food tricks

[cellio]

This evening we went to an SCA household dinner. The theme was "old foods"; since I had failed to come up with any ideas around the "green and fuzzy" theme, we opted for what we hoped was entertainingly-faked documentation instead. We knew the host likes devilled eggs (as do I), so we told her we were bringing "devilled dodo eggs", and brought a facsimile of the recipe in the original hiroglyphics to prove it. Ok, maybe Mark Twain's "Diary of Adam and Eve" isn't really a primary source. :-)

I wanted to color the eggs in some way, just to give them an unusual appearance. I thought that I would get a purple hue by simmering them for a few hours in beet juice (with some white wine to help leech out color), but what I actually got was brown, not purple. Which was ok -- just unexpected. (I boiled the eggs, then rolled them around to crack the shells, and then simmered those. I completely peeled one egg to act as a color indicator, so I could check progress easily. On the other eggs I got a nice mottled effect.)

I have seen deep purple hard-boiled eggs. It's a striking effect with devilled eggs -- a nice contrast to the yellow filling. I wonder whether the process involved natural agents or chemicals.

We should take a turn for dinner sometime in the next several months, so I would like to grab a date around Purim and do "disguised foods". As part of this, I need to hit up my friend Yaakov for his "ham" recipe; I visited him for Purim last year and had this, and it was a remarkable imitation of real ham! I'm especially impressed because I'm pretty sure Yaakov has never tasted the real thing. (He called it "vam", so I infer that it's really veal. I don't actually know; Yaakov can say "here, taste this" to me and I'll do it without further questions.)

Comments

[sethcohen.livejournal.com]

The vam was veal.

[estherchaya.livejournal.com]

Veal shoulder to be exact. And he did say for sure that he'd never had the real thing (lucky him!)

[steven.livejournal.com]

You saw Deep Purple hard-boil eggs? That must have been something.

[cellio]

Deep purple was part of the definition of "devilled eggs" when I was growing up. I just never found out how to make them that way, aside from vague hints about beet juice.

I mentioned this to Dani and he acted like I had grown a third eye or something. Apparently he has never encountered purple eggs. I gather, from the fact that I've almost never seen them as an adult, that his is the usual experience and mine is the unusual.

[dagonell.livejournal.com]

It's NOT unique. :D Actually, what I find unusual is that I associate the purple deviled eggs to the Russian/Polish/Slavic ethnic background and from your surname I had assumed you were Italian by heritage. One caveat to Rani's recipe. Most packaged beets are packed in water, not beet juice. If you can't find beets packed in beet juice, cut a few into chunks and puree them in a blender. That's how we make red for Psyanky. And I agree, it takes longer than 8 hours. My folks would leave them for a couple of days

[cellio]

Actually, what I find unusual is that I associate the purple deviled eggs to the Russian/Polish/Slavic ethnic background and from your surname I had assumed you were Italian by heritage.

I am Italian. Well, half-Italian (my father's side), but that's the side that produced the purple eggs, so my German/English/Irish ancestors don't factor in anyway.

What's ironic is that Dani's family comes from Russia and Poland, so if you're right then he should have seen this more than I have. :-)

One caveat to Rani's recipe. Most packaged beets are packed in water, not beet juice.

Thanks for the warning.

[rani23.livejournal.com]

The way my mom has always gotten purple hardboiled eggs is by pickling them for about a week in beet juice.

[cellio]

Aha. Thank you!

Re:

[rani23.livejournal.com]

Here's a recipe I found on epicurious.com -- however, I know my mom would put the beets and eggs together for a lot longer than 8 hours.

-------------
Pennylvania Pickled Beets and Eggs

1 16-ounce can sliced beets, drained, liquid reserved
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup cider vinegar
6 whole black peppercorns
6 whole allspice berries
6 hard-boiled eggs, shelled
1 small onion, sliced

Combine reserved beet liquid, sugar, vinegar, peppercorns and allspice in medium nonaluminum saucepan. Bring to boil over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves; remove from heat. Add eggs and onion and turn to coat completely. Add beets. Cover pan and refrigerate until eggs are deep pink color, turning occasionally, about 8 hours. (Can be prepared 2 days ahead.)

Drain juices. Cut eggs lengthwise in half. Arrange beets and onion on plate. Top with eggs and serve.

[cellio]

Thanks for the recipe! Aha; I am not a mutant. :-) (So this is possibly a Pennyslvania thing? Hmm.)

[dagonell.livejournal.com]

I did a quick search using Google. It's definitely a Polish thing. Now "a pennsylvania thing" to me, implies German cooking as in Pennsylvania Dutch. And if it were strictly a PA thing, like Iron City Beer, then wouldn't Dani be more familar with it? :D

[cellio]

And if it were strictly a PA thing, like Iron City Beer, then wouldn't Dani be more familar with it? :D

Nah. Dani's an import. He doesn't even understand that steak salads contain fries. :-)