Deviled eggs might seem like a fairly simple dish. After all, most deviled egg recipes are pretty easy to make. Just pop a dozen eggs into boiling water until they are hardboiled. Cool them, peel them, and halve them. Remove the cooked egg yolk and mash it together with some mayonnaise, mustard, and spices. Then, stuff the halved egg whites with the creamy, yolky mixture. Voilà: a platter of easy and delicious appetizers is ready to serve. 

While the actual deviled egg cooking process is easy, the history behind the meal is much more complicated. Even though deviled eggs don't require many ingredients, chefs didn't develop the recipe overnight. On the contrary, cooks needed thousands of years to create the perfect combination of egg yolks, spices, and other ingredients.