[Sca-cooks] Devilish Derivations

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

Also sprach <kingstaste at mindspring.com>:
>Revisiting the discussion from a few weeks ago:
>
>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.
>
>>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
>Adamantius
>
>
>I just saw an Iron Chef with oysters as the theme ingredient.  Sakai made a
>devilled oyster sauce with mustard as the deviling agent.  It does seem that
>the use of heat in whatever form, cayenne, mustard, other peppers, high heat
>cooking methods, all earn a dish the 'devil' in the name.
>Christianna

Perhaps there's no etymological connection between "Devils On 
Horseback" and "Deviled Something-Or-Other". In other words, its use 
as a noun may have nothing to do with its use as an adjective or 
verb, and doesn't really [necessarily] weaken the definition of the 
word used as a verb or adjective. All the usages of "deviled" or 
"deviling" I have encountered, such as deviled eggs, deviled bones, 
deviled ham, deviled kidneys, have involved some kind of hot sauce, 
usually mustard and/or cayenne.

As has been suggested, I think, the use of non-spicy stuff for Devils 
on Horseback may be simply a darker-colored counterpart to Angels on 
Horseback.

Can anybody think of a dish of "deviled such-and-such", rather than 
Devils on Horseback, that doesn't involve some kind of hot seasoning?

Adamantius