How to Make Smoked, Deviled Eggs!

So I was at this restaurant in downtown Memphis and I ordered Smoked Crab Deviled Eggs. It really tasted good but the smoke was a bit harsh. So I asked the waiter to ask the Chef, what kind of wood did they use to smoke the egg yolks? The Chef stated that he did not use wood, which means they use liquid smoke. And that's fine but he was a little heavy handed with it.

So when I got home I was bound and determined to smoke some Egg Yolks!!

For me the details are what makes food great. So, to smoke egg yolks you have to start with perfectly boiled eggs!!

Perfectly Boiled and Smoked Eggs

10 Eggs

Water

Aluminum Foil

Charcoal

Wood Chips for Smoking!! Soak the chips in water.

Soak the wood chips

Dump your wood chips in a large pot and fill the pot with water. Set aside, the chips need to soak for at least 30 minutes, one hour is better!

Boiling the eggs

Place 10 eggs in a large sauce pot. Cover the eggs with COLD water from your tap. You'll want about 1" of water over the eggs!

Place the pot uncovered on high heat and wait for that puppy to boil!

As soon as the pot boils, remove it from the heat, place a lid on the pot and set a timer for 10 minutes. 

*set a timer for 12 minutes if you are using extra large eggs.

Prepare an ice bath. Simply a large bowl with ice cubes and water.

As soon as the timer goes off use a slotted spoon and move the eggs to the ice bath.

Carefully under running water crack and peel the eggs.

Cooking Note:

Q. What is that green hue around egg yolks?

Well there's great news! If you follow these directions, you should never see that green color on your egg yolks ever again!

A. Eggs contain both Sulfur and Iron. When eggs are cooked too long or at too high a temperature the sulfur and the iron react on the surface of the yolk. 

Now, if you live somewhere where the iron content in your water is high, you may consider using bottled water if the green is simply too much for you. However it is harmless and only affects the appearance. But again, now you know how to make perfect boiled eggs every time.

Now that we have perfect boiled eggs you will need to slice them in half and remove the yolk.

Check out the cool knife cut!

Place the Yolks on two sheets of aluminum foil, cut side down.

Setup the grill and smoke the eggs

Go out and fire up the grill! Use indirect heat (for those new to this that only means that you put all of the coals on one side of the grill. Let the coals get very hot. If you have a smoking tray begin adding the wood chips. If you do not have a smoking tray you can fashion one out of foil or you can do what I do... I drop a handful of the wood chips directly on the fire being careful not to extinguish the coals.

Lay the foil with the egg yolks on the opposite side of the grill. As seen below.

Cooking Note:

Make sure the air vent on or near the bottom of the grill is open and the the vent on top of the grill is half closed. You want the smoke to circulate around the yolks.

I smoke the eggs for 1 - 1 1/2 hrs. Add wood chips as needed, keep er smokin! Keep the heat low, rotate the eggs if you see one side cooking faster than the other and babysitting eggs is a great excuse to drink a beer!

You will notice as you check in on your yolks that moisture is seeping out of the eggs. This is normal.

This is what the end of the smoking process should look like!

Back inside, take a fork and mash up the egg yolks.

From here you can go in ANY direction! At first you will think that these yolks will never break down and become creamy. They will. 

Fold in grandma's deviled egg recipe, your deviled egg recipe and the yolks will break down. Taste, taste, taste as you will find yourself adding more deviled egg ingredients until you are happy with the level of smoke in the mixture.

Or once again you can leave the realm of normal! I add my mothers deviled egg ingredients (no relish) and then cook a Mexican roast for 6 hours, shred the meat and fold that into the mixture. You could shred ribs, crab or almost anything you feel would taste great with smoke flavoring! Your friends will be blown away!!

Enjoy