Living in an apartment for several years now, I maxed out my kitchen drawer space long ago. I despise the idea of buying all these kitchen gadgets just for one recipe. So I wanted to find a way to make these without all the fancy gadgets. I was able to make several adaptations, specifically in how I piped out the yolk and how I transported/displayed them. Therefore, I will not post a recipe in this post, as it will work with any recipe.
Deviled Egg Plate Substitute
The first issue is what to carry and display them in. My first thought was a 9"x13" dish. However, when I tested it out with a few empty egg cups, it proved to be messy and they slid everywhere. I didn't want to chance tipping the container and making a mess of them before they even got to the party. So I tried to think of something that I could place on the bottom of the dish to prevent it from sliding.
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| Place cling wrap with wrinkles on the bottom of the pan to prevent the eggs from sliding. Mine could have used more wrinkles as some eggs slid between the wrinkles. |
My final result: Cling wrap that is intentionally wrinkled. Even when the eggs were a bit wet (from rinsing them), they caught on the wrinkles, preventing them from sliding. It also does not take away too much from the clean look as a paper towel or tin foil might.
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| No slide! |
The second issue is the most obvious issue. There are many tools out there that help you to make a beautiful design with your yolk filling. Although that is something I think I would really enjoy, the tools are often large and I did not gain any space in my kitchen since writing the intro to this post.
This is an issue that many bakers encounter if they just do an occasional icing recipe here and there and do not want to spend the money on the fancy icing bag. The most common DIY tool for this instance is a good old ziplock bag.
I cut a very small corner off the tip of a small ziplock bag, turned it inside out over my hand, and scooped the yolk filling into the bag, turning it back so I could squeeze it out.
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| This was about 1 second before the plastic tip blew through the bag! |
A funny experience accompanied this experiment. I had the brainy idea to use a plastic fancy tip that I saved from a Christmas icing bag several years ago. I decided to try to use it with the ziplock bag (you can see it in one of the pictures). However, when squeezing the bag, the thickness of the filling pushed the fancy tip right through the bag hole, leaving me with quite a mess of filling. Luckily I didn't have to waste any of it and just scooped it back into the bag. I am thinking that the sturdiness of an actual icing bag might be worth the money if you want to try any fancy tip 😂
I did a comparison of looks in which I used a spoon, the ziplock bag, and the fancy tool which I borrowed from a family member. Obviously you can see which is the prettiest to use, but you can also see that it is easy and creates a smooth look to use a ziplock bag.
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| Left 2 eggs: spoon; Middle 2 eggs: ziplock bag; Right 2 eggs: fancy tool |
Both of the adaptations that I made to the deviled eggs worked perfect for me. They were a huge hit, and didn't make a mess getting there. I didn't have to spend any money or store new tools in my laundry room (the only place of storage for anything right now). Once I get my own kitchen with more storage, then I will probably invest in at least one of the tools as long as I continue to make them for social gatherings. The tools and gadgets of today often make food look clean, fancy and easier to make. But sometimes you just have to be practical. And that's what this blog is all about.
Enjoy!
