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Devilled Bones
Take half a tea-spoonful each of ground black pepper and salt, one tea-spoonful of made mustard, a large pinch of cayenne, and half an ounce of butter; put into a small basin, and mix together thoroughly with the blade of a knife. Take the bones of cold ribs or sirloin of beef, leaving just a little meat upon them; spread the mixture upon them with a knife, and grill over a clear fire until they are nicely browned, which will take from ten to fifteen minutes. Probable cost, 4d.
A Victorian way of using up the rib bones from a roast, and one of the few recipes where the leftovers were considered better than the joint. The mixture is a paste, not a marinade, so it wants to be stiff enough to stay put on the bone.
- The hinge: keep the paste thickHalf an ounce of butter (about 1 tablespoon) to that much mustard and pepper gives a paste you can spread with a knife blade. If the butter is melted rather than merely soft, it runs off in the heat and the seasoning ends up in the fire.
- "Made mustard"Mustard already mixed with liquid, as opposed to dry mustard powder. English mustard from a jar is the direct equivalent; Dijon works but is milder and more acidic.
- Quantity and yieldThe recipe gives no yield; this much paste will coat the bones from a rib or sirloin roast -- a savoury course or a snack rather than a dinner.
- Grilling equipment"Grill over a clear fire" means direct radiant heat from glowing coals with no flame or smoke. A charcoal grill is the closest match; a domestic broiler on its highest setting, with the bones close to the element, does the job indoors.
- Ten to fifteen minutesThat is right for a cool coal fire but long under a modern broiler, where the paste can blacken in five. Watch it and turn the bones as the fat crisps rather than trusting the clock.
- Leave more meat than you thinkLeave what meat there is -- The recipe wants 'just a little meat' on the bones. If your roast has been carved close, score what remains so the paste catches in the cuts, or the result is mostly scorched seasoning.
- Cayenne'A large pinch' is imprecise, and the dish was meant to be fierce; that heat is what 'devilled' signalled. Scale it to taste rather than to the letter.
- Probable cost, 4dThe fourpence appears to cover only the mustard, butter and spice; the bones are leftovers, assumed already in the house.
Devilling -- coating something in mustard, cayenne and pepper and giving it fierce direct heat -- appears in English cookery writing by around the turn of the nineteenth century, the name traditionally traced to the infernal heat of the seasoning, though that explanation is folk etymology rather than documented. It belonged to the late supper and the club sideboard as much as to the family table: devilled bones, devilled kidneys and devilled biscuits were the sort of thing served after the theatre or with a glass of something at midnight, and devilling was often done at table in a chafing dish. The dish fits the household economy the book preaches throughout: a joint of beef was expected to yield a hot dinner, a cold dinner, and then this, the bones themselves, at fourpence.