The Fancy Ingredient That Will Change Your Deviled Eggs Forever

Dust off your pearl necklace. It's time to pour a good Old Fashioned, polish the silverware, get out the good napkins, snail mail paper invitations for a dinner party. Or, perhaps it's just the same get-together you have every week, sweatpants included. Either way, whether you're dressed to the nines or going to sleep at nine, we're getting fancy with this fresh twist on an old dinner party classic: Deviled eggs... with a secret ingredient.

For an appetizer, no dinner party guest could forget trying a teaspoon of caviar. Caviar is actually the eggs of the sturgeon fish (any other fish eggs are just "roe," per Reader's Digest). Not only are these little morsels intoxicatingly luxurious, but they also boast an impressive array of health benefits, too. Dietician Patricia Lane of the Cleveland Clinic calls caviar a "nutritional powerhouse." The tiny eggs are packed with omega-3 fatty acids, promote healthy skin, and boost the immune system. Lane even recommends incorporating caviar into your regular diet twice a week due to the array of good fats it provides. Here's why it also works for your deviled eggs.

It's all about the taste and mouthfeel. According to the sturgeon egg authorities at Imperia Caviar, the flavor experience happens in waves. Initially, it states, the taste is salty and lightly fishy, then transitions into either nuttiness or brightness depending on your caviar's origin. You can even bring out the caviar's natural flavors by adding complementary herbs, like these deviled eggs with caviar, chives, and dill. We're not suggesting that you dump a spoonful of golden osetra onto your hors d'oeuvres, but a dollop of the black stuff will make for an unexpected, flavorful bite with a slightly salty, briny flare. To amp up the mouthfeel even further, Real Simple recommends stirring a little crème fraiche into your egg mixture for an extra creamy bite. While we love a veggie-friendly option, vegan caviar will provide a similar unconventional mouthfeel, but its vegetal taste lacks complementary fishiness that makes this dish work. 

But even if your dinner party guests are already knocking at the door, don't make the mistake of scooping that caviar onto your deviled eggs with just any old spoon. Metal infamously damages the taste of delicate caviar. Christopher Klapp of the 98-year old caviar brand, Petrossian, explains, "Caviar absorbs flavors of the metal, just as it absorbs salt," via Food & Wine. Unless you want to be tasting your silverware drawer, use a spoon made from Mother of Pearl, bone, ivory, or shell.