Rosie Sykes’ devilled chicken livers

Devils always are welcome in our kitchen. They were much in vogue during the long eighteenth century, especially in clubland, and for good reason. Simple, versatile, cheap and addicting, devils should be regular weeknight visitors to any household. They should pack serious heat, but turn up too timid in Sykes’ hands so we have boosted the incendiary content. Four devils.

• about 3 heaped Tablespoons flour (preferably Wondra)
• scant teaspoon cayenne
• heaped Tablespoon dry mustard, like Colmans
• salt & pepper
• 1 lb chicken livers
• about 1 Tablespoon neutral oil
• heaped Tablespoon clarified unsalted butter or ghee
• 1 Tablespoon malt or Sherry vinegar
• generous Tablespoon or more Worcestershire
• about ½ cup chicken stock
• some hot sauce
• 2 more Tablespoons unsalted butter
• toast

1. Combine the flour with the cayenne, mustard and seasoning.
2. Dredge the livers in the spiced flour.
3. Dump the oil followed by the butter in a big heavy skillet over high heat.
4. Once the fats shimmer and bubble set the livers in the pan and fry them for about a minute, then flip them, reduce the heat a little and fry from another minute or so.
5. Get the livers out of the pan and keep them warm.
6. Pour on the vinegar and Worcester: Whisk them until syrupy, then add the stock and reduce it in turn, but just a little.
7. Reduce the heat to medium low, place the livers carefully onto the sauce--you want to keep their upper crust crispy--just to reheat them, and serve them atop their sauce on the toast.

Notes:

-“Devilled kidneys are,” Sykes confides in her Sunday Night Book, “definitely on the shortlist of things I would happily eat on a regular basis, but I know not everyone shares my taste for kidneys.” Why, however, pander to the pusillanimous? The identical recipe works wonders with split and cored lamb kidneys if you can get them in airbread America, or with trimmed veal kidneys cut into slices just under half an inch thick. Kidneys are plentiful enough in Britain.

-Whether choosing livers or kidneys, dry them ruthlessly before proceeding in order to avoid a dreadful gloppy surface.

-Reduce or increase the amounts of cayenne, mustard, Worcestershire and hot sauce to your liking. We are not as intolerant of the meek amongst us as our posturing infers.

-Sykes always serves her devils with a simple salad of watercress and capers, an exceptional idea. Simply toss some trimmed watercress with some capers, olive oil (extra virgin please) and pepper.

-Inexplicably enough, the Sykes recipe makes three servings. Ours may be halved at constant proportion for two.