Who Put the Devil in Deviled Eggs?: A Food Lover's Guide to America's Favorite Dishes

by Ann Treistman

Who pitted the first cherries and nestled them into pie crust? Was a meatloaf sandwich the result of a late-night refrigerator run? Does anyone really crave green bean casserole, complete with fried onions on top? In this time of hyper-awareness of locality—when every roast chicken needs a pedigree of a free-range home and antibiotic-free past—it’s time to celebrate the very basics of American cooking. The joy of Velveeta and pleasures of Jell-O. In this fun collection, author Ann Treistman takes readers on a journey through a 1950s kitchen, sometimes with surprising results. For example, deviled eggs were first prepared in Ancient Rome, in a slightly different form and without the familiar moniker. The practice of removing the yolks from hard-boiled eggs, mixing it with spices and refilling the shells was fairly common by the 1600s. Why the devil? Well, it’s hot in hell, and by the 18th century, it was all the rage to devil any food with a good dose of spice. Adding mustard or a signature sprinkle of hot paprika turned these eggs into devils. The perfect gift for food lovers, Who Put the Devil in Deviled Eggs? promises to be a wickedly good read with recipes to boot.

Genres: Nonfiction, Food, Reference, Cooking, Culinary, History, Cookbooks

184 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 1, 2011

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 1 out of 5]

Feels like an extended BuzzFeed article, with less fact checking. Some foods don't have recipes, some have barely related ones, and some of them are incomplete, like one recipe that referred to a 'Meringue I' in the source text, but was left out when it got cut&pasted. Another recipe mentions a quantity of "shering" with no explanation given; I'm guessing that's the made up addition in a Wikipedia article someone else's review mentions.

[Kyl · Rating 1 out of 5]

Actually, have not read this book. But Susan makes a good point about the sourcing. I know why it's not sourced anywhere. It's because the author got the information from wikipedia. That's right. Wikipedia. A friend of mine changed the history of an item on wikipedia to include his name and his name is now sourced in this book. Author did not do a good job of checking sources.

[Helen Robare · Rating 4 out of 5]

This cookbook was interesting to read. Not only were there recipes but the author always gave the history of the recipes and the food ingredients. Much of the history was more interesting than the recipes. The recipes were written exactly as they were first invented/discovered. These recipes gave a lot of advice such as for mac & cheese how to sprinkle the cheese over the pasta and why not to use butter. I did not know about the butter. The first section deals with mac and cheese and I found out where pasta was first invented. :)

Other foods discussed were (of course) deviled eggs but there were quite a few (36 I believe) recipes and histories given in this (what I thought was ) a "little" cookbook. This book gave me an informative and interesting hour and I learned more than just how to cook from a recipe. I'd recommend it for anyone who is interested in where, when, and how we have the meal dishes that we have these days.

[Goth Gone Grey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting food trivia

Each listing has pictures, history, and sometimes an early recipe, often written in quite a different style than we're used to, measurements optional. That part feels comforting, like watching a relative relates old family recipe.

An example:

"WOULD A CUPCAKE by any other name still taste as sweet? It would if it was called a fairy cake. Known in England as fairy cakes for being the perfect size for a troop of fairies, this mini cake has delighted children and adults alike for decades with its sweet proportions. After all, you can have your cake and eat it—the entire thing—too."

[E · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun read to dip into between other books. Wish each entry had been longer and more detailed. There were a lot of "we're not entirely sure how this originated, but here are some theories." I would have liked a lengthy bibliography. I learned a few things. And it kind of gave me whiplash to go from baked Alaska to chicken fried steak to Deviled Eggs and to want to eat each thing for a few pages.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

This scratches an itch for me that includes etymological and historical research into the appearances of dishes in the American pantheon. Some of the entries would benefit from better citation. It could have used a better intro and outro, and some tighter copyediting, but it's otherwise an unassuming and diverting book.

[Maria-Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

More history then cookbook

Good book if you are looking for historical background on some of today foods. Do not buy it if you are looking for lots of recipes. Yes there are some that might be fun to try but most of it is learning some of the backgrounds.

[Lora · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nothing earth-shattering here. It was moderately interesting to see what dishes the author considered "American".

[Benjamin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Easy read with fun stories. Problem is, several are inaccurate or just plain wrong.

[Joe V Gossman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun to read

A nice fun book for a time you want to read but don't want to think. I learned a lot from this book.

[Alex Monin · Rating 5 out of 5]

food-history for fun facts and great recipes

[Jaime · Rating 4 out of 5]

The grammatical, typographical, and page layout mistakes strewn throughout this book are a little distracting...but it is otherwise a very fun read.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Light in every sense of the word book full of trivia about comfort food. Want to know about Twinkies? The story of bubble gum? Jell-O? And so on? You'll find the origin stories here, in tiny little chapters featuring "fun facts" about the food (debatable), vintage recipes, and likely stock photographs of the food items in question. Some commentators suggest the book was sourced off of wikipedia, and that's easy to believe; not a lot of care was put into this slim little volume judging from the number of typos. But whatever the case, passably interesting and enjoyable enough, if you're into food, or trivia.

[Kimberly Ann · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a small book, size, contents, & print. The photographs are not appetizing, as they have that ubiquitous yellow tint so common to cookbooks. There are rather interesting "The devil's in details" frames. Some of the recipes are easy to follow others are not.

Stories & recipes include: Macaroni & cheese; Jello; Baked Alaska; Lobster rolls; Iced tea; Corn dog, Clams casino; French fries, Caesar salad, Rueben sandwich, Pancakes, Cotton candy, Pizza, Bubble gum, Key lime pie, Twinkie, & 32 other popular foods.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A variety of iconic American foods are covered in brief chapters, with their history described, a mouthwatering picture in most cases included, and a recipe from the early days of the food's development, again in most cases, included. There are also what the author calls "The devil's in the details," which you might call fun facts, about the various foods. It's an interesting way to spend an evening, but the number of typos in the book bothered me, as did the lack of sourcing.

[Morgan Lewis · Rating 2 out of 5]

The premise is interesting, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. A recipe book with the origins of various foods is an idea with potential, but nearly every story comes with caveats of "Nobody really knows", and the recipes are plain and pedestrian (for any given dish, there's a superior recipe in an average cookbook.)

[Tina · Rating 3 out of 5]

very entertaining little book with stories of how different foods started and recipes to follow..........one of the best things are the little "Devil in the Details" that are little tidbits of knowledge of how things got their names, etc.

[Nora · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poorly researched and with absolutely no sources listed, I wanted this to be a charming book about food history and was disappointed. Several stories contradicted information I know to be true from better sourced materials than this. From a design aspect, cute book, but the contents are a flop.

[Alaina · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are interested in food trivia, then you will probably enjoy this book. Some of the quotations headlining each chapter are real gems. It is very similar to the history vignettes from the TV show, Good Eats.

[Kelsy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun! I loved the old recipes and learning factoids and the history of some iconic foods.

[kcfan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved the idea! I always enjoy reading about the history of things. My only real complaint is that the histories were very brief.