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Devils on Horseback
12 slices bacon 12 soaked prunes 12 almonds Salt, pepper and paprika Toasted bread or fried croûtons Cut thin slices of bacon, flatten, and trim each neatly. Stone the prunes; insert in each in the place of the stone a blanched almond previously tossed in hot butter and highly seasoned with paprika, salt and pepper. Next roll each prune in a slice of bacon, skewer, and grill over a bright fire for eight minutes, turning frequently. Serve the rolls on silver skewers on neatly cut strips of toasted bread or fried croûtons.
Devils on Horseback are probably so called because they go so fast after being tasted. 6 eggs
A straightforward savoury that needs only two adjustments for a modern kitchen: how the bacon is cooked, and how the prunes are held together.
- The hinge: bacon thicknessStandard supermarket bacon is cut thicker than the streaky rashers assumed here, and thick bacon will not crisp in the time the prune needs. Use thin-cut bacon and flatten it further with the back of a knife so it wraps tightly and renders quickly.
- "Grill over a bright fire"This means direct radiant heat, not a covered barbecue. A broiler set high with the rack about 4 inches from the element does the same job; turn every couple of minutes so the fat renders on all sides.
- Eight minutesThat figure holds only for thin bacon under fierce heat. Judge by the bacon rather than the clock and pull them when it is browned and firm but not brittle, since the prune inside scorches easily once the sugars catch.
- Soaked prunesModern pitted prunes are sold semi-soft and generally need no soaking. If yours are dry and hard, a short steep in hot water or tea plumps them; drain and blot well, as wet fruit will steam the bacon rather than let it crisp.
- SkewersWooden cocktail sticks soaked in water work in place of the silver skewers, or run several rolls onto a single metal skewer so they can be turned as a unit. Whatever you use must pierce both bacon edges or the wrap unrolls in the heat.
- Blanched almondsBuy them already blanched, or drop whole almonds into boiling water for a minute and slip off the skins. Toss in hot butter with the seasoning as directed; the butter carries the paprika into the nut and stops it tasting raw.
- YieldTwelve rolls. Serve them on the toast at once, as the bacon fat softens the bread quickly.
- The stray lineThe "6 eggs" at the end appears to be a typesetting artefact belonging to the next recipe in the book. It has no part in this dish.
Devils on horseback belong to the Victorian and Edwardian savoury, the small hot, salty course served after the sweet at a formal dinner and intended to settle the palate before the port. The name is often said to follow "angels on horseback", oysters wrapped in bacon and grilled, with the darker fruit standing in for the pale shellfish, though the relationship between the two names is not settled; the "devilled" element traditionally signals cayenne or paprika and sharp seasoning, as here. The etymology offered in this recipe, that they vanish quickly, is the kind of genial after-dinner explanation cookbooks of the period liked to print, and should be read as a joke rather than a derivation. A chafing dish or a bright coal fire made a hot savoury practical to serve at the table.