‘There’s a little devil dancing in your laughing Irish eyes,’ I’d sing as a child. ‘Margaret, we won’t have any talk of the devil in this house!’ My mother’s rebuke brought an abrupt end to my cheerful singing. I had offended her by singing about the devil, but the word was to become very popular when I was growing up — as a way of enticing those who loved spicy foods.
Now that South-East Asian food is eaten so often and we are learning what ‘hot’ really means, ‘devilled’ dishes like this one probably seem mild. I’ve been making this dish since the 1960s, and it’s a great way to add flavour to everyday chicken. Spatchcock are best eaten with fingers, as they are rather fiddly and bony.