[Sca-cooks] Devilish Derivations

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

Also sprach Huette von Ahrens:
>spices or condiments.  Theodora FitzGibbon (1976)
>remarks, however, that 'Boswell, Dr. Johnson's
>biographer, frequently refers to partaking of a
>dish of "devilled bones" for supper', which
>suggests an earlier use.  The term was presumably
>adopted because of the connection between the
>devil and the excessive heat in Hell.
>
>Devilled bones and devilled kidneys are just two
>examples of the dishes in this category, which
>could be referred to as 'devils'.  Writing about
>this noun, FitzGibbon distinguishes between brown
>devils, wet devils, and white devils, explaining
>the differences between these.  An earlier
>authority, Dallas (1877) in Kettner's Book of the
>Table, had stated that devils were of two kinds,
>the dry and the wet, but had also recommended:
>
>'It is the great fault of all devilry that it
>knows no bounds.  A moderate devil is almost a
>contradiction in terms; and yet it is quite
>certain that if a devil is not moderate he
>destroys the palate, and ought to have no place
>in cookery, the business of which is to tickle,
>not to annihilate, the sense of taste.'
>
>The dilemma thus stated may have proved
>insoluble, for devilling has fallen out of
>fashion.
>
>A certain parallel exists in France in the form
>of dishes 'a la diable'.
>
>One of the British savouries which was popular
>for a time bore the name Devils on Horseback and
>consisted of prunes stuffed with chutney, rolled
>up in rashers of bacon, placed on buttered bread
>and sprinkled with grated cheese, and cooked
>under the grill.  The absence of cayenne pepper
>or other hot condiments suggests that in this
>instance the word 'devil' was introduced as a
>counterpart to 'angel' in Angels on Horseback
>rather than the sense described above.
>
>****

Some of those cayenne-free "deviled" dishes, such as the 
aforementioned deviled bones, are made, as with deviled eggs, with 
mustard as the source of "heat". Deviled bones are basically leftover 
beef rib roast bones with a little meat left on them, brushed with 
hot mustard, dusted with crumbs, brushed with a little melted butter, 
and browned under a broiler

>
>I could find no mention of either devilled eggs
>or devilled ham anywhere else in the OCF.
>
>Huette

I believe Davidson is working on an Oxford Companion to American 
Food... that might help.

Adamantius