Picnics and Picnic Fare

Now that the season of picnics is at hand, I thought this would be a good time to mention picnics and what foods may have been served in the mid-nineteenth century. Picnic was defined in Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, published in 1854 as "an entertainment which each person contributed some dish or article for the general table. The term is now applied to an entertainment carried with them by a party on an excursion of pleasure into the country, and also to the party itself."

In reading diaries and periodicals, I found several references to picnics. Most did not mention the particular food served, but I did find in Godey's, November and December, 1859 a serial story in two parts that was about a picnic. The title was "Picnicking in the Pine Woods; or, Fishing and Flirting at Thunder Bay." The subject matter was more about a chaperoned camping trip of several days to Thunder Bay in Michigan. Several meals were mentioned, and while this may not have been the standard fare for picnics, at least it does give us an idea of some of the picnic foods of the time.

"...About two hours after getting underway, he served them up a comfortable lunch. The ladies insisted upon using their belt knives for cutting their sandwiches, and this formidable table cutlery doubtless gave their cold chicken and biscuit a keener relish."
"...A cloth was spread upon the grass, and a fine display of elegant table-furniture was made by the tasteful and happy Nip. There was a tin plate and tin cup for each person, two superb new shingles, one holding sea-biscuit, the other Boston crackers, a saltceller twisted from a crimson oak leaf, and a round wooden box full of the nicest powdered sugar. A cold boiled ham occupied the place of the principle dish. When the kettle had boiled, Mrs. Florence asked permission of the chief cook to make the tea, whic privilege he graciously granted, with a flourish and bow.
"...Coffee and broiled birds, with toasted biscuits, made a breakfast at which no one felt disposed to grumble."
"... There were broils, and roasts, and brought in last, and placed in triumph before Captain George, a huge pastry, baked in a pot and served in a pan, which certainly did give forth a promising odor."
"...Everybody was ferociously hungry, and hurried up Nip in his airy kitchen. Little Jessie begged some flour of the cook, and made a "turn-over short-cake," after the fashion of our grandmothers, which she baked upon a shingle before the fire. There was a muscolunge wrapped in leaves and stuffed, baked in an oven of hot stones covered with ashes; there were also a broiled bass, condiments, tea and grapes ad libitum."

When we are planning a period picnic, there are many familar dishes that may be prepared. Potato salad, cold slaw, pickles, brandied peaches, fried chicken, sliced ham, biscuits, crackers, sandwiches, cheese, fruit, simple cookies, gingerbread, saratoga chips (potato chips), lemonade or raspberry shrub are just a few familar items that may be taken on a picnic. I have included recipes taken from period cookbooks to give you an idea of the difference in their recipes and ours.

PERIOD RECIPES

Potato Salad. Mash and strain the potatoes through a colander; make them rich with butter; season with a sauce made by mashing the yolks of three hard-boiled eggs for a quart; a teaspoonful of unmade English mustard, pepper and salt; a tea cup of good apple vinegar; a teaspoonful of loaf sugar may be added to the vinegar; mix this thoroughly with the potato. Put it in a stew-pan and when hot serve; ornament the top with rings cut out of the white of the eggs and sprigs of parsley. Some persons prefer this cold; it is good either way. (Mrs. Hill's Southern Practical Cookery and Receipt Book)

Saratoga Potatoes. Pare and cut into thin slices on a slaw-cutter four large potatoes (new are best), let stand in ice-cold salt water while breakfast is cooking; take a handful of the potatoes, squeeze the water from them and dry in a napkin, separate the slices and drop a handful at a time into a skillet of boiling lard, taking care that they do not strike together, stir with a fork till they are a light brown color, take out with a wire spoon, drain well and serve in an open dish. They are very nice served cold. (Buckeye Cookery and Practical Housekeeping)

Cold Slaw. Cut hard white cabbage across the leaves, and put in a deep plate, scald two large spoonsful of vinegar with a piece of buter, some pepper and salt; pour this over the slaw; have an egg boiled hard; chop it fine, and spread it over the top. Some persons like it heated in a pan with vinegar and water, and the yelk of a raw egg mixed through it. (Domestic Cookery, Useful Receipts and Hints to Young Housekeepers)

Brandy Peaches. Take one quart of water; a table-spoonful of citric acid, and eight pounds of the best sugar; put the whole in a preserving kettle, and set it over steam until the sugar is melted, and the syrup becomes perfectly clear; should any scum arise, skim it off when quite clear, let it cook until about blood-heat; then mix whti the syrup the same quantity of the best quality French brandy; beat it well together, or the syrup will settle, being so very thick as not to mix readily with the brandy; take perfectly ripe, but not soft, Morris White, or some other white-fleshed peaches; dip them in boiling water, just long enough to make the skin slip from the fruit with ease. Pack as many peaches as possible with breaking, in wide-mouthed bottles or jars, and pour over them the brandy syrup, which must not quite reach the cork. Leave a little syrup until the next day, as the fruit will absorb so much as to make it necessary to fill the bottles again before sealing. Seal them perfectly and keep them in a cool, dark place, if possible. (Housekeeper's Encyclopedia)

