashy Smashy: use a whisk to work the yolk into tiny bits before adding any liquid ingredients. This’ll help avoid blockage when you’re piping the filling into the whites.

STEP FOUR: FLAVOR COUNTRY

For Chipotle Deviled Eggs, bust out that Smoked Tabasco and add a few dashes, about 1 tablespoon for optimal chipotlosity. For an added kick, bench the paprika in favor of some cayenne pepper.

MORE PRO-TIPS
- For easier peeling, use old eggs and these tips
- Alton Brown sez: before boiling, rubber-band the egg carton and leave it on its side overnight for beautiful, centered yolks
- Don’t spend money on a piping bag. Grab a Ziploc and cut the corner off.