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Mutton, Devilled
Take three-quarters of a pound of cord cooked mutton, rather underdone, cut it into neat slices, spread them on both sides with a little made mustard, and sprinkle them with a seasoning of white pepper and salt, and a little cayenne. Put them on a gridiron, and broil over a clear fire for three or four minutes, then turn and broil on the other side. Put them on a very hot dish; heat a quarter of a pint of mush-room ketchup, pour it round the meat, and serve.
A Victorian way of using up a cold joint: mustard, cayenne and a fast fierce heat. The whole thing takes under ten minutes once the mutton is sliced.
- "Cord" is a misprintRead it as cold cooked mutton. The recipe is for leftovers from a roast or boiled joint, deliberately taken from meat left slightly underdone so the second cooking does not dry it out.
- Made mustard"Made" mustard means mustard already mixed to a paste, as opposed to dry powder. English mustard is the period-correct choice and gives the sharpness the dish is named for; Dijon works but is milder.
- A quarter of a pintIn an English book of this date that is 5 fl oz, about two-thirds of a cup. The recipe has it poured round the meat rather than over it, which would leave the mustard-crusted surface undisturbed.
- Mushroom ketchupNot tomato ketchup. It is a thin, dark, salty mushroom-and-spice liquor, closer to Worcestershire sauce, still sold by a few British makers. Worcestershire thinned with a little stock or mushroom soaking liquid stands in reasonably; taste before you commit 5 fl oz of anything that salty.
- Gridiron over a clear fireA "clear fire" is one burnt down to glowing coals with no smoke or flame. A ridged cast-iron pan over high heat, or a broiler element at its hottest with the meat close to it, gives the same result.
- Three or four minutes a side is a maximumThe mutton is already cooked; you are only crisping the mustard crust and heating it through. Slices half an inch thick will be ready in two minutes a side under a hot broiler, and longer turns them leathery.
- Salt with careThe joint was seasoned when first cooked and the ketchup is very salty. Season the slices for pepper and cayenne, and go light on the salt.
- YieldThree-quarters of a pound of cooked meat serves two generously, three at a lunch alongside toast, potatoes or watercress.
To "devil" a food in nineteenth-century Britain meant to coat it in something hot — mustard, cayenne, sometimes curry powder or chutney — and cook it hard, and the word is generally said to appear in print for such dishes from around the beginning of the century. Devilling belonged to the thrifty end of the household repertoire: it dealt with the second and third day of a large roast, which in a mutton-eating country meant a great deal of cold mutton, and the strong seasoning covered the flat taste of reheated meat. It was also breakfast and supper food, quick over the remains of a fire. Mushroom ketchup, the finishing sauce here, was the standard English bottled seasoning before tomato ketchup displaced it — a spoonful of savoury depth added at the end.