Creamy deviled eggs

Many times, eggs are exactly the what-to-fix answer — not just for breakfast. Have you ever noticed at a buffet that the first platter to empty is the deviled eggs? I love deviled eggs — especially creamy deviled eggs with just a hint of sweetness from finely minced shallots.

You would think that making deviled eggs would be easy. However, hard-cooked eggs can be difficult, if not impossible to peel, the yolk can turn an unappetizing, yucky, gray-green, and the yolks can be so badly off-center that they are against the outside of the white. Help!

Using an older egg is the secret of easy peeling. The ease of peeling is related to acidity/alkalinity. When an egg is first laid, it is as acidic as it will ever be. The membranes between the white and the shell are strongly bonded in a very fresh egg. As an egg ages, carbon dioxide in the egg seeps out through the shell and the egg becomes less and less acidic — the membranes become less strongly bonded, and the egg is easier to peel. If your market has very fresh eggs, buy them a week ahead of when you want to use them for deviled eggs.

Because you want to keep this high level of alkalinity, you should not add vinegar to the cooking water, as you would for poaching eggs. You can add a bit of salt, though. It makes the egg cook faster to seal any cracks during cooking.

Elastic cordlike structures (the stringy things in the egg) called the chalazae run from the yolk sack to each end of the shell holding the yolk safely in the center of the egg.

Eggs are held upright in the carton with the air pocket at the top. The yolks are centered in this position but, when you cook the eggs, they fall over on their sides. So, the egg yolk, which contains fat, is lighter and will float on water (i.e., the egg white, which is primarily water and dissolved proteins). This makes the yolk rise to the high side of the shell and makes it off-centered.

The easiest way to center the yolks is: The night before you want to cook the eggs, tape the carton to prevent its opening, turn the carton on its side and leave it overnight. This allows the chalazae time to adjust to holding the yolks centered with the eggs lying on their side like they will be during cooking.

Cooking schools teach students to twirl the eggs during cooking to center the yolks. This works beautifully and is the way that commercially produced hard-cooked eggs are prepared — on rollers. However, this is time-consuming and not practical if you’re cooking more than one or two eggs. Another solution is to use wire holders or racks designed to hold an egg or several eggs upright during cooking.

The ugly green layer on the yolk is caused by iron in the yolk combining with sulfur (hydrogen sulfide) in the white to form green iron sulfide. While the eggs are cooking, heat speeds up this chemical reaction. The longer the egg cooks, the greater the chance for discoloration. Cooking time and quick cooling are important to prevent a green layer from forming. The age of the egg also influences this. With very old eggs, the green layer will form faster.

It’s not the end of the Earth if an egg cracks and there is a little white floating in the water. You can add a tablespoon of salt to the water, which will make the white set faster and seal the crack.

Forget piercing the broad end of the shell to allow the expanding gases to escape when the egg is heated. This sounds reasonable, but, with fresh eggs, researchers reported that in batches of about five dozen eggs, those batches that were not pierced had an average of only 5 percent of the eggs crack. Batches that were pierced had an average of 55 percent crack! The American Egg Board notes cautiously, “Piercing also often produces hairline cracks in the shell.”

However, with an older egg with a less permeable shell and a larger air cell, piercing may help to prevent cracking.

An old deli chef who used to hard-cook 100 eggs a day taught me a great trick for easy peeling. Rinse the eggs in cold water several times, and then, pour off the water. With the eggs in the pan, shake the pan vigorously to bump and bang the eggs against each other. They will crack all over. Peel the shells off under running water. It is amazing how they practically peel themselves this way.

You can hard-cook eggs with a cold-water start or a boiling-water start. I much prefer a cold-water start as in the following recipe because I don’t like taking the time to warm the eggs before cooking.

Boiling eggs can make them so tough you need a knife to cut them. I like the method in this recipe in which most of the cooking occurs as the eggs stand in very hot water.

Deviled eggs with caviar

Deviled eggs are a must at Southern dinners-on-the-ground, camp meetings, weddings, funerals and just about any gathering.

This recipe makes 10 to 12 appetizer servings.

12 large eggs, at least a week old

1 1/2 tablespoons salt, divided

3 medium shallots, finely minced

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup sour cream

1/3 cup mayonnaise

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

4 tablespoons finely chopped fresh chives

Grated zest of 3 lemons

3 tablespoons red caviar, well-chilled

The night before the eggs are to be cooked, seal the egg carton with a piece of tape and turn on its side to better center the yolks.

When ready to cook, place the eggs in a medium saucepan. Add water to cover by 1 1/2 inches. Add 1 tablespoon salt.

Partially cover the pot and bring to a boil.

Turn the heat down to low and leave on the heat, covered, for 30 seconds, then remove from the heat and let eggs stand, covered, in the hot water for 15 minutes. Pour off hot water and rinse eggs under cold running water for 5 minutes.

Pour off water and shake the pan to bump the eggs against each other until all eggs are well-cracked. Cover with cold water.

Peel the eggs under running water, drain them, and cut in half, length-wise. Transfer the yolks to a bowl. Cover and chill yolks and whites separately for 1 hour.

Saute the shallots in butter in a medium skillet over medium-high heat until soft, about 3 minutes.

Set aside. Mash the yolks with a fork. Mash in the sour cream. Add the mayonnaise, 1 1/4 teaspoons salt, and cayenne. Whisk until well-blended. Whisk in the shallots.

Fill the egg-white halves with yolk mixture, mounding it up and extending it over part of the white.

Generously sprinkle each stuffed egg with chives, leaving a little yellow showing around the edges.

Sprinkle each half with lemon zest. Cover and refrigerate.

When ready to serve, spoon a small bit of cold caviar onto each half.

Serve well-chilled.

• Food scientist Shirley O. Corriher is the author of “CookWise: The Hows and Whys of Successful Cooking” (William Morrow).