Leave the eggs at room temperature at least eight hours.
Put the cream cheese into a glass pie plate to soften while you are boiling the eggs. (Ceramic or stainless will do.)
Put the eggs into a pot with a cake rack on the bottom, cover with cold water, bring to a boil, cover tightly, turn off heat. (If stove is electric, move to a cool burner.)
Set timer for ten minutes.
While waiting for the water to boil, put the salt, mustard, vinegar, and horseradish into the glass pie plate. Mix the mustard and vinegar together. Set aside.
When the ten minutes are up, drain the water off the eggs and put a colander in the sink to catch the shells. Put a clean dish towel on the counter.
Crack an egg by dropping it gently on all sides and both ends. Eggs vary, so start by dropping a quarter of an inch and gradually increase until you find out how far to drop this batch of eggs.
Turn on a dribble of water to keep your hands cool while shelling the boiling-hot egg. (Or have a pan of water to dip the eggs in and collect the shells.)
Roll the egg gently between your palms to loosen the shell, then pick off plates until the membrane ruptures. If you start at the air cell, you may be able to rupture the membrane by pinching it, but pinching it anywhere else will tear the white.
Unwrap the egg and put it on the dish towel. Repeat until all eggs are peeled.
Slice each egg lengthwise, pop the yolk into the pie plate, and put the white into the serving dish. If you have to start piling up the eggs, put the rest of the whites back on the towel.
Crush the yolks with a fork and mix them with the other ingredients in the pie plate. If the mixture is crumbly or too stiff, add some sour cream.
Use the same fork to put the yolks back into the whites, piling them up a little. If there is yolk left over, divide it among whites that seem to have been shorted. If there isn't quite enough, even after you scrape the plate with a rubber spatula, steal some from whites that have more than their share.
Garnish with a light dusting of paprika, cover
tightly, and chill until it's time to serve.
These are best made the evening before so that the
mustard has time to develop.
Sprinkle the paprika by shaking some into your hand, then picking up small pinches to sprinkle on the eggs. Trying to use the dispenser on the bottle gets paprika all over.
eighteen eggs
the other 1/2 package cream cheese
*really* heaping tablespoon horseradish
rounded tablespoon dry mustard
tablespoon sherry vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
sufficient sour cream
1/8 teaspoon ascorbic acid
mini-sweet pepper slices to garnish
eighteen eggs
1/2 package cream cheese
level tablespoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/8 teaspoon ascorbic acid
1 teaspoon salt
tablespoon sherry vinegar
sufficient sour cream
paprika to garnish
eighteen eggs
1/2 package cream cheese
1 1/2 tablespoon dry mustard
two really-heaping half tablespoons horseradish
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon salt
tablespoon sherry vinegar
sufficient sour cream
paprika to garnish
Oops, sherry vinegar is dark. Turmeric sorta covers it, but the color isn't bright.
eighteen eggs
skimpy 1/2 package cream cheese
1 tablespoon dry mustard
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon salt
tablespoon cider vinegar
insufficient sour cream
squirt of ranch dressing
crank of pepper
mini-sweet pepper slices to garnish
I think that a tablespoon of olive oil would have improved it, but I wasn't just about to do all that mixing again.