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Turkey, Devil of, Dry
The legs, back, gizzard, and rump of cold cooked turkey may be used for this dish. Score the meat along and across at regular distances, three-quarters of an inch apart, and three-quarters of an inch deep. Rub into the gashes a well-mixed seasoning made of a salt-spoonful of white pepper, a salt-spoonful of salt, a quarter of a salt-spoonful of cayenne, and the strained juice of a lemon, and cover with freshly-made mustard. Brush the pieces of meat over with butter or oil, and broil over a clear fire till they are brown and crisp without being at all burnt, and turn them over that they may be equally done on both sides. Send to table on a hot dish with little pieces of butter upon them. Dry toast may be served as an accompaniment. The devil will be all the more savoury if it is prepared some hours before it is broiled. If liked, half a clove of garlic may be minced and mixed with the seasoning, or the following ingredients may be used for flavouring instead of those given above. Half a salt-spoonful of salt, half a salt-spoonful of curry-powder, half a salt-spoonful of cayenne, and a heaped salt-spoonful of mushroom or truffle-powder. Time, five minutes to prepare the devil, seven to ten minutes to broil it. Sufficient for four or five persons. Probable cost, exclusive of the meat, about 3d.
A leftovers dish built for a coal grate, and it survives the move to a gas grill or an oven broiler almost intact. The one thing worth respecting is the scoring: the gashes are what carry the seasoning into meat that is already cooked and cannot absorb flavour any other way.
- Salt-spoonfulA salt-spoon is the small spoon that sat in a Victorian open salt cellar, roughly a quarter teaspoon. So the base seasoning is about 1/4 tsp each white pepper and salt with a pinch of cayenne, and the alternative mix is about 1/8 tsp each salt, curry powder and cayenne plus a generous 1/4 tsp mushroom powder.
- Score deep and season earlyThree-quarter-inch cuts in both directions, three-quarters of an inch deep, are not decorative. Cold roast turkey takes on almost nothing at the surface, and the book is right that leaving it seasoned for several hours before broiling makes the difference between a devil and a peppered leftover.
- "Dry" means no sauceThe seasoning is rubbed in and grilled on, as against the wet devils the title implies, where the meat is finished in a sauce. Nothing has been omitted here; the lemon juice, mustard and butter are all the moisture there is.
- Broiling over a clear fireA clear fire is one burnt down to glowing coals, without smoke or flame. Under a gas or electric broiler set high, place the pieces 4-5 inches from the element; on a grill, wait until the coals are grey. The mustard coating scorches quickly, which is what the recipe means by "without being at all burnt."
- Seven to ten minutes still holdsUnusually for a Victorian time, this one is sound, because the turkey is already cooked. The aim is a brown crust, not reheating to temperature, and much beyond ten minutes will dry the dark meat past the point of pleasure.
- Gizzard and rumpBoth are hard to buy separately now. Turkey thighs, drumsticks and the meat pulled off the carcass in slabs all work; a gizzard needs long simmering before it will take a grill at all, so skip it unless you saved one from the stock pot.
- Mushroom and truffle powderOnce sold as pantry staples, now mostly a specialist purchase. Dried porcini ground in a spice mill is a direct substitute, and a scant 1/4 tsp of mushroom powder does more for this seasoning than the curry powder does.
- Yield and serviceFour or five as a savoury or breakfast dish, not as a main course. Serve on a hot plate with cold butter dotted over so it melts at the table, and dry toast to catch it.
"Devilling" enters English cookery vocabulary in the late eighteenth century and belongs squarely to the club and chophouse: cold meat, bones or poultry legs, scored, loaded with cayenne, mustard and pepper, and grilled hard, eaten late at night or at breakfast the morning after. The name is generally taken to refer to the heat rather than to any single recipe, and by the time Cassell's was compiled a devil was less a dish than a technique applied to whatever was left on the carcass. Its appearance here, immediately among the turkey entries, suggests how the remains of a large roast bird might be used: the breast was carved and served hot, and the legs, back and rump were given the seasoning and the fire a second day. The economy is explicit in the costing of threepence for the flavourings, exclusive of the meat, which was reckoned to have been paid for already.