18th Century Devilled Turkey

Citizens, this is quite possibly one of the best recipes ever for leftover Turkey – and it must, in TFD’s not so humble opinion – be DEVILLED!

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…

As further expounded on portablepress.com:

“Deviled” as a culinary term goes back to the 1700s, and it originally meant to cook something—anything—with lots and lots of hot and spicy condiments and seasonings. The most commonly used spices in this catchall preparation were mustard and cayenne pepper. (It’s first ever use in print refers to a “devil’d kidney,” which we’re sure was quite tasty.)

The meaning behind the term is pretty easy to ascertain: deviled, to devil, to hot and spicy, in going with the traditional representation of the devil as a horned demon that lives in fire. It’s a phenomenon that continues to this day, with cartoon devils appearing on the packaging of numerous hot sauces and other spicy foods.

Deviled foods of all stripe were eaten in the U.S. well into the 19th century, with some culinary historians going so far as to place the idea something like a westernized version of a curry. Deviled shrimp and seafood were especially popular.

Today, the term is most closely associated with just two foods: deviled eggs and deviled ham. While deviled eggs—egg yolks mixed with mayonnaise, mustard, and spices and placed back into a halved, hard boiled egg—aren’t particularly spicy, they do maintain the qualities that makes a food traditionally deviled: mustard and pepper. The paprika is technically a variety of chili pepper, and for extra devilish credentials, it’s red.

As for deviled ham, it was invented in 1868 by the Underwood Company, when a worker mixed ground ham with some slightly spicy seasonings, and then canned it.

The devilling mixture typically consists of Worcestershire sauce, mustard, butter, cayenne pepper, salt, and black pepper, although some recipes can also include curry powder. I would personally also enjoy this with some of my deviled shrimp.

As to the reason some Deviled items are spelled as ‘Devilled’ – it’s because of Anglo vs. American English!

Battle on – The Generalissimo

18th Century Devilled Turkey

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Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

• 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.
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• 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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Instructions

1. First pull the breast meat apart with your fingers into pieces about 1.5″ long and the ‘thickness of a large quill’.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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 appetizing brown crust. Keep them warm.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. Put in the center 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.

• Prep Time: 0 hours
• Cook Time: 0 hours