Devil in the Details

Today I made myself some deviled eggs the Modernist way - that is, deconstructed, backwards, and inside-out.

And completely amazing.

First, I simmered four room-temperature eggs at exactly 72 degrees C for exactly 35 minutes. Loyal readers may recall that maintaining a stable water temperature had proved immensely challenging during last week's Egg Blossom brouhaha, but now I have the whole cooker-knob twizzling routine down to a science. Taking account of the inevitable lag caused by thermal inertia, I was able to maintain my ideal temperature for the entire time, never venturing beyond a one degree (or 1.39%) error. Not bad, in my humble opinion, for a gal without an immersion circulator to call her own.

At the end of cooking, I plopped the eggs into a bowl of icy water to cool.

While that was happening, I assembled the mis en place for my mayonnaise: 25 g of white wine vinegar; 10 g of Dijon mustard; 100 g of good olive oil; and tarragon from the garden. I added salt and pepper at the end.

Time to peel the eggs! This is where things got interesting. The white was the same consistency as one would find in a soft-boiled egg. I carefully scooped it out of the shell, revealing the yolk beneath. Each one was a solid sphere, the texture of ... well, it was hard to describe. Think creamy fudge. Egg-yolk flavored creamy fudge.

Weird, but awesome.

I removed all the yolks from their white blankets and spooned the albumen into my blender. This was because ... wait for it ... I needed the whites for the mayonnaise. Yes, Nathan Myhrvold et al make their mayonnaise with egg whites rather than egg yolks. And guess what? It works!

I blended the four egg whites with the vinegar and the mustard, then drizzled in the olive oil to make an emulsion. I seasoned the result with salt and pepper and, hey presto, Modernist Mayonnaise! It was rich and creamy and delicious.

In the book, the gorgeous pic of the finished dish involved complicated schmears and sprinklings of Bottarga di Muggine. Sir and I thought it would be funnier to plate the dish like a sunny-side-up egg. We arranged a little flattened mound of mayonnaise on a pretty blue bowl and popped one of the cold yolks on top. A few pinches of chopped tarragon and we had a fine Deviled Egg.

Another impressive appetizer for guests! After all, what is a better ice-breaker than a good laugh prompted by a funny yolk?