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Broiled Devilled Roast Beef
Cut into thin slices all the roast beef left over from yesterday. Have a devilled butter; spread a very little of the butter on both sides of each slice of beef, gently roll in bread crumbs, arrange on a double broiler and broil on a brisk fire for two minutes on each side. Remove, dress on a hot dish and serve.
A leftovers dish that depends almost entirely on speed: the beef is already cooked, so the fire is only there to crisp the crumbs and warm the meat through.
- Devilled butterThe book assumes you know it: softened butter worked with dry or prepared mustard, cayenne, salt and pepper, often with a little Worcestershire or anchovy. About 2 tablespoons butter to a teaspoon of mustard and a pinch of cayenne is a workable ratio. Use it sparingly, as instructed, or the crumbs slide off.
- "Double broiler"Not a double boiler. This is a hinged wire basket that clamps the slices between two grids so the whole batch can be turned at once over coals. A fine-mesh grill basket does the same job; failing that, lay the slices on a rack set on a sheet pan.
- "A brisk fire"Very hot and close. Under a modern broiler set to high, put the rack 3-4 inches from the element; on a grill, use direct heat over fully lit coals.
- Two minutes a sideTake that as an upper limit. The beef is cooked already and re-cooking it drives out what juice remains, so pull it as soon as the crumbs colour, which may be nearer 60-90 seconds under a strong broiler.
- Slice thicknessThin but not shaved: about 1/4 inch holds together in the basket and still warms through in the time given. Cold beef straight from the refrigerator slices far more cleanly than beef at room temperature.
- CrumbsDry fine crumbs, not fresh soft ones, and not panko, which is too coarse to cling to so light a smear of butter. Press them on gently, then shake off the loose excess so it does not scorch.
- YieldDepends on the roast. Reckon 4-5 ounces of sliced beef per person as a light main course; the dish is traditionally served for breakfast or supper with mustard, watercress or a sharp pickle.
To "devil" a food, in English kitchens from the late eighteenth century onward, meant to season it hot with mustard and cayenne and give it a fierce, quick heat, the seasoning and the flame both being traditionally read as infernal, though that explanation of the name is more often repeated than documented. The technique was commonly used to rescue cooked meat, though it was applied to fresh kidneys, bones and fish as well: a Sunday joint reappeared devilled on Monday, and cold bones, poultry legs and roast beef were among its usual subjects. Its presence in a book of this vintage reflects a household economy in which a large roast was expected to yield two or three further meals, and in which a coal or wood fire was hot and immediate enough that two minutes a side was a realistic instruction. The hinged wire broiler the recipe calls for was in use before gas broilers became common, and disappeared from kitchen inventories along with the open grate.