Question: “How did “deviled” eggs get such a name? Looking forward to hearing the answer.”

        Answer: Could it be from Satan's Favorite Recipes cookbook?

        Probably not, says Christy Feldhaus, cooking school assistant at Jungle Jim's, Fairfield. “It's probably because people added mustard, and mustard was considered hot,” she said. “They probably would have used a lot of pepper to cover up stuff.”

        We noticed she talked in past tense, while the reader — with a name tied to Cincinnati chili — seemed to be planning a party. Uh-oh.

        “They're very '50s-ish,” says Ms. Feldhaus. Hors d'oeuvres of the past. “Church suppers and stuff like that.”

        Still, Stupid staffers remembered seeing and eating deviled eggs as recently as this new century, and nobody was appalled (except the people who watched us eat).

        Devil is a culinary term first used as a noun in the 18th century, then, as a verb in the 19th century, meaning to cook with hot spices or condiments. Deviled beef steak and deviled ham are commonly known as hell-honed dishes.

        Not to mention deviled shrimp and deviled crab. Then there are not-so-spicy devils on horseback (bacon-wrapped prunes) and devil's food cake (a dark-chocolate concoction that's more tempting than was the apple in the Garden of Eden).

        And don't forget the Dirt Devil vacuum, which you might use to clean up egg shells that fell on the floor.

        If you have a stupid question, send it to Ask a Stupid Question, Cincinnati Enquirer, 312 Elm St., Cincinnati OH 45202; fax: 768-8330; e-mail mpulfer@enquirer.com.
       

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