Pull up a seat at my Thanksgiving table—all are welcome here. Grab one of the jammy deviled eggs. Forgive the lack of fall hues. Orange was never my thing. And forgive the mismatched plates and linen. The humble flowers from the local shop. The bedsheet masquerading as a table cloth. This wasn’t an elaborate photoshoot. My husband & I threw it together with what we had on hand. Nothing was ironed. The candles were crooked. And it was lovely to sit here and eat green beans with lots of aleppo pepper, a lemony roast chicken, chess pie, and our real masterpiece—these Japan inspired “deviled eggs” which are really more “oeuf mayo”—the deconstructed French predecessor to the glorious deviled egg. Find the recipe and some meanderings on gratitude below…
A Twist on Deviled Eggs
My father’s deviled eggs were always my favorite part of Thanksgiving. And my truffled deviled eggs are (dare I say) a classic. But these. I won’t say they’re better than my fathers because they’re simply a different beast. They’re like deviled eggs but far quicker and easier to make. No arduous scooping out of the yolks and piping them back in. Which would be impossible with jammy eggs anyhow. With these you get to have the yolk at it’s silkiest, and you’re done in a dollop.
If you don’t have, can’t find, or don’t want to buy Kewpie mayo I’ve included a recipe for making homemade Kewpie mayo, which is what we did for these photos. And it was just as good. Maybe better. And let’s start this by saying: I HATE mayonnaise. But I love Kewpie (the real thing and our homemade Kewpie mayo). Kewpie bears more resemblance to aioli than the white jiggly stuff from the Kraft jar growing up.
It’s creamy, acidic, and yet, it has it’s fair share of MSG. That said, from my thoroughly unscientific googling the jury is out on whether MSG is even bad for you at all. Suffice to say if you think it bothers you, skip the Kewpie, and omit the Accent seasoning from the DIY version. You’ll be golden. Golden like jammy egg yolks.
I’ve also included my recipe for homemade furikake. Which I want to include in my cookbook, but I just can’t begrudge you it now. I guess I’ll have to come up with an even better version for the book! That said, this first, we’ll call it beta version, is delicious and reminds me of my favorite furikake we bring back from the Nishiki market in Kyoto each year.
My Gift to You
The best damn creamy umami jammy egg situation we’ve ever created. Matt literally almost cried when he tried them. And frankly let’s be honest: he did this. He perfected the mayo while I perfected my latest preset collection for Lightroom mobile & desktop, The Instagram Collection, and while I recorded the latest episode of the Raw Milk podcast (it’s all about how to get over fear and start something.) Like for instance getting over the fear that you haven’t blogged since March. Heh. You might not even know I have a podcast it’s been so long! I digress. Matt made the furikake twice to get it just right. He typed up the recipes. And he shot (and styled!) the photos while I was at the shrink. Because we all need to be shrunken sometimes. So, let’s hear it for Matt, jammy eggs, and gratitude. Thank you, husband, for being my partner in so much more than marriage and parenthood.
And thank you, friend
Thanks to new friends for stopping in and to the old for hanging in. This community has been my constant. Since I started this blog in 2012 my life has taken so many twists and turns it feels like I’ve lived three lifetimes over a mere six years. And the one thing I’ve learned is that in the good times AND the bad, it is critical to cultivate gratitude. In the good, we can fall prey to taking our blessings for granted. We can get greedy. Ever striving for more, more. And in the bad, we can fall prey to negative tapes that play in our head. Tapes we pretend we’re powerless to change. But we aren’t. Whatever season you are in, cultivate gratitude and you’ll find everything you need has been there all along. It isn’t out there. It’s in you.
If you want to keep up with the blog (and I’m not going to pretend to know how frequently I’ll be posting!), you can join the community here. You’ll get my exclusive monthly letter on all things slow living & building a life you love as well every recipe, travel guide, and slow living post here on Local Milk hand delivered to your inbox. Let me know what you’d like to see on this blog in the future in the comments…I’m feeling motivated! Haha. Recipe, travel guides, interiors, herbalism, green living, slow fashion? Let me know. I’m listening. And if you make these…please let me know how you liked them! I’m dead obsessed. And I think you will be too.
And now, on to the good stuff.
