18th Century Devilled Turkey

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Devilled Turkey Image Used Under Creative Commons License From neilcooksgrigson.blogspot.com

Citizens, this is quite possibly one of the best recipes ever for leftover Turkey!

This recipe is from Jane Grigson’s ‘English Food’ and is in TFD’s humble opinion one of the most delicious dishes of eighteenth century cooking, indeed one of the best of all English dishes, period! James Boswell described devilling during the 18th century, the time period from which this particular recipe originated.

As noted in the Oxford Companion to Food:

Devil – a culinary term which… first appeared as a noun in the 18th century, and then in the early 19th century as a verb meaning to cook something with fiery hot spices or condiments…The term was presumably adopted because of the connection between the devil and the excessive heat in Hell…

The devilling mixture typically consists of Worcestershire sauce, mustard, butter, cayenne pepper, salt, and black pepper, although some recipes can also include curry powder.

Battle on – The Generalissimo

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About 1 lb cooked turkey breast
One leg and thigh of the turkey, preferably undercooked and pink.

Instead of the turkey, a boiled or roasted chicken (with the brown meat a little underdone) or a brace of stewed or roasted pheasants can be used.

Devil sauce:

1 rounded tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 rounded tablespoon mango chutney
1 tablespoon Worcester(shire) sauce, or half a tablespoon of anchovy essence
A quarter-tablespoon Cayenne pepper
Salt
2 tablespoons corn oil

Pulled sauce:

3 oz butter
6 oz double (heavy) cream
Lemon juice
Salt, pepper
Chopped parsley

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First pull the breast meat apart with your fingers into pieces about 1.5″ long and the ‘thickness of a large quill’.

Follow the grain of the meat, so that you end up with somewhat thready-looking pieces. Take the brown meat off the bones, and divide it into rather larger pieces than the breast meat. Slash each one two or three times.

Mix the devil sauce ingredients together, chopping up any large pieces of fruit in the chutney. Dip the pieces of brown meat into it, and spoon the devil into the slashes as best you can.

Arrange in a single layer on the rack of a foil-lined grill pan, and grill under a high heat until the pieces develop an appetising brown crust. Keep them warm.

For the pulled sauce, melt the butter in a wide frying pan, and stir in the cream. Let it boil for a couple of minutes, and keep stirring so that you end up with a thick rich sauce.

Put in the pulled breast, with any odd scraps of jelly, and stir about until the pieces are very hot indeed. Season with lemon, salt and pepper.

Put in the centre of a serving dish, and surround it with the devilled bits. Serve with good bread or toast Not a dish to be eaten with two vegetables: keep them for afterwards, or simply serve a salad.