Devil.—(No. 538.)
The gizzard and rump, or legs, &c. of a dressed turkey, capon, or goose, or mutton or veal kidney, scored, peppered, salted, and broiled, sent up for a relish, being made very hot, has obtained the name of a “devil.”
Obs.—This is sometimes surrounded with No. 356, or a sauce of thick melted butter or gravy, flavoured with catchup (No. 439), essence of anchovy, or No. 434, eschalot wine (No. 402), curry stuff. (No. 455, &c.) See turtle sauce (No. 343), or grill sauce (No. 355), which, as the palates of the present day are adjusted, will perhaps please grands gourmands as well as “véritable sauce d’Enfer.”—Vide School for the Officers of the Mouth, p. 368, 18mo. London, 1682.
“Every man must have experienced, that when he has got deep into his third bottle, his palate acquires a degree of torpidity, and his stomach is seized with a certain craving, which seem to demand a stimulant to the powers of both. The provocatives used on such occasions, an ungrateful world has combined to term devils. “The diables au feu d’enfer, or dry devils, are usually composed of the broiled legs and gizzards of poultry, fish-bones, or biscuits; and, if pungency alone can justify their appellation, never was title better deserved, for they are usually prepared without any other intention than to make them ‘hot as their native element,’ and any one who can swallow them without tears in his eyes, need be under no[330] apprehension of the pains of futurity. It is true, they answer the purpose of exciting thirst; but they excoriate the palate, vitiate its nicer powers of discrimination, and pall the relish for the high flavour of good wine: in short, no man should venture upon them whose throat is not paved with mosaic, unless they be seasoned by a cook who can poise the pepper-box with as even a hand as a judge should the scales of justice. “It would be an insult to the understanding of our readers, to suppose them ignorant of the usual mode of treating common devils; but we shall make no apology for giving the most minute instructions for the preparation of a gentler stimulant, which, besides, possesses this advantage—that it may be all done at the table, either by yourself, or at least under your own immediate inspection. “Mix equal parts of fine salt, Cayenne pepper, and curry powder, with double the quantity of powder of truffles: dissect, secundum artem, a brace of woodcocks rather under-roasted, split the heads, subdivide the wings, &c. &c. and powder the whole gently over with the mixture; crush the trail and brains along with the yelk of a hard-boiled egg, a small portion of pounded mace, the grated peel of half a lemon, and half a spoonful of soy, until the ingredients be brought to the consistence of a fine paste: then add a table-spoonful of catchup, a full wine-glass of Madeira, and the juice of two Seville oranges: throw this sauce, along with the birds, into a silver stew-dish, to be heated with spirits of wine: cover close up, light the lamp, and keep gently simmering, and occasionally stirring, until the flesh has imbibed the greater part of the liquid. When you have reason to suppose it is completely saturated, pour in a small quantity of salad oil, stir all once more well together, ‘put out the light, and then!’—serve it round instantly; for it is scarcely necessary to say, that a devil should not only be hot in itself, but eaten hot. “There is, however, one precaution to be used in eating it, to which we most earnestly recommend the most particular attention; and for want of which, more than one accident has occurred. It is not, as some people might suppose, to avoid eating too much of it (for that your neighbours will take good care to prevent); but it is this: in order to pick the bones, you must necessarily take some portion of it with your fingers; and, as they thereby become impregnated with its flavour, if you afterward chance to let them touch your tongue, you will infallibly lick them to the bone, if you do not swallow them entire.”—See page 124, &c. of the entertaining “Essays on Good Living.”