Houdini’s Deviled Eggs (1922)
Reader ratingsHoudini’s deviled eggs: hard-boiled halves trimmed to stand upright, filled with yolk rubbed smooth with melted butter, cayenne, mustard and vinegar, and set on dressed watercress.
- Recipe makes
- 12 halves, 6 servings
- Prep
- Cook
- Total
Cool the boiled eggs in cold water for 15 minutes before shelling them.
Deviled eggs standing upright on dressed watercress.
The story behind the recipe
The Stag Cook Book, a New York collection of 1922, prints a page headed “Houdini”: scalloped mushrooms and deviled eggs. The mushrooms are peeled, layered in a buttered pudding dish with pepper, salt, a little onion and rolled crumbs, and baked “in a moderate oven.” The eggs are boiled hard and halved, with “a bit off the ends” sliced away so each half stands upright like a little cup. The yolks are rubbed to a smooth paste with melted butter, cayenne pepper, “a touch of mustard and a dash of vinegar,” piled back into the whites, and sent to the table on chopped lettuce or watercress dressed with pepper, salt, vinegar and a little sugar.
Did Houdini make them?
The book says so, in its way: its subtitle is Written for Men by Men, and its introduction calls the contributors “immortals.” But this page has none of the first-person chat that fills Frazier Hunt’s page on stuffed celery, and nothing else shows whether Harry Houdini, the escape artist, wrote it or ever made it. What can be said is that the recipe appeared under his name in 1922.
Read more about this recipe
Making it today
Melted butter binds the yolks, and it sets firm when chilled, so fill the eggs at room temperature and serve them cool. Standing the halves upright means cutting the eggs crosswise; a thin slice off each rounded end gives a flat base. We salt the yolks, which the page doesn’t mention. Neither dish on the page names an occasion, but cold, upright and made ahead, the eggs fit the cocktail plate in What Did You Nibble With a Cocktail in the 1920s?
Hunt’s Stuffed Celery with Roquefort (1922), from the same book, goes on the platter beside them.
Boil the eggs hard. Remove shells and cut eggs in half, slicing a bit off the ends to make them stand upright. ...
Recipe makes: 12 halves, 6 servings
Ingredients
For 12 halves, 6 servings. Quantities are shown as written.
Quantities as written here, for 12 halves, 6 servings.
Eggs
- Large eggs6
- Unsalted butter3 tbsp
- Cayenne pepper1/8 tsp
- Prepared mustard1 tsp
- Cider vinegar, for the yolks1 tsp
- Salt, for the yolks1/4 tsp
Watercress bed
- Watercress1 bunch
- Cider vinegar, for the cress1 tbsp
- Sugar1/4 tsp
- Salt, for the cress1 pinch
- Black pepper1 pinch
Measurement notes
Ingredients as written here
- 6 large eggs
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter
- ⅛ tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp prepared mustard
- 1 tsp cider vinegar, for the yolks
- ¼ tsp salt, for the yolks
- 1 bunch watercress
- 1 tbsp cider vinegar, for the cress
- ¼ tsp sugar
- 1 pinch salt, for the cress
- 1 pinch black pepper
Equipment
Medium saucepan- Bowl of cold water
- Small sharp knife
- Small bowl and fork, or a sieve
- Small saucepan
Instructions
Put the eggs in the medium saucepan, cover with cold water by an inch and bring to a boil. Cover, take off the heat and leave for 12 minutes. Move them to the bowl of cold water for 15 minutes.
Shell the eggs and cut each one in half crosswise. Slice a thin piece off each rounded end so the halves stand upright. Lift out the yolks.
Melt the butter in the small saucepan. Mash the yolks very smooth with a fork, or press them through the sieve. Beat in the melted butter, cayenne, mustard, vinegar for the yolks and salt for the yolks.
Fill the whites with the yolk mixture, heaping it a little.
Chop the watercress and toss it with the vinegar for the cress, sugar, salt for the cress and black pepper. Spread it on a platter and stand the eggs on it. Serve cool.
Nutrition
125calories per serving
- Recipe makes
- 12 halves, 6 servings
- Servings
- 6
Estimated per serving from USDA FoodData Central values for eggs, butter and watercress.
Recipe notes
When adjusting quantities
Half a tablespoon of butter to each egg.
Notes
Quantities mentioned in these notes don’t change when you adjust the servings.
Keep the eggs in the refrigerator until shortly before serving, and don’t leave them out for more than 2 hours. Contains egg, milk and mustard.
Scaling changes the ingredients only; pan sizes and cooking times need their own judgment. To adapt this recipe further, try the recipe tool at TuneMyRecipe (opens in a new tab), our sister site.
Sources and attribution
After Houdini, Deviled Eggs, in C. Mac Sheridan, ed., The Stag Cook Book (New York: George H. Doran Company, 1922)