If you have or can get your hands on Kewpie mayo, there's no need to make it yourself. That said, I think I (and I can't believe I'm saying this!) slightly prefer our homemade version! If you can't get dashi powder (and I reckon not many of you can), you can just pulse bonito flakes until they're a fine powder and use that instead. Or omit it altogether. It'll still be great. And if you have furikake on hand, you by no means have to make it from scratch. But if you don't, this is a real good one and worth the effort. I usually make it the day before. I store it in an airtight jar and use it on pretty much everything from soup to salad to savory bowls.
Ingredients
- ½ cup good mayonnaise like Duke's or Hellman's
- 1 ½ teaspoons Rice Vinegar
- ¾ teaspoon Accent seasoning (omit if you have an MSG aversion)
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon Dashi Powder or bonito flake powder (see headnote, optional)
- ¼ cup (tightly packed) bonito flakes
- 2 tablespoon crumbled toasted nori sheets (I just use the "sea snacks" brand)
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon shichimi togarashi (Japanese seven spice), aleppo pepper, or crushed red pepper
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
- 1 ume plum (optional but highly recommended)
- 12 high quality eggs, cold and straight out of the fridge
- 1/2 cup homemade or regular kewpie mayo
- 3 scallions, sliced thin on a bias, white and light green parts only
- furikake for sprinkling
Instructions
- To make the furikake, mix the soy sauce, sugar, and mashed ume plum to combine as thoroughly s you can. Combine the soy mixture with the bonito, nori, shichimi togarashi (or aleppo or chili flakes), and sesame seeds. Cook in a dry skillet on low to medium low head until the mixture is dry and crispy, about 6-8 mins. Be very careful not to burn, especially towards the end. You can then pulse it in a food processor (I use my mini cuisinart) or blender for a finer texture, or crumble it with your hands for a coarse texture.
- To make the mayo, Combine all ingredients into a mixing bowl and whisk until incorporated and silky smooth.
- To assemble, bring about an inch of water to a boil in a steamer, and steam the eggs, covered, for exactly 8 minutes. Remove and place into an ice bath for at least 3 mins no more than 6 mins. Peel the eggs, and carefully cut them in half. They should be quite jammy and the yolks should still be slightly runny in a few. Top with a dollop of mayo, a sprinkle of furikake, and a few slivers of scallion. If you have leftover they are excellent over a bowl of steamed Japanese rice for breakfast!
I hate to say it, but most store-bought dashi powder has msg in it as a main ingredient. But!! There is absolutely no solid scientific proof WHATSOEVER that monosodium glutamate, the umami component naturally found in kelp, is deleterious to health. Many people who claim to be made ill by it (or even made to feel slightly icky) freely admit to eating various processed foods (hi potato chips!) that they did not know contain monosodium glutamate under some name or another. The Japanese have used it profusely since 1909, and basically all Japanese restaurants use it. Some people speculate that there might be some, ahem, antiquated American cultural bias against it, as the frenzy began with one op-ed piece in the 60’s about Chinese restaurants (if you want to know more see David Chang’s feelings about it).
It is always good to question chemically-produced goods. But anyone who eats processed foods should be wary of assigning blame to the only flavor enhancement traditionally associated with another culture’s cooking. So please—suggest Kewpie mayo with no compunction! Break out the Hondashi! Stand by your potato chips as an indulgence and don’t worry about it.
Preach sister! I get my additive free dashi “tea bags” from Kayanoya (USA.kayanoya.com) and I love them! But I’m with you and David Chang on the MSG. Kewpie for dayyyyz. #noregrets
So happy to see you’re blogging again. I most enjoy your cooking and gathering posts and your thoughtful writing.
Thank you so much! I’m excited to be back!
Thank you for letting me know about Kayanoya!
Off topic, but do you make your own umami powder? Bonito flakes, kombu, and dried shiitake all ground up. I don’t even know how many things I shake it onto, but now I’m going to try a wee sprinkle onto these jammy eggs. Never knew about steaming ’em, a revelation I can’t wait to try.
We make our own furikake using the leftover kombu and bonito from making dashi…and yes…so good on eggs!
Thanks for reaching out and I enjoyed reading this blog , your recipe looks incredible and I’m going to attempt to try make it . I look forward to reading more of your blogs :))
So happy to see you’re blogging again. I most enjoy your cooking …