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Devilled Bones
2 tablespoon butter 1 tablespoon Chili Sauce 1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce 1 tablespoon Walnut Catsup 1 teaspoon made mustard Few grains cayenne Drumsticks, second joints, and wings of a cooked chicken Salt Pepper Flour Cup hot stock Finely chopped parsley Melt butter, and add Chili Sauce, Worcestershire Sauce, Walnut Catsup, mustard, and cayenne. Cut four small gashes in each piece of chicken. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, dredge with flour, and cook in the seasoned butter until well browned. Pour on stock, simmer five minutes, and sprinkle with chopped parsley.
A quick pan dish for leftover roast chicken, built on the Victorian "devil" formula of butter, mustard, cayenne and bottled sauces. The whole thing takes about ten minutes once the chicken is cold.
- The gashes are the pointCutting four gashes into each piece lets the seasoned butter reach the meat rather than sitting on the skin. The recipe calls for small gashes; rub the salt, pepper and flour into the cuts.
- Walnut catsupA thin, dark, salty condiment of green walnuts, vinegar and spice, once a common bottled sauce alongside Worcestershire and now hard to find outside specialist grocers. Mushroom ketchup is the nearest relative still widely sold; a teaspoon of soy plus a little extra Worcestershire fills the same savoury slot.
- Made mustardPrepared wet mustard, not the dry powder. Any smooth English or Dijon mustard works; if you have only powder, mix it with a little water and let it stand ten minutes to develop heat.
- Chili sauceIn American cookbooks of this era this means the thick tomato-and-onion relish sold beside ketchup, mildly spiced, not a hot pepper sauce. Substituting sriracha or similar will throw the balance badly.
- Stock quantityThe ingredient list gives only "Cup hot stock" with no fraction, so the amount is open. About half a cup is enough to deglaze the pan and glaze the pieces; a full cup gives you a thin sauce rather than a coating.
- Heat controlThe butter is holding flour, mustard and tomato, all of which scorch. Use medium heat and turn the pieces often; if the pan browns too fast, add the stock earlier and let it reduce.
- Simmer timeFive minutes is correct because the chicken is already cooked. Longer only dries the meat and thickens the sauce past the point where it clings.
- YieldThe recipe gives no yield; the wings, drumsticks and thighs of one bird would serve roughly two as a main course, or four as a first course.
"Devilling" was a common Victorian and Edwardian treatment for cold cooked meat: score it, coat it in mustard and cayenne with something sharp and something salty, and brown it so the seasoning bites. Devilled bones were supper and sideboard food, made from the joints left after a roast bird had been carved for dinner, and dishes of this kind were served as late-night savouries alongside devilled kidneys. The bottled sauces called for here — Worcestershire, chili sauce, walnut catsup — were by this date established items in the American store cupboard.