Nashville Hot Deviled Eggs

There's something kind of brutal about incorporating the entire life cycle, isn't there?

The ingredients

Egg base

• 12 eggs, hard boiled

• 1/2 c. mayo

• 1 tbsp dijon mustard

• 1 tsp pickled jalapeño brine

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 1/2 tsp black pepper

• 2 cloves minced garlic

• 1 pickle spear, diced

• 1 tbsp minced dill

Crispy chicken skins

• 6 chicken thigh skins

• 1 tbsp kosher salt/cayenne mix

Nashville hot spice dusting

• 1 tsp cayenne

• 1 tsp paprika

• 1 tsp garlic powder

• 1/2 tsp brown sugar

The process

Halve eggs and core them. Put all yolks into a bowl (pro tip: if you rip up a white casing, throw it into the bowl, too). Add mayo, mustard, brine, salt, pepper, garlic, pickle, and dill into a bowl and mash, until mostly smooth. Place into a ziploc baggy. Mix together cayenne, paprika, garlic powder, and brown sugar and then pour onto a saucer, spreading it evenly. Lightly wet each egg half’s flat side and place into the spice mixture, flat-side down. Remove and set on plate to dry.

Pre-heat oven to 400. Take chicken skins and pat dry. Season with mixture of cayenne and salt, then bake for 15 minutes, until golden. Fill each egg half with yolk mixture, then break apart chicken skins into quarters and place a piece into each egg.

The story

I have a long history with deviled eggs. My mamaw used to make them special for me on Easter and Christmas with mayonnaise and thousand island dressing because I didn’t like mustard much back then. It was a weird thing because, frankly, I didn’t think that mamaw liked me much. She wasn’t great with kids—like she wasn’t sure what to do with them. But I always remembered that she knew I didn’t like mustard and her explaining to me what made her deviled eggs different, which made that side dish even more special. By the way, I think it’s a shame that people largely only eat deviled eggs on holidays. Treat yourself. Make deviled eggs in the middle of October! Do you not deserve it?

I had a summer where I visited my mamaw and papaw once a week, and mamaw used to make me all kinds of eggs: scrambled and hard fried and over easy. I’ve always liked eggs because they are one of the most versatile foods out there. You can prepare chicken a thousand ways to Sunday, but at the end, you’re kind of getting chicken, right? Cooked chicken is cooked chicken. But the egg is a magic trick—it can be five or six different forms. It’s the character actor of cuisine. And while mamaw and I weren’t the tightest of relatives, I’ll always owe my love of eggs to her.

This is one recipe I didn’t mimic or riff on. I started with a basic deviled egg recipe, and then I made it into something that felt uniquely my own. Everyone has their secret code to deviled eggs, but I find it to be one of those recipes you can dress up (or down) as much as you want. I’m a dill fanatic, which is a must any time I make them (and if dill isn’t your thing, chives are a close second for me). But on top, I had this idea of creating a chicken’s nightmare. For the record, I’m a massive animal lover, but this is the deviled egg from hell, as far as the chicken community is concerned. We’ve taken this poor animal’s gift to the world and said, “Now we’re going to put part of you in it.” Sorry chickens.

What resulted is, if I say so myself, a genius mix of spicy and rich, crunchy and spongey. The Nashville Hot Deviled Egg is the best of all worlds, and I think… it’s what your Thanksgiving table needs.