Summer Picnic
JUMP TO RECIPE
What is it about picnics that makes them perpetually popular? Is it the novelty of carrying a meal outdoors? The idyll of beautiful, bucolic scenery? Memories of childhood picnics in special places? One particular thing about picnics is that they are rarely enjoyed alone. Perhaps carrying an out-of-the-ordinary meal to a place away from the pull of the everyday, and then sharing it with loved ones, is the secret draw of picnics.
Simple Wartime Picnic Fare
Even during World War II, people enjoyed picnics wherever they could. And outdoor shared meals were a common, meaningful way to celebrate the end of the war—never mind they were usually carried into neighborhood streets rather than meadows. Rationing didn’t stop homemakers from finding ways to create shareable treats. The most basic of jam tarts could be made with flour, water and home-canned jam. Leftover meat scraps could be mixed with potato and sealed in a pastry crust. The array of sandwich fillings shared during World War II is amazing—have you ever tried peanut butter mixed with chili sauce, salt and pepper? How about boiled soy flour mixed with chili sauce and chopped soy beans? I rejoice to say I have not. Cheeses, crackers, soups and beverages like Picnic Coffee could easily be transported to enjoy a lovely day. For children, even an indoor picnic could be a fun adventure.
Summer Menu Options
Alice Bradley’s Menu Cookbook offers a staggering variety of meals, including many that would be picnic perfect. Hers was actually a four-volume set with complete menus for each month. She was suggesting local and seasonal meals before we forgot what those were. The menus for July included many cold dishes to combat hot, humid weather. These kinds of dishes were both popular and necessary before homes were equipped with air conditioning. Especially for homemakers in tiny, city kitchens, anything to keep from turning on the oven—or limiting cooking—was a welcome idea.
Presented here are a few recipes from the era that you may not have tried—especially the frozen cheese—as well as a couple of basics that have been popular at least since the 1940s. Picnic coffee and sweet sandwiches haven’t changed very much. Most people probably use more coffee and less milk these days. And in the US, peanut butter almost always goes with the jam on a sandwich. These little sweet sandwiches, with only the bread and jam, are more classic.
The frozen cheese recipe is one of the weirdest I have tried—never have I attended an event where the cheese ball was frozen—and this cheese is mixed with cherries and whipped cream! Alice Bradley was one of the most famous food experts in the United States before and during World War II. She was the principal of Miss Farmer’s School of Cookery in Boston. She knew more about food, and combining ingredients for nutrition and flavor, than anyone I know. So, if she included a recipe mixing cheese, cream cheese, cherries and whipped cream, she must have had certain ideas about how it would work. Her ideas resulted in a cheese dish that is lighter and more refreshing than our modern-day cheese appetizers—and it tastes nothing like whipped cream or cherries. It tastes like cheese, with the savory creaminess of a mayonnaise dressing. After freezing, it is firm but easy to scoop onto crackers—savory, light and yet fortifying.
A NOTE: I am adding to this blog post after the cheese has had a couple of days in the freezer, to say it is best to make this recipe and only give it 3 -4 hours to freeze. If left in the freezer, it does get too hard to slice unless you leave it out for a short while. Also, the mayonnaise flavor becomes stronger. This is a weird recipe all the way around! Next time I make this I will only use 1 - 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise. But if you want to try an authentic, vintage recipe from the late 1930s, this is an easy one that could be molded very elegantly.
Winner by Surprise
All I can say about the Roast Beef and Salad Platter is that it won the prize for a surprising dinner success. My husband looked at it a bit hesitantly, but he ended up returning for seconds. The French Dressing used on the vegetables is nothing like the bottled stuff in the grocery store. It is absolutely wonderful on the vegetables, pulling all the flavors together without overwhelming anything. It takes about one minute to make. My father-in-law also asked for seconds of this dish. It would be easy to make as much or as little as you need for the number of people you are serving. The condiments mix in beautifully and it was all so good!
I bought a small beef roast and cooked it in broth in my pressure cooker for 30 minutes, and it was tender enough to cut with a fork but still sliceable. You could use roast beef however you like to make it—or use canned, or even use sliced deli roast beef. This is an excellent way to get a lot of vegetables into a meal without it seeming like just a lot of vegetables. I highly recommend this dish. In a world so complicated as ours, which was just the case in the 1940s also, a picnic is a good idea.
Frozen Cheese on Crackers
Grate
1/4 cup (56g) Young America cheese [such as hoop cheese or mild Cheddar], add
4 tablespoons (60g) cream cheese and
1/4 cup (56g) mayonnaise and beat thoroughly.
Fold in
2 tablespoons (30g) chopped nuts
6 cherries chopped fine and
1/4 cup (60ml) cream beaten stiff. Fill a small mold and freeze. Remove from mold, cut in slices and serve on Crackers.
French Dressing
Put in small jar or French Dressing bottle
4 tablespoons (60ml) salad oil
2 tablespoons (30ml) vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt and
1/4 teaspoon pepper.
Cover and shake vigorously just before serving.
Picnic Coffee
Mix in thermos bottle
1 pint (480ml) fresh hot coffee
1 pint (480ml) hot milk
Sugar to taste and
Few grains salt.
Sweet Sandwiches
Make
Sandwiches as usual with a filling of
any desired
Conserve, preserve or jam.
Roast Beef and Salad Platter
This is a surprising dish--the recipe may appear a bit plain, but it had all the men returning for seconds!
Ingredients
Instructions
- Pile Potato Vegetable Salad in center of platter on a bed of lettuce leaves.
- On each side put cold roast beef cut in thin slices.
- At one end place a tiny container filled with chili sauce, at the other end 2 small lettuce leaves holding pickle relish. Garnish with curly endive.
- Mix together diced potato, scraped onion, celery or cabbage, green beans, salt, paprika and French Dressing.
- Mix beets with remaining French Dressing. Then, carefully mix beets into salad.
References
Bradley, Alice. The Alice Bradley Menu Cook-Book [July – August – September]. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1937.
“Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away, for behold, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. The fig tree ripens its figs, and the vines are in blossom.”
Song of Solomon 2:10b-13a