If you’re planning to have deviled eggs on your Easter Sunday meal menu, as most Southern families are, you might want to consider surprising guests with a new twist on the familiar favorite. With the upcoming Wiregrass “Devilicious” Deviled Egg Contest coming up at the Enterprise Farmer’s Market April 9, event organizer Kay Kirkland said she can’t wait to find out some of the uncommon deviled egg recipes that will be in the contest this year.
“In the five previous years the contest has been conducted, entries have featured ingredients that we don’t see in the old-fashioned simple recipes we’ve always been accustomed to,” she said. “One of the contest categories is Most Eggstraordinary, which means it is out of the ordinary, definitely not your Momma’s deviled eggs!” Entries in that category in the past have included ham, pimento cheese, jalapenos, bacon and even sausage. Of course, the recipes with the egg yolk/mayonnaise base are the most common in this part of the country, Kirkland said, but pointed out that the art of making deviled eggs has expanded into new directions.
“Since we’ve been doing this contest here in Enterprise, we’ve discovered that deviled egg recipes have a broad range of ingredients, flavors and styles. Just take a look at Pinterest or Google ‘deviled’ eggs, and you’ll find more kinds of deviled eggs than you could ever imagine,” she said. Ingredients include hot sauce and jalapenos and other spices for those who like a spicy mixture to top off the egg white halves; guacamole; shrimp; cream cheese, sour cream, butter, vinegar, etc.“
Past judges in the Deviled Egg Contest have indicated they love to try to different recipes as well as the classics,” Kirkland said. “The non-traditional recipes have been interesting and good, but for me, I think I still prefer the good old-fashioned Southern deviled egg, but the great non-traditional recipes are appealing for sure. I’m glad I’m not a judge!”She encouraged everyone to think about entering the contest and said the tried and true recipes, and those that are dressed up beautifully or creatively plated especially for the Most Eggsquisite category, are always welcomed and sometimes are the most entered categories.
“But if you have never tried a non-traditional recipe and have been considering it, this might be a great time to experiment and enter your new recipe or a favorite from the web,” Kirkland said.
Of course, deviled egg makers can also try different presentations too, that will get points for creativity and originality. “There’s no other contest like this anywhere in this part of the state or the country, that we are aware of, so we really want to develop this unique contest into something special,” she said. Contrary to what may be a common belief, deviled eggs are not an American concoction. In fact, the roots of modern-day deviled eggs can be traced back to ancient Rome, about 4 or 5 A.D., according to a variety of sources that can be found on the web.Eggs were boiled, seasoned with spicy sauces and were used in entertaining, so deviled eggs have been a staple of social gatherings for centuries, according to various historical sources on deviled eggs.
The term “deviled” wasn’t associated with dressed eggs until about 1786 in Great Britain. “Deviled” referred to foods that were highly seasoned to make them spicy. At that time, eggs were seasoned with vinegar, honey, herbs, peppers, broth, cinnamon, other spices unique to the time period, and were stuffed with raisins, cheese, cloves, etc.American cooks did add the ingredient that’s most common in the deviled eggs that we know and love today – mayonnaise. Mayonnaise became popular as the base ingredient for the stuffing mixture during the 1940s.
The Wiregrass Devilicious Deviled Egg Contest has no entry fee. To enter, please bring 12 halves or whole eggs, depending on your recipe and presentation, to the Farmers Market between 8 a.m. and 10:15 a.m. Pre-registration is preferred, but you are welcome to enter by coming to the Market during the registration hours.Entry forms are available by contacting Kirkland at 334-348-2310 or kkirkland@enterpriseal.gov or by going to the Farmers Market website, www.enterpriseal.gov/183/Farmers-Market and Facebook pages www.facebook.com/enterprisealfarmersmarket/. The winners will be announced and awards presented at 11 a.m.