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Broiled Bacon, Diable
Cut from a piece of bacon twelve equal slices one-fifth inch thick. Arrange on a double broiler and broil on a brisk fire for two minutes on each side. Remove and let slightly cool off. Then with the aid of a table knife lightly spread a little devilled butter (half the quantity) on both sides of each slice. Lightly roll in bread crumbs, rearrange on the broiler and broil for one minute on each side, dress on hot dish and serve.
A simple two-stage broil: render the bacon first, then coat and crisp it. The whole thing takes under ten minutes, so have the devilled butter and crumbs ready before the broiler goes on.
- Devilled butterThe book assumes you know it: softened butter worked with dry English mustard, cayenne, a little Worcestershire and often a squeeze of lemon. Something like 4 tbsp butter to 1 tsp mustard and a good pinch of cayenne will do for twelve slices; "half the quantity" presumably points to a devilled butter recipe given elsewhere in the book, of which you use half.
- Slice thicknessOne-fifth inch is roughly 5 mm — thicker than supermarket streaky bacon. Ask a butcher for slab bacon cut at 5 mm, or the slices will curl and blacken before the crumb sets.
- The double broilerA hinged wire basket that clamps the slices between two grids so they can be flipped as a unit over live coals. A rack set over a sheet pan under a modern overhead broiler does the same work; turn the slices individually with tongs.
- "Brisk fire"High direct heat — a domestic broiler on its top setting with the rack about 4 inches from the element. Two minutes a side over gas coals may run closer to three under an electric element; go by colour, not the clock.
- Cool before spreadingThis is the step that matters. Butter applied to hot bacon slides straight off and takes the crumbs with it. Let the slices sit two or three minutes until they stop sizzling.
- CrumbsDry white breadcrumbs, fine, not panko — they should form a thin film, not a crust. The final minute per side is only to set and colour them; much longer and the crumbs and seasoning will scorch.
- Fat managementRendered bacon fat dripping onto a broiler element flares. Use a shallow pan beneath and pour off the drippings before the second broiling.
- YieldThe recipe gives no yield. Twelve slices would serve about four as a savoury or breakfast dish, or six as a garnish alongside eggs or grilled kidneys.
"Diable" or "devilled" is Anglo-French shorthand, recorded from the late eighteenth century onward, for anything seasoned hot with mustard and cayenne and browned — devilled kidneys, devilled bones, devilled biscuits. The technique is generally associated with the British club and chophouse kitchen, where leftover roast bones were scored, smeared with mustard paste and grilled fierce to make a late-night savoury, and it seems to have passed from there into the French-trained hotel repertoire that books like this one drew on. The crumb coating here is the hotel refinement: it gives the mustard butter something to cling to and produces a crisp shell that plain grilled bacon does not have.