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Broiled Devilled Squab Turkey with Bacon
Procure a fine, tender squab turkey of five pounds, cut off legs at first joint, singe, open bird through back, cut off neck, remove breast bone and thoroughly wipe the inside. Season well all around with a teaspoon salt and half teaspoon pepper, carefully crack bones between second joint and body, thoroughly rub turkey with a tablespoon oil, arrange on a double broiler and broil ten minutes on each side. Remove, spread a devilled butter on both sides of the bird, then lightly roll in bread crumbs, replace on broiler and broil two minutes on each side. Remove, dress on a dish, with six thin slices broiled bacon, decorate with a little watercress and serve.
A spatchcocked young turkey, broiled, then coated in a mustard-and-cayenne butter and crumbs for a final scorch. The technique assumes a hinged wire broiler held over live coals, which is why the timings look so short.
- "Squab turkey"Not squab in the pigeon sense but a young turkey, here specified at five pounds. A modern equivalent is a small fresh hen turkey or, more easily found, two large spatchcocked chickens of about two and a half pounds each.
- "Double broiler"A hinged two-sided wire grill basket that clamps the bird flat and can be flipped over the fire. Under a modern overhead broiler you cannot turn the bird by flipping the rack, so weight it flat with a foil-wrapped brick or heavy pan instead.
- The devilled butterThe recipe names it without describing it; if the book gives it elsewhere, follow that. Otherwise it is softened butter worked with dry English mustard, cayenne, a little Worcestershire and salt. It is a coating, not a sauce, and it should be stiff enough to spread.
- Ten minutes a side is not doneOver a bed of coals a flattened five-pound bird gets far more heat than it does under a domestic broiler element. Take the bird to 165F at the thickest part of the thigh before the crumbing step, finishing it in a 400F oven if the broiler is only browning the surface.
- Crumbs burn fastThe final two minutes a side is there to set and colour the crumb, nothing more. Watch it continuously and move the pan further from the element if the crumbs darken before the butter has melted through.
- Cracking the jointsCracking the bone between the second joint and the body lets the thighs lie flatter, so they cook closer to the same rate as the breast. Omitting it makes uneven cooking more likely.
- YieldThe recipe gives no yield; a five-pound bird would reasonably serve four. The six slices of bacon and the watercress are the only garnish the recipe calls for.
Devilling — coating meat with mustard, cayenne and butter and giving it a hard, fast heat — was a standing British and American answer to what to do with poultry and game that needed enlivening, and the word had been in kitchen use for sharply seasoned dishes since at least the late eighteenth century. Its usual role was economical: devilled bones and devilled legs were made from yesterday's roast. Here the process is applied to a whole young bird from the start, and the double broiler over coals is grill-station equipment.