🥚 Classic deviled eggs

Deviled eggs need a yolk that mashes instead of smears. That is hard-boiled, and hard-boiled is where altitude shows up as a gray ring or a jammy center you did not want. Time the eggs with the boiling eggs at altitude calculator set to hard, then make the filling. The paprika does not fix an underdone yolk.

This is one of three recipes on the site — next to ramen eggs and egg salad — not a platter cookbook.

Boil, chill, peel

Follow the hard-boiled method with your altitude filled in. A dozen eggs in one pot needs the batch size set on the calculator; a crowded pot cools the water and leaves the last eggs behind.

Immediately put cooked eggs in cold water to make them easy to peel. Ice water for a few minutes also stops them from cooking further in the shell, which matters more after the extra time altitude already added.

Peel completely cold. Halve with a wet knife so the whites do not tear. If a yolk is still translucent in the middle, that egg was short — do not mash it into the filling or the whole bowl goes loose.

Filling

Classic is mayo, mustard, a little acid, salt, pepper, paprika. The amounts below are a starting point for six eggs; taste before you pipe. Too stiff: a splash of pickle brine. Too loose: another yolk, not more mayo.

Ingredients

• 6 large eggs (or the size on your carton)
• 3 Tbsp mayonnaise
• 1 tsp yellow or Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp white vinegar or pickle brine
• Salt and black pepper
• Paprika and chives, to finish

Steps

1. Boil eggs to hard doneness with the altitude calculator, then ice-bath and peel.
2. Halve lengthwise. Pop the yolks into a bowl; set the whites on a plate.
3. Mash yolks with mayonnaise, mustard, vinegar, salt, and pepper until smooth.
4. Spoon or pipe the filling back into the whites.
5. Dust with paprika and chives. Chill until you serve them.

Serve cold. They sit well in the fridge for a day; the whites weep if you fill them the night before a long wait, so fill closer to serving if you can.

Altitude is the boil, not the filling

Nothing in the mustard mix cares how high you live. The eggs do. If you usually cook these from a “10 minutes then ice” card, that card assumed 212°F water. Use the calculator, then this filling. Same pot science as egg salad; different end shape.