Eggs that is, specifically deviled eggs. It was a conversation that came up at the dinner table on Thanksgiving and that different families make it different ways and even in one family, everyone has their own take on the recipe.

Usually, one of my sisters-in-law brings the deviled eggs. She doesn’t mind making them and that is a relief to me. I find they can be tedious at times, especially when you have fairly new eggs that are not the easiest to peel every so often.

My sister-in-law makes them the old-fashioned way with vinegar, mayo, mustard, etc that is added to the yolks which have been mashed with a fork and then spooned into the egg whites. I make mine the way one of my aunts use to make them at Grandmas at all of the big family holiday meals. It includes miracle whip, mustard, salt, and a little sweet pickle juice. If you don’t have the pickle juice a pinch of sugar is needed to offset the mustard a bit. The whole yoke concoction is then whirled in the blender until it is very creamy and smooth with no lumps, and spooned into the waiting egg whites.

Paprika is a must. An insistence that my great grandmother would make if it was forgotten while she watched eagle-eyed at the kitchen table. She would stare at the plate of eggs, point with her boney finger at the eggs and then at the spice rack. Not a word was said by her, but the message was loud and clear… Do Not Forget the Paprika!

It’s funny how food and family tie a lot of our memories together and also tell a history of our heritage, background, and regional taste traditions. People change, recipes change, but memories are always there for the making.

The devil is always in the details, so how do you do your deviled eggs or do you even like them at all?

On a side note, I ended up making the deviled eggs this year because my sister-in-law was meeting up with her family for their traditional turkey dinner. Later on in the afternoon she and my brother stopped by on the way home and ate pie with us. I jokingly told her, that we were talking and decided that when she is not going to be able to make it for dinner, she has to drop off the deviled eggs here BEFORE she takes off somewhere else.

I thought that was a splendid idea, not so sure if she thought so though….oh well, one can always try their best!