This brings up a good question. What do people prefer most, mushed or cubed? I think I prefer cubed, but mushed stays on the bread better.

Pie Lady wrote:This brings up a good question. What do people prefer most, mushed or cubed? I think I prefer cubed, but mushed stays on the bread better.

I use a box grater to chop them up. I will be interested in what Jen uses, since her yolks are still runny from her description.

Regards,

Pie Lady wrote:This brings up a good question. What do people prefer most, mushed or cubed? I think I prefer cubed, but mushed stays on the bread better.

I like cubed. I use my old egg slicer and cut the egg three times (flipping or turning each time) so as to cube it. I use mayo, mustard (usually Dijon), salt and pepper, a bit heavy on the pepper. A spray of paprika looks nice and adds a bit of punch too. Sometimes I'll add some finely chopped celery for crunch and to feel as if I'm eating my veggies. This thread will certainly lead to me making some egg salad this weekend!

Christopher Gordon wrote:I heart egg salad as I love tuna salad; the simpler the preparation, the better. ...

So, I ask you: why mustard powder instead of a squirt of ballpark's best?

I'm trying to reconcile your first comment with the rest of your post.

As to the prepared mustard vs. mustard powder... I can only guess. One consideration with spices and herbs is shelf life. What is the shelf life of prepared mustard vs. mustard powder or whole mustard? I suspect that prepared mustard has sufficient preservatives to keep it stable a long time. I've started using more whole spices and grinding them as needed because the whole spices are supposed to have a better shelf life.

Mostly I just wanted to post that you have not had egg salad until you have made it from eggs that have been smoked with a little apple or cherry wood. If you have a smoker, try this! I smoke them in my mini-WSM for about 20 minutes using apple or cherry chunks mixed in with the charcoal. I'm sure cold smoking would work as well, but I'm not equipped for that. Yet. The extra layer of flavor you get with that is just amazing. I hard boil and peel the eggs first. I have heard of smoking raw eggs in the shell but have not tried it myself.

I too use the egg slicer, but only go two ways.

the "wasabi" post is just because I couldn't delete the post that occupied it's spot without leaving something in it's place

tho', I DID think of using wasabi powder in place of mustard powder in the making of egg salad

smoking hardboiled eggs for salad: what a fantastic idea!

back in Indianapolis I had an electric smoker(a gift from our neighbors///they bought one for themselves and gifted me with one because they knew I'd appreciate it and we could hold "Smoke-Offs") and I smoked everything from chicken to fish to tomatoes to mozzarella...never eggs

my friends here are on me about getting a stovetop smoker, but getting back into the routine of dragging out the step stool and unscrewing the fire alarm anytime I intend to cook over more than a modicum of heat; well, it's a pain

your foto also sets my mind working after the way 1000 yr old eggs, tea eggs, etc. might play in an American egg salad

last egg salad(which I really enjoyed)

7 eggs hardboiled
half cup Hellmann's mayo
squidge French's yellow mustard
spurt fresh lemon juice
kosher salt
lampong black pepper(Spice House)
half sharp paprika(Spice House)
ground cayenne

eggs chunked(used to be an egg schmear type of guy, much more of a chunked aficionado these days...the mashed yolks dressing the toothsome whites)

Cathy2 wrote:

Pie Lady wrote:This brings up a good question. What do people prefer most, mushed or cubed? I think I prefer cubed, but mushed stays on the bread better.

I use a box grater to chop them up. I will be interested in what Jen uses, since her yolks are still runny from her description.

Regards,

Nope--not runny-that would be kinda gross I think. I don't know if there's a word for the state---just where the yellow is kind of creamy, versus overcooked and chalky. Where it's still bright yellow v. light yellow. No grey ring.

I chop. Large dice.

The best way I've found to avoid the grey ring:

1. Bring the pot to a good rolling boil
2. Shut off the heat
3. Wait until the water is still bubbling, but no longer turbulent
4. Add the eggs
5. Remove the eggs when the water is room temperature.

The eggs are hard-boiled perfectly every time, without the grey film or that nasty sulfur smell from overcooking.