Chicken, To Fry. Roll each piece in flour or corn meal; fry in plenty of boiling lard. Should the lard become hot enough to scorch the outside, lessen the fire; turn frequently; cover the pan with a tin plate; fry slowly. "To boil lard" is the proper way to "fry" chicken. To make the gravy: Pour off the lard, strain it, and keep it for other purposes. Put a large tablespoon-ful heaped of butter into the pan; rub into it a dessert spoonful of flour; set this upon the fire; stir it while melting, and until the butter has a rich golden color. Season with pepper and salt. Pour in half a tumbler of boiling water; as soon as it boils up once, pour it over the chicken. Send a dish of rice, hominy, or hominy cakes to table as an accompaniment. (Mrs. Hill's Southern Practical Cookery and Reciept Book)

Thick Gingerbread. Ingredients. - 1 lb. of treacle [molassas], 1/4 lb. of butter, 1/4 lb. of course brown sugar, 1 lb. of flour, 1 oz. of ginger, oz. of ground allspice, 1 teaspoonful of carbonate of soda, 1/4 pint of warm milk, 3 eggs.
Mode. - Put the flour in a basin, with the sugar, ginger, and allspice; mix these together; warm the butter, and add it, with the treacle, to the other ingredients. Stir well; make the milk just warm, dissolve the carbonate of soda in it, and mix the wold into a nice smooth dough with the eggs, which should be previously well whisked; pour the mixture into a buttered tin, and bake it from 3/4 to 1 hour, or longer, should the gingerbread be very thick. Just before it is done, brush the top over with the yolk of an egg beaten up with a little milk, and put it back in the oven to finish baking.
Time. - 3/4 to 1 hour. Average cost, 1 s. per square.
Seasonable at any time. (Beeton's Book of Household Management)

Sugar Biscuit. - Half a pound of flour, one-quarter of a pound of butter, one-quarter of a pound of powdered loaf sugar. Cream the butter; add the egg and sugar; then the flour and a tablespoonful of cream. Roll out the dough thin; cut with a wineglass. (Mrs. Hill's Southern Practical Cookery and Receipt Book)

Lemonade. Roll six lemons well, slice thin in a earthern vessel, put over them two tea-cups white sugar; let stand fifteen minutes, add one gallon water and lumps of ice, pour into pitcher and serve. Some add soda after the glasses are filled, and stir rapidly for "sparkling lemonade." (Buckeye Cookery and Practical Housekeeping)

Raspberry Vinegar [Shrub]. Put a quart of ripe red raspberries in a bowl; pour on them a quart of strong well-flavored vinegar, let them stand 24 hours, strain them through a bag, put this liquid on another quart of fresh raspberries, which strain in the same manner, and them on a third quart; when this last is prepared, make it very sweet with pounded loaf sugar; refine and bottle it. It is a delicious beverage mixed with iced water. (The Virginia House-wife)

As you can see, picnic foods have not changed much. Our methods and ingredients have been improved, but the basic foods are the same. It is not difficult to prepare nineteenth century foods for a modern picnic.

One does not need special picnic equipment. Tin plates and cups are adequate, but if a nineteenth century family did not have tin available, they would have just used the dishes and utensils that were used everyday. Modern "Blue Willow" is an appropriate dinnerware pattern and thumbprint glasses are also period. Most families had a multitude of baskets so a special basket was not needed. Quilts or tableclothes were spread on the grass.

Picnics are as much fun now as they were in the nineteenth century. People participated in outdoor games which stimulated their appetites and provided entertainment for everyone. Some period games that may have been played were quoits, tug-of-war, graces, tag, and croquet.

The following references may be consulted for further information:

Beeton's Book of Household Management, Isabella Beeton, S. O. Beeton, London, 1861.

Buckeye Cookery and Practical Housekeeping, Estelle Woods Wilcox (edited), Buckeye Publishing Co., Minneapolis, MI, 1880. Reprinted by Minnesota Historical Society Press, St. Paul, 1988.

Domestic Cookery, Useful Receipts, and Hints to Young Housekeepers, Elizabeth Lea, Cushings & Bailey, Baltimore, 1853. Reprinted by University of PA Press, Phildelphia, 1982.

Godey's Lady's Book, Sarah J. Hale, editor, Louis Godey, Publisher, Philadelphia, November and December, 1859.

Mrs. Hill's Southern Practical Cookery and Receipt Book, Annabella P. Hill, Carleton Publishers, New York, 1872. Reprinted by University of SC, Columbia, 1995.

The Housekeeper's Encyclopedia, Mrs. E. F. Haskell, D. Appleton & Co., New York, 1860. Reprinted by R. L. Shep, Mendocino, CA, 1992.

The Virginia Housewife, Mary Randolph, Davis & Force, Washington, 1824. Reprinted by University of SC, Columbia, 1984.

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