Devils on Horseback
Prunes stuffed with almonds, wrapped in bacon and grilled until it crackles. The savoury that survived, mostly because it is very hard to stop eating.
Photograph credit: Devils on Horseback by L.A. Foodie · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Making Devils on Horseback Ahead
Assembled raw, refrigerated 2 days. Cook to order — they go soggy reheated.
How to Make Devils on Horseback
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If the prunes are firm, soak them in the hot tea or wine 20 minutes, then drain and dry them.
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Push a whole almond into the cavity of each prune.
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Lay the bacon rashers on a board and stretch each one thin with the back of a knife, then cut in half across.
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Wrap a piece of bacon round each prune and set them seam side down on a tray.
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Grind pepper over and brush lightly with the oil.
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Grill or roast at 200°C / 390°F fan / 220°C / 430°F / gas 7 for 15 minutes, turning once, until the bacon is crisp and dark at the edges.
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Rest 2 minutes — the fruit inside is molten — and serve on cocktail sticks.
Related guide: Prep, cook and total time.
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A Few Pointers
- Stretch the bacon thin with a knife or it will not crisp.
- Streaky, never back. Back bacon has no fat to render.
- Two minutes off the heat. The prunes are hot enough to burn.
Behind the Recipe
Streaky bacon, stretched thin with the back of a knife before it is wrapped. Stretching does two things: it makes each rasher long enough to go round without overlapping into a thick band that never crisps, and it thins the fat so it renders in the ten minutes the prune needs. Back bacon is too lean and dries out. Soak the prunes in tea or wine first if they are at all leathery, because a hard prune stays hard and the bacon will be black before it gives.
Serving Ideas
A glass of sherry · Angels on horseback alongside · Cocktail sticks
Quick Answers
How long does Devils on Horseback take to make?
15 minutes of preparation and 15 minutes of cooking, so 30 minutes in all, plus up to 20 minutes of soaking if your ingredients need it (the method says when). The recipe serves 6.
What's in a Serving
No nutrition figures are given for this recipe: they cannot be worked out reliably from its ingredient list (some ingredient lines cannot be read). Why some recipes have none.
Your notes on this recipe
Cooked this? Keep a note for next time
Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.
First published ; last changed .
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