Hey! Read all the instructions all the way through before you start doing anything!

• Boil some water in a small saucepot and add the “any old” salt. Note: Heavily salted water makes the eggs way easier to peel.
• Prepare a small ice bath from 75 percent ice and 25 percent cold water so you can immediately place the cooked eggs into the cooling bath. Note: If you don’t have ice, no problem. Just run cold water over the eggs after boiling until they are fully submerged and cooled—takes a minute or two. The point is to stop them from overcooking.
• With a spoon, add eggs gently to the boiling water. Make sure the water is at a low simmer once they are all in.
• Boil for 4 minutes, then remove the pot from the heat. Take out 1 egg with a slotted spoon and crack it open immediately to ensure it is hard-boiled before you remove the others. Note: The temperature the eggs started at can impact cooking time—super-cold eggs usually cook well at 4 minutes, but if they were at room temperature already, try 3 minutes.
• Once hard-boiled, plunge the eggs into your ice bath to stop the cooking. When cooled, peel the quail eggs by gently hitting one side against the sink basin to form a crack and then taking your fingers to gently squish it all over and loosen the shell.
• Using a straight-edged knife, cut the peeled eggs in half length-wise and scoop the yolks into a small bowl using a tiny spoon or whatever you have that works.
• To the yolks, add 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard, 2 teaspoons mayonnaise, Maldon salt, a couple turns of black pepper, and a sprinkle of paprika. Mix well with a fork - it should be creamy.
• Taste the mixture and adjust the seasoning to your preferences. Note: Keep in mind that the bacon, if you’re adding it, is salty.
• If you want to be all cheffy about it, you can add the yolk mixture to a piping bag with a star tip and pipe little rosettes back into the egg whites. Or you can just spoon the yolk back in, which looks gorgeous and rustic.
• Finish by sprinkling with paprika and another touch of Maldon. Place 2 chive sticks into the yolks in a slight crisscross shape and add the bacon here if you like.

Enjoy!