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Devilled Fowl
2 teaspoons prepared mustard 1 teaspoon salad oil 1 teaspoon salt Shake cayenne 1 1/2 cups Bechamel sauce 2 tablespoons shortening 1 teaspoon vinegar 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce 1 teaspoon mustard Cut thighs and wings from 2 underdone fowls, either roasted or boiled. Score them closely about 1/4 in. deep, and rub in paste made with mustard, salad oil, salt, cayenne; lay them aside to season while rest of meat is chopped fine and stirred into Bechamel or any good sauce. Put shortening in pan and when it browns add vinegar, Worcestershire sauce and mustard. Broil legs and wings till handsome brown, and roll each one in butter mixture as it is taken from gridiron. Put mince in center of hot platter, arrange grilled bones around it and serve piping hot. Serves 8.
This is the Victorian and Edwardian dish of devilled bones, dressed up here as a two-part platter: hot grilled joints ringing a creamy mince. The hinge is the paste, which must go into cuts deep enough to hold it, or the heat sits on the surface and scorches off under the broiler.
- Score, then restThe quarter-inch cuts are not decorative. They let the mustard paste reach the meat, and the recipe's own instruction to lay the joints aside to "season" while the rest of the meat is chopped is what makes the difference between devilled meat and mustard-smeared meat.
- The two mustardsThe list calls for both prepared mustard (2 teaspoons, for the rub) and a further teaspoon of mustard for the pan butter. The second is best read as dry mustard powder, which dissolves into the hot fat; prepared mustard will work but gives a thinner, more vinegary finish.
- Shortening means butter hereThe method refers to the pan mixture as "butter mixture," so use butter, about 2 tablespoons. No quantity of extra butter is given beyond the shortening; the two are the same thing.
- Fowl versus chickenA "fowl" in this period usually meant a mature bird rather than a young broiler, often tougher and more strongly flavoured. Two birds of roughly 4 to 5 lb suit the yield; if you use a true stewing hen, the joints will need longer under the heat.
- "Underdone" needs careThe grilled thighs and wings finish cooking on the gridiron, but the chopped meat folded into the Bechamel does not get cooked again. Use poultry that is fully cooked through before you chop it, and bring the mince to a simmer in the sauce rather than merely warming it.
- Broiler heatA gridiron over coals is roughly approximated by a hot broiler with the rack a few inches from the element. Watch the joints rather than the clock, turning once; the mustard paste browns fast and will go bitter if it blackens.
- Bechamel quantityA cup and a half of sauce is enough to bind the meat from two birds without drowning it. Make it slack rather than stiff, since it will tighten as it stands on the hot platter.
- ServingEight portions as written, but this is rich food; it was meant as one course among several. Warm the platter properly, because the sauce skins over quickly and the grilled joints lose their point once lukewarm.