Pork Chops & Chicken

Sweet & Spicy Deviled Eggs

Now is the time of year for Deviled eggs. Backyard picnics, BBQ's with friends, or even just for an appetizer at home. That's what I did. I made my famous deviled eggs with one minor modification.

Now that deviled eggs are fashionable again, at least around Boston, I figured I would make my simple yet super flavorful deviled eggs for my husband. He is a fanatic about deviled eggs, but has never had mine in ten years that we have have lived together. I am also feeling a bit inspired after the deviled egg course at Cambridge Common for the Stoudt's Beer dinner. Gorgonzola deviled eggs paired with a Double IPA. They were unbelievably good.

Being from the South, the only secret ingredient that seems to work with nearly all things southern, is the sweet bread and butter pickle. You can't substitute with sweet relish. It's too watery and tastes vastly different from the bread and butter pickle. You got to get in there and finely chop your sweet pickles for this recipe.

The spicy topping makes this perfect for BBQ's and beer. These are sure to be a crowd pleaser.


Recipe:

10 to 12 eggs boiled, shells peeled, rinsed, and halved, yolks removed and set aside
1/2 cup to 3/4 cup super finely chopped sweet bread and butter pickles
*Do Not Use Sweet Relish

1 to 2 tbls. Mayonnaise
1 to 2 tbls. Ranch Dressing
1 to 2 tbls. Yellow Mustard
A big pinch of salt and pepper.

Optional: A pinch of Italian seasoning, a very tiny pinch of garlic and onion powder.

Line up the egg white shells on a platter or plate and set aside. Whisk yolks, pickles and all other ingredients in a bowl. Start with 1 tbls. of wet ingredients so as to not make your yolk mix too runny. Some eggs will yield you a lot of yolk and some will yield you not as much as you hoped for. So take it slow and gradually add more wet ingredients to create a nice smooth paste. You want it fluffy and thick, not thin and runny.

If you have a pastry bag, you can pipe the mixture into the halved egg whites. I have a pastry bag, but honestly it's a lot easier to spoon in the mixture and less of a mess at the end. Evenly fill all the egg whites. Start out small, to make sure your mixture goes all the way and then top them off if your left with yolk mix.  You should should be left with enough yolk mix to pile high fluffy eggs like the opening picture.


Spicy seasoning:

1/2 teaspoon Chipotle chili powder
1/4 teaspoon Ancho chili powder
1/2 teaspoon Paprika
1/8 teaspoon Cumin
1/2 teaspoon Old Bay

Sprinkle of Smoked Paprika separate.

Mix all spices together and sprinkle over top of prepared eggs. I like mine spicy, so I coated mine a bit heavy, be as liberal or as moderate as you like with your eggs.

Sprinkle the smoked paprika at the end to add a hint of big red color to the eggs.

Chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour before serving. 

I nicked the Old Bay idea from the ladies of Cambridge Common. That's the minor modification I made to this recipe. It's one of my favorite spices being from the Virginia area and being in love with Chesapeake Bay crabs. I was delighted when they used it on their deviled eggs and felt a bit inspired so I put it in my spice mix.

Of course you can moderate this recipe however you feel fit. There are trillions of recipes out there and everyone has a modification that makes it uniquely theirs. This is my recipe. It's easy, flavorful, spicy without knocking you over, and sweet for the exact right balance.

Despite how heavy the spices look in the images, I promise it's the right balance for these eggs. As someone who is a super wuss about all things spicy, I made these with a nice punch that is just right. Flavorful and tingly, not sweating bullets and eye popping.



 

2010 MSPCA Walk For Animals

 

Taking time out from beer and food to talk about Team BeerAdvocate for the MSPCA Walk For Animals.

BeerAdvocate.com and now my newest adventure 20°N & 20°S, generally focuses charity efforts towards one cause, animals. We are animals lovers and we care deeply about what happens to them. This is the focus we want to aim our efforts towards. It doesn't mean we do not support other causes. It just means that our general focus is towards animal charities.

For the past two years, Team BeerAdvocate has been the number one team donating in all of the Boston area. We keep getting better and better thanks to die hard beer lovers, friends and families, and animal lovers in general.

In our first walk, I only found out about it with one month before the walk. We managed to bring in about $1500. The next year we set the goal at $3,000. We ended up with just over $6,000. And then there was last year's effort. We set the bar at $6,000 and ended up with over $9,000. And of all things, we managed to raise that monster number during an economic crisis.

We had a lot of help from our friends who joined the team and businesses who contributed to our efforts. It has been truly unbelievable for to be able to manage this kind of fundraising. The folks at the MSPCA have said no one has rocked it like that before. The usual top teams before us managed around $3,000. Granted they don't have access to our huge network around New England or the country for that matter. But I am egotistical and want nothing more than to win and generate money for animals, so I feel no shame about my connections to a vast number of people.

This year we decided that if we could raise as much money as we did last year in an economic crisis, then we should be able to go even bigger this year. We set the goal at $15,000.

This means we are going to need all the help we can get. Small or large donations, we don't care as long as you can help in some way. I am asking that all my readers pitch in and help out to donate to Team BeerAdvocate. You can join our team or just make a donation to our teams effort.

The walk will take place on Sunday, Sept. 12th on the Boston Commons.

For businesses, breweries, restaurants, stores, chocolate makers, or any other business who wishes to contribute to our team, we are offering a deal for your company's name to be on our team shirts. For donations of $150 dollars or more, you will get your company name printed on the back of our shirts as supporters.




[Click to enlarge images.]


Our team shirts are donated by qrsts.com, the wonderful people who print all of our BeerAdvocate shirts. Whatever extra shirts we have left over from the walk, we take to the next beer festival we throw, and sell them to add to the next years walk team total. Last year we sold $200 worth of extra shirts. We will be adding that total to the team this year. Every single dime we raise in effort to the MSPCA, goes directly to the MSPCA.

To join our team follow this link and the password is beerlovers. Make a donation of $25 dollars and you will be apart of our team. You can also help us fundraise by getting your own friends and family to donate to your efforts and you customize your own donation page with images of your pets. I have Miss Chicken Von Waffles and Pork Chops Applesauce on my individual page.

Or you can simply send a donation to benefit the team effort without actually having to join the team.

If you care about animals as much as we do, please help us reach our massive goal and help us be the number one team donating for a 3rd year in a row. Do it because you love beer, do it because you love animals.