By DORA DE BLAQUIÈRE.
have taken the trouble to look in the dictionary for the word “grill,” and I find it is derived from the French word “grille”—a grate or gridiron—and it means to broil on a grate or gridiron. But to-day, in point of fact, grilling is rarely performed in this manner, few people having the gridiron; and if not done in the oven, it is performed in an open frying-pan.
I have begun with this piece of information because some of my readers may say on seeing the word, “Oh, we can’t grill! We have no means of using a gridiron!” And as all devils must be grilled or fried quickly, without burning them in a hot oven, it is well to understand exactly what is meant. To my mind a frying-pan is better than an oven, because you can watch the process and see that the gravy does not waste. And the very first thing you have to guard against with an inexperienced or poor cook is her either wasting all the mixture for the gravy, or else her drying it up and burning the meat, or scorching the bones, and making them uneatable. The operation of grilling must be performed quickly, and needs the best attention of the operator.
Now I must tell you what I daresay you may already know, i.e., that all the great cooks, like Francatelli, give you a recipe for what they generally call “devil’s mixture”; and the following is the composition of that renowned master in the art of cooking. Mix well upon a plate a spoonful of either French or English mustard, a spoonful of Oude sauce or chutney, the same of anchovy, two spoonfuls of olive oil, and a little cayenne pepper. This should be used to cover whatever you are about to grill.
In the Pytchley Cookery Book, which is so celebrated, you will find two or three recipes for devil sauce. The first is the simplest. Warm and blend together a teaspoonful of mixed mustard, a tablespoonful of Worcestershire sauce, an ounce of glaze, an ounce of butter, a saltspoonful of cayenne pepper, one of salt, and a tablespoonful of chopped parsley. Mix, warm up, and rub the meat well with the mixture, serving it as gravy, should any remain after the broiling.
The second Pytchley recipe is intended to be poured over the meat when broiled. A tablespoonful of mustard, a teaspoonful of curry paste, a tablespoonful of Worcestershire sauce, two tablespoonfuls of mushroom ketchup, a teaspoonful of anchovy sauce, a teaspoonful of salt, the yolk of an egg, and half a pint of thick soup from the night before, if a thin soup. Then thicken it with some brown thickening, boil up, and pour over the broiled bones.
Thus, you see, there are really two methods of devilling; the one first-mentioned when you pour the sauce over the meat before broiling, and the second when you put it over afterwards, which really takes more the form of a gravy, though it is not intended to be too plentiful, nor to surround the devilled meat in the dish. For the first intention of devils is, that they should be dry, rather crisp, and savoury, not wet and soft in the slightest degree. This you must be pleased to remember if you would make them successfully, and one of your great difficulties will be to have the dish dry, yet not dried up, which is the test of a good devil.
What is known as Indian devil mixture is made as follows: To one tablespoonful each of vinegar, ketchup, and chutney paste, add an ounce of dissolved butter, a dessertspoonful of made mustard, salt, and a small cup of good gravy. Mix all together, and rub them into the meat either cooked or uncooked. Make all hot slowly together. They will take ten minutes to make hot. Serve in the dish in which you have cooked them.
This recipe is one which was left to the cooking world by Admiral Ross, and it is an excellent one, quickly and easily made. In all those I have given you will see that either mustard, mixed or unmixed, is made use of; but I myself dispense with it, as I like the mixture better without it for ordinary use.