Franey, executive chef of Le Pavilion, New York’s only four-star restaurant, and Craig Claiborne, the New York Times food critic, planned an August picnic on Gardiners Island. * It was staged in August 1965 and ironically reported in a Life magazine issue featuring the Watts Riots in Los Angeles. The story headline, with photographs by Mark Kauffman, was. “Magnificent Pique-Nique: Five Celebrated Chefs on a Cookout.”
When Kauffman photographed the picnickers for Life, he spotlighted Franey, the celebrity chef. Claiborne, who is not present in the photographs, was just another collaborator. Seventeen years, but in A Feast Made for Laughter, Claiborne’s memoir claims his idea was meant to impress his new bosses at The New York Times. By then, his friendship with Franey had cooled, and the best conversation they could muster was to say hello. Their picnic days were over. Nevertheless, according to Claiborne, “No meal at the grandest restaurant ever tasted so good,” nor was it ever consumed with more warmth, grace, and friendship.”
The picnic was casual, but the food was sophisticated. Franey and Claiborne’s gimmick was to invite some of New York City’s most renowned French chefs to cater to a picnic for twenty-five lucky friends. Besides Franey, accepting the invitation were Jacques Pépin (Le Pavilion), Jean Vergnes (Colony), René Verdon (White House chef for Kennedy and Johnson), and Roger Fessaguet (La Caravelle)
The chefs’ menu is not for the ordinary picnicker or home without a professional kitchen, for much was prepared and required only some cooking on-site. Service was buffet-style. The picnickers could choose from a menu of Mussels Ravigote, Pâté, Bluefish au Vin Blanc, Beef Salad, Seviche, Poached Striped, Bass with Sauce Rouille, Grilled Squab; Cold Stuffed Lobster, Mélange of Fruits, Watermelon, Brie, Camembert, Chèvre, French Bread. The Gardiner family, owners of the island, provided the unnamed champagne. California vintners supplied Chablis and Beaujolais Supérieur wines in return for being hyped by Franey and Claiborne. All were served in Baccarat crystal. No one forgot a corkscrew. Claiborne assisted but was not a chef and did not do any of the cooking.
Taking its cue from the French chefs, the text for the Life article described this as a “magnificent pique-nique.” And it was. The August day was perfect, and when the picnickers were caravanned to a dock in East Hampton, motor-boated to Gardiners Island, and then trucked to the beach. Dressed in bathing attire, the chefs cooked mostly already prepared foods on charcoal grills. Diners ate on paper plates, but wine and champagne were served in Baccarat crystal. An East Hampton Historical Society photograph shows some picnickers eating makeshift beside a truck.
For the curious, “Mussels Ravigote” is reasonably easy in a kitchen, but constantly rinsing mussels in cold water is impossible for cooking on the beach. Here’s the recipe for Charles Ranhofer’s The Epicurean: Obtain four quarts of medium-sized mussels; tear off the grass, scrape them well, and wash them several times, changing the water constantly. Put them, when clean into a saucepan with half a pint of water or white wine, a few sprigs of parsley, thyme, and bay leaf; set the saucepan over a brisk fire, cover it well, and open the mussels by tossing them frequently, then take them out with a skimmer to transfer them into another saucepan. Strain the broth, leaving all sediment at the bottom, pouring it off gently not to disturb the sand; take out all the empty shells, cut off the foot (the black appendage) from the mussels with a pair of scissors, and put them back on their half shells into their own broth.
*Gardiners Island, located between the North and South Forks of Long Island, is privately owned.
See Pierre Franey with Richard Flaste and Bryan. A Chef’s Tale. New York: Alfred a. Knopf, 1994; Mark Kauffman. “Magnificent Pique-Nique: Five Celebrated Chefs on a Cookout.” Life, August 27, 1965; Craig Claiborne. Craig Claiborne’s a Feast Made for Laughter. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1982; Charles Ranhofer’s The Epicurean: A Complete Treatise of Analytical and Practical Studies on the Culinary Art (1894). Chicago: The Hotel Management Press, 1920; https://archive.org/details/epicureancomplet00ranhrich; Tessa Raebeck Cookbook Revolutionaries: East Hampton Chefs Craig Claiborne and Pierre Franey. The Sag Harbor Express, May 20, 2014.