To give the pickling brine a little bbq personality, I used some of my favourite Carolina style vinegar bbq sauce, George's.  Unlike some of the other Carolina vinegar-based sauces, this one has some sweet to offset the vinegar and it comes in the form of apples added to the mix.  It's a great sauce and it's helped us win a few trophies in the pulled pork category at competitions over the years.  That makes it a winner in my books, and that's why it's here in the pickled eggs.

There are many approaches to getting eggs to hard boil and peel properly.  I like the method offered by Reg Pelletier of Niagara Falls who says to bring to a hard boil and then cover and let sit for 16 minutes before running under cold water and peeling.  As an extra tip, I like to use eggs that aren't extremely fresh; at least a week old in the fridge and then add some salt when I start to boil to strengthen the shells.  Also, when starting to cool the eggs under cold running water, tap the larger end of eggs against the side of the pan to allow the cold water to get between the outer shell and the egg.  The 18 eggs in this recipe I was able to peel in less than 5 minutes using these tips and methods, so they do work.......

For the brine:

1 cup white vinegar

1/2 cup white wine vinegar

1/2 cup George's bbq sauce (regular or hot; or any Carolina vinegar-based sauce)

2 cups water

1 T pickling spice (including dried hot pepper pod(s))

Boil hard 2-3 minutes to incorporate the pickling spice ingredients

Make 18 hard boiled eggs according to above directions.

In a non-reactive jar or container, add 7-8 cloves garlic and 4 or 5 slices of sweet onion (vidalia).  

Add peeled hard-boiled eggs and cover with the hot pickling brine.

Let cool on the countertop and then move to fridge for at least one week. Hide behind all those bbq sauce jars and the mayonnaise jar etc or else you're going to want to sneak them before they're fully pickled and at full flavour, which will be in the window of 7-10 days.  They'll keep quite a while, but if left too long, the egg will start to break down a bit and make the brine really cloudy and murky.....not that this has ever happened around my family..... especially if Katie has come to visit!

Enjoy, 

Mike