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Deviled egg

egg-based dish

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 19, 2026
Entity authorityQ551458
Source-derived summary

Deviled eggs in American English, devilled eggs in Commonwealth English, also known as stuffed eggs, curried eggs, dressed eggs or angel eggs, are hard-boiled eggs that have been peeled, cut in half, with the yolk scooped out, then refilled after being mixed with other ingredients such as mayonnaise and mustard and sprinkled with paprika, cinnamon or curry powder. They are generally served cold as a side dish, appetizer or a main course during gatherings or parties. The dish is popular in Europe, North America and Australia.

Etymology

The adjective "devilled" first appeared in print in the mid-1500s. The English word "devil", in reference to highly seasoned food, was in use in the 18th century, with the first known print reference appearing in 1786. In the 19th century, the adjective "devilled" came to be used most often with spicy or zesty food, including eggs prepared with mustard, pepper, or other ingredients stuffed in the yolk cavity. Similar uses of "devil" for spiced foods include deviled ham and fra diavolo sauce (from the Italian word for "devil").

At church functions in parts of the Southern and Midwestern United States, the terms "stuffed eggs", "salad eggs", and "dressed eggs" occur instead, to avoid reference to the word "devil". For this reason, the term "angel eggs" is also occasionally used.

History

Recipes for hard-boiled eggs stuffed with herbs, cheese and raisins can be found in the cookery texts of medieval European cuisine.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Deviled egg” is egg-based dish. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Deviled, egg-based and dish, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1786—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. For this dossier, Deviled, egg-based and dish is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “egg-based dish” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q551458. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1786.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Deviled egg” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.