Spicy Tangy Old Fashioned Southern Deviled Eggs

If you want a really good deviled egg, you have to go to a real enthusiast for a recipe. Lucky for us, I happen to know such an enthusiast, or at least, I own her cookbook. It takes a real enthusiast to write a 464 page cookbook devoted entirely to eggs. I mean, can you imagine the research phase of the project? So many eggs. So many.






Lucky for us, she stuck with it, earned herself a James Beard award, and gave us a veritable Bible of winning egg recipes. And if you happen to have some extra Easter eggs to use up, or you're going to a summer barbecue, or you are just craving some really excellent old fashioned deviled eggs, you've come to the right place. This one's a winner!



Spicy Tangy Old Fashioned Southern Deviled Eggs
adapted from The Good Egg by Marie Simmons

Ingredients
4 large eggs, hard boiled and cooled
2.5 tablespoons good quality mayo
1.5 teaspoons Dijon mustard
hot sauce, such as Tobasco (I used Sriracha HOT Chili Sauce)
sea salt or kosher salt
freshly cracked black pepper
paprika for seasoning




Halve the eggs, and carefully remove the yolks to a separate bowl.




Mash the egg yolks with a fork until they are crumbly (Marie says to pass them through a fine mesh sieve, but I mash them with a fork. This is because she is a perfectionist and I am lazy. It's up to you how you want to do it, but I think we both know you want to be lazy with me. Think of the dishes. Convinced?)




Add 2.5 tablespoons mayonnaise, 1.5 teaspoons Dijon mustard, and hot sauce to taste. I used about 1/2 a teaspoon of Sriracha, but it really just depends on what hot sauce you use and how spicy you like it (be advised, if you like it REALLY spicy you may want to use less mayo, otherwise your filling will get a little runny. I learned this lesson on the first batch when it took about a tablespoon of Tabasco to get it spicy enough for me!)




Mix until smooth, and salt and pepper to taste.




Carefully spoon or pipe with a bag and pastry tip into the halved whites. Sprinkle with paprika and enjoy!