Legba Eggs

I made deviled eggs for the Mo-B-Q, too. Two kinds, actually.

The artist formerly known as Frau Lobster warned me that sensitive stomachs would be on hand.



Em helped, actually.

Also, I learned a valuable lesson: when the cookbook says it's hard to peel fresh eggs, they mean it's fucking hard. Don't try it. I bought the eggs for these Thursday evening, and I bought what I usually do: the cage-free brown eggs. Cage free eggs taste better. They have thicker shells than the eggs that come from blatant cruelty and they're not that much more expensive. Maybe a buck a dozen, but how many eggs do I eat? Can I justify making an animal live in a cage she can't turn around in and live on an artificial day cycle to produce a few more eggs per month? I can't justify the cruelty for the sake of twenty cents off my breakfast.



But when I tried to peel these fresh, brown eggs with their heavy armor, I got to where a little cruelty to chickens might be justified.

That, and I think I got them to a boil too slowly. I was trying not to rupture the eggs, I've had them crack when I try to bring them up to a boil too fast. But I think maybe the yolks wouldn't have been so frustratingly close to the edge if I'd gotten things hot faster.

I made a boring batch with Veggienaise, mustard, ancho pepper, a little Poultry Magic, Worcestershire and lemon juice.



Then I made a batch with Ken's Steakhouse Bleu Cheese dressing, a bit of Worcestershire, a lot of powdered chipotle, and a splash of lemon juice.

The latter were pretty hot. I didn't realize, because I'd taken a taste sample and it seemed bland. I added more chipotle, and as I stirred, the mild aftertaste in my mouth gained heat, until I realized that I'd had the stuff plenty spicy. And I'd just doubled the chipotle dose. It sneaks up on you, sometimes.



So I sprinkled that batch with a dusting of ancho to make sure that anyone could see, right off, that they were hot. Ancho is actually a very mild pepper, but the visual matched the flavor when the eggs were dusted that way.

My ex put a label by them, just in case, that said 'HOT.'

I brought home leftovers: I think I was the only one to eat any Legba Eggs. The plain deviled ones, only two were left. Maybe I should have just let people find out for themselves...