I do basically the same thing but I put the eggs in after filling the pot, bring to a boil, then turn off the heat and let it sit, covered, for 10 minutes. 15 if there's a whole dozen in there.

I do what Pie Lady does. I think it's the kennyz method and foolproof!

I was inspired and made egg salad for lunch today:

2 hard boiled eggs
1 small avocado
a few shakes of a seasoning mix that included salt, tellicherry pepper, garlic and lemon peel
real mayo
a couple of shakes of Chili&Garlic sauce

Quite good.

Hi,

I've been watching Jacque Pepin's last series, when he was making some hard boiled eggs. When finished cooking he poured out the hot water. Filled pot with cold water to drop the temperature then emptied the pot. He then vigorously shook the pot to crack the eggs all at once. Peeling was easy peasy.

I tried this recently and thought it was great kitchen trick.

Regards,
Cathy2

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

I've been watching Jacque Pepin's last series, when he was making some hard boiled eggs. When finished cooking he poured out the hot water. Filled pot with cold water to drop the temperature then emptied the pot. He then vigorously shook the pot to crack the eggs all at once. Peeling was easy peasy.

I tried this recently and thought it was great kitchen trick.

Regards,
Cathy2

We go through a minimum of a dozen HB eggs a week, sometimes considerably more (most of them consumed by my wife). We use our InstantPot, though any PC would do. 1 cup of water, eggs in a steamer basket (we use the RSVP Endurance model on Amazon with the handles broken off), set on manual for high pressure for 5 minutes, when done either instantly release pressure (me) or wait a minute or two (my wife) and then dump into an ice bath. Takes less than a minute to be cool enough to handle and then eggs peel like a dream. We peel them right away and then store any that aren't eaten on the spot in the round Reditainer storage containers in the fridge.

Interesting. I've tried a lot of boiling methods and peeling methods, with varying degrees of success, but "peel like a dream" is something I haven't yet experienced. I wonder if there's something particular about pressure cooking that achieves this result.

I've also never thought of peeling all my hard-boiled eggs right away. I guess I've always thought they'd last longer, shrink less, and be easier to peel if I left them in their shells until I was ready for them. To distinguish them from fresh eggs, I write a "B" on each of them with a pencil, the way my mom did.

Katie wrote:To distinguish them from fresh eggs, I write a "B" on each of them with a pencil, the way my mom did.

laughing so hard over here--I make HBEs for my SO every week and, yes, I've sent a couple of raw eggs his way a few times (I sometimes take the eggs out of the carton and put in a bowl or various other places in the fridge when things get especially crowded.)

This is a GREAT idea-thanks

HI,

Long ago, I was at a trade exhibition in Moscow. I had a small kitchenette. I had some eggs, which I boiled. When the show was over, I took the eggs and put them in my winter coat pocket.

A friend happened to see me placing the eggs in my pocket. He inquired if they were raw or cooked. I said they were all cooked. "REally?" "Sure!" I then slapped my hand hard against my pocket and all the eggs broke.

He never let me forget that moment for years. I heard this story repeated in English and Russian enough, I knew it always ended in a roar of laughter.

Sincerely stupid!

CAthy2

Katie wrote:
I've also never thought of peeling all my hard-boiled eggs right away. I guess I've always thought they'd last longer, shrink less, and be easier to peel if I left them in their shells until I was ready for them. To distinguish them from fresh eggs, I write a "B" on each of them with a pencil, the way my mom did.

Certainly great value in being able to immediately determine if an egg has been boiled or not but remember it's easy to determine via physical interaction - spin them. HB eggs will spin, raw eggs will just wobble.

Oh, and for peeling our pressure cooked eggs. I've found that just banging the large end against the sink and then squeezing the rest of the eggshell to crack it works best. If I can then penetrate/tear the membrane under the shell at the large end it becomes extremely easy - I can usually just squeeze the small end to force the egg up and out of the remaining shell.

Ah, the spin/wobble test. Very useful, thanks.

I'm glad the pencil B tip was appreciated. I was a bit embarassed to mention it, assuming everyone else already did that.

