According to Andrew Smith, editor of the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, explains that a “sugar sandwich” is a generic sandwich with sugar added, such as a banana sandwich with sugar sprinkled on the bananas, or homemade peanut butter, which is not particularly sweet, with sugar. Lucy Long, a folklorist, says that […] read more

For all we know, Jean-Baptiste Charcot’s chef on the Pourquoi Pas! Used this recipe for Crêpes Suzette when the crew celebrated Mardi Gras in Antarctica. 2450— SUZETTE PANCAKES   Make these from preparation A, flavoured with cura9oa and  tangerine juice. Coat them, like Gil-Bias pancakes, with softened  butter, flavoured with curaçao and tangerine juice. 2403— PREPARATIONS FOR […] read more

Chess pie is a custard pie peculiar to the American south made with cornmeal. Pocock adapted Edna Lewis’s recipe. See Scott Peacock. The Gift of Southern Food New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 2003 Ingredients: 1 nine-inch pie shell 4 large eggs, at room temperature 1½ cups sugar 1 tablespoon fine white cornmeal 1 tablespoon unbleached all-purpose […] read more

Fricassee is picnic food when dining indoors. It’s mentioned in Samuel Foote’s The Nabob (1772) and Mary Belson Elliott’s The Mice and Their Pic Nic (1809).  Had Elliott needed a recipe, she might have found it in Mrs. Rundell’s A New System of Domestic Cookery, Formed Upon Principles of Economy, and Adapted to the Use of Private Families (1806). Fricassee of […] read more

Among Clermont’s recommendations for traveling is a cold Perigord pie. It’s an expensive food ordinary folks might not afford, but a favorite of the posh Pic Nic Club of London. clermont’s text is a translation of Menon’s 1755 Soupers de la cour. Pâté de (Perigueux), A cold loaf for traveling. Take a farce with partridge […] read more

Bebe Meaders’ picnic favorites– Potato Salad  & Deviled Eggs (with no measured portions) in the style of Marietta GA: Potato Salad Cook and peel  3 – 4 Irish potatoes.  Chop finely about l/2 cup celery. Add l/4 (maybe l/3) cup of sweet pickles, cubed.  Chop and  add 2 – 3 hard-boiled eggs.  l/4 cup chopped […] read more

This recipe is Ranhoffer’s response to Dickens’s Pickwick Papers and Sam Weller’s description of “weal pies.” Dickens dined at Delmonico’s in New York City while Ranhofer was chef de cuisine, but this item was not on the menu. Veal Tart or Pie   Suppress all the fat and sinews from a kernel of veal; cut […] read more

Picnic Ham is a staple cut of pork that’s cheap and needs extensive cooking or smoking. It is sometimes retailed as a picnic shoulder or pork shoulder since it is the entire front leg and shoulder. Retailers cut the meat in two, about six pounds, and may call it a Boston butt. The picnic ham […] read more

Eliza Acton’s recipe for lobster salad is contemporary with Gilbert & Sullivan’s Thespis. Lobster Salad. First, prepare a sauce with the coral of a hen lobster, pounded and rubbed through a sieve, and very gradually mixed with a good mayonnaise, remotdade (remoulade), or English salad-dressing of the present chapter. Next, half fill the bowl or […] read more

Toklas suggests that chopped roast beef and chopped chicken with mushrooms make the best picnic sandwiches. When these were not enough, Toklas and her partner Gertrude Stein stopped at restaurants where they might dine on Morvan Ham with Cream Sauce, three-minute veal steak, grilled perch with fennel, puree of artichoke soup or bouillabaisse. Toklas mischievously describes the picnic sandwiches […] read more

Leyel’s Picnic for Motorists is designed for an emerging market linking the joy of picnics with the pleasure of motoring. “There are many people with cars who make a regular habit of spending Saturday or Sunday in the country,” Leyel trills, “with a hamper of food, they are independent of hotels and can eat their […] read more

When Food & Wine magazine asked Alice Waters, “What would you eat for a summer picnic?” she suggested a take-out picnic because she did not want to cook, especially on a day off. Her picnic prepared by her favorite Japanese restaurant would be grilled chicken wings, a spinach salad, and sushi (to be eaten with […] read more

For all we know, Jean-Baptiste Charcot’s chef on the Pourquoi Pas! Used this recipe for Crêpes Suzette when the crew celebrated Mardi Gras in Antarctica (1909). 2450— SUZETTE PANCAKES   Make these from preparation A, flavoured with cura9oa and tangerine juice. Coat them, like Gil-Bias pancakes, with softened  butter, flavoured with curacoa and tangerine juice. 2403— PREPARATIONS […] read more

McCulloch-Williams’s memories of her Mammy’s cooking are the basis of Dishes and Beverages of the Old South. The pig barbecue is probably the same vintage of the Wilkes’s Twelve Oaks picnic garden as Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind. Her cookery is implicitly racist, slightly historical, and without proportions. To make barbecues, McCulloch-Williams explains, “The animals, […] read more

Harland’s Brunswick Stew in Common Sense in the Household (1871) Brunswick Stew is a thick tomato-based stew usually made with lima or butter beans, okra, corn, and meats such as beef, pork, chicken, or squirrel. In Harland believes the stew is named after New Brunswick county, Virginia, where squirrel is the main ingredient. Margaret Mitchell […] read more

Larned’s recipe for a picnic staple: Chicken Salad   “Cook chicken in boiling water, when half done add salt, a slice each of salt pork, lemon, and onion, a bit of bay leaf, and a piece of red pepper. Cool in the stock, drain, and cut in cubes. Cover them with French dressing for an […] read more

Fisher’s What Mrs. Fisher Knows About Old Southern Cooking, Soups, Pickles, Etc.  (1881) Is the second oldest African-American cookbook.  When she does relate food to a particular meal, it’s Breakfast cream cake or Waffles for breakfast.  She does not mention a picnic of any kind in her text. Fried chicken, however, is a picnic staple.  […] read more