Thanks for the tips on egg peeling, which I still have not mastered. I think one reason for that is that I keep hard-boiled eggs for quite a while, but as the shells lose moisture with time, the membrane between the shell and the white dries too and gets harder to remove. Maybe I should be peeling them shortly after boiling. But then I couldn't use my pencil trick.

Katie wrote:I'm glad the pencil B tip was appreciated. I was a bit embarassed to mention it, assuming everyone else already did that.

I've never tried using a B. I'll have to give that a try. I've used X in the past, and that seems to work pretty well, too.

Ha ha ha! X would say "throw this egg out" to me.

For "eggyer" egg salad, try the Zabar's trick- discard 1/2 the whites. 12 eggs yields 12 yolks- 6 w/whites, 6 w/o.

That's a good tip too.

I hate to give up recipes , but this is just the egg salad.

1. Eggs, shredded cheese (or two cheeses and I like to freeze them before shredding), chopped garlic (a must have), SnP and mayo to your taste.

2. Eggs, canned cod liver, SnP. Go easy on cod liver as it is pretty heavy.

To add some freshness I like to throw in some finely chopped green onion and/or parsley.
Thinly sliced sour dough RYE bread(absolutely must) and a shot of ice cold Nemiroff vodka (optional) complete this picture.

Lenny007 wrote:2. Eggs, canned cod liver, SnP. Go easy on cod liver as it is pretty heavy.

To add some freshness I like to throw in some finely chopped green onion and/or parsley.
Thinly sliced sour dough RYE bread(absolutely must) and a shot of ice cold Nemiroff vodka (optional) complete this picture.

I once went to a birthday party in Moscow where this was served. I have the vague recollection they had very thinly sliced slivered onions.

I have a can of cod livers on my shelf. Do you use the liquid/oil it was sitting in or do you get rid of it?

Thanks!

Regards,
Cathy2

You need to go slow on liver and especially oil. It is a quite "gorgeous" but slightly "fishy" salad, so you need to develop the taste for it. Unless you are Northern European, of course ( you almost are:) ) And for more common recipe #1 you need rather soft creamy cheese like fontina or some Finnish viola like brand. Of course, something else would work too.

Picked up 2-dozen duck eggs today. Hard boiled one dozen for snacks and egg salad, not sure yet what I will do with the second dozen. Maybe just over easy with toast.

Ooh, I like the cod liver idea. Thanks for sharing your recipes, Lenny. It occurs to me you could also bump up the nutritional value of tuna or salmon salad with a bit of cod liver.

I like the duck egg idea too; thanks for mentioning that, Gary. I recently found a small-farm source of fresh duck eggs up here in Lake County near me, now where did I bookmark that ...

I've had better success with not overboiling my eggs since I started using one of these egg timers, which I picked up for a few bucks at a fantastic kitchen goods store in Pittsburgh (sigh... I miss that store). There are other brands available. Chicken egg size doesn't seem to be a factor in its success (nor does starting water temperature or number of eggs or boiling intensity), so I'm wondering if it would work equally well for duck eggs. I'll have to run some tests.

Katie wrote:so I'm wondering if it would work equally well for duck eggs. I'll have to run some tests.

My hard boiled chicken egg technique is straight from Cook's Illustrated.
Single layer, cover with 1-inch water, bring to boil, turn off heat, cover, let sit 10-minutes. Shock in ice-water bath for 5-minutes.

For slightly larger duck eggs.
Single layer, cover with 1-inch water, bring to boil, drop down to low simmer covered for 2-minutes. Turn off heat let sit 12-minutes. Shock in ice-water bath for 7-minutes.

Katie wrote: To distinguish them from fresh eggs, I write a "B" on each of them with a pencil, the way my mom did.

That is a fine method for doing it. However, do NOT buy an egg with a "B" printed on it in a supermarket as it may contain a surprise.

jlawrence01 wrote:That is a fine method for doing it. However, do NOT buy an egg with a "B" printed on it in a supermarket as it may contain a surprise.

Or dyed red!