I am going to talk about picnicking, which I totally think is a legit verb, and my favorite picnic foods. Everyone has their own idea of a picnic. I asked a friend what he thought of when I said “picnic” and he said baguette, cheese and mustard. This is a totally different kind of picnic from what I immediately thought of, more of a by-a-river-watching-swans-and-drinking-champagne sort of vibe when what I envision is more of a public park kind: More Fourth of July, less Henley-on-Thames.
Picnic baskets are awesome. There are some great ones with built-in plates, cutlery and glassware. There are wicker ones, plastic ones, metal ones and ones that fold out into tables. But not having a picnic basket is nothing to be ashamed of; a paper bag will suffice. IMO, if you are sitting on the ground trying to keep ants and pine needles out of your food, with or without a fancy basket you are picnicking.
Gotta say, I really like watermelon at a picnic. Especially on the beach in August. I kind of think watermelon is a requirement. I’m anaphylactically allergic to yellow jacket wasps, and they adore watermelon as much as I do. But even knowing I can die does not keep me from it. That said, we are months off the season, so you are either going to have to get watermelon from far, far away or keep that craving in your pocket for when the weather gets hot enough to make melons. Whichever you choose, I encourage you to try salting your watermelon lightly to enhance the sweetness. You can even dip it in the ocean if you are lucky enough to be at the beach. My mom taught me this trick. These days Tajin is all the rage and is also great on watermelon. Wasps aside, I always wait eagerly for the season.
The second thing that comes to my mind when I think about a picnic is cold fried chicken. Why? Where did that even come from? Some kind of deeply entrenched Laura Ingalls Wilder version of Americana, possibly. You can enjoy letting someone else do the hunting and cooking by buying in Somerville at Highland Kitchen, 150 Highland Ave., Spring Hill, or Redbones, 55 Chester St., Davis Square; or in Cambridge at The Coast Cafe, 233 River St.
Frying chicken is just as daunting as you think, and if you are going to do it, you might as well do a bunch. First of all, it takes a ton of oil. The chicken must be at least halfway submerged in a pot of dangerously hot liquid to do the crisping thing, and getting the time right is a little challenging. Take it on! It’s worth it! But do not be too hard on yourself if it is not perfect the first or even the second time.
I talked about the triple dredging kind of frying and the coating I like when writing in April about edible flowers and frying squash blossoms. Chicken is a little bit tricky, as you need to get it cooked all the way through, and it is substantially thicker than a blossom. Go slower with the cooking and flip it every few minutes.
Heather Jones, who creates data visualizations as @msjonesnyc, has shared a “Perfect day for a picnic” graphic with us. Click to see it full size on her website:
The next thing that I think of is potato salad, which in turn reminds me of the U.K. penchant for “salads.” In this case that means something that has been tossed with a lot of mayonnaise: Egg salad, chicken salad and potato salad are common U.S. versions. Sometimes you’ll see a ham salad. My favorite of the English “salads” is actually cheese salad – shredded cheddar and mayo. Better still if there is a little onion in there, the perfect filling for the legendary cheese and onion sandwich.
For our purposes we are going to hang with potato salad. There are a lot of different kinds of potatoes, but all fall into two categories: waxy or floury. An example of waxy is a fingerling or red bliss. An example of floury is an Idaho. Waxy are the best choice for this use. They hold together better than floury, which are the potato of choice for mashed or baked potatoes. Boil your potatoes until a knife slides into them with ease. Chop them into bite-sized chunks and stir in mayonnaise until they are coated. I like to put some pickle relish and hard-boiled egg in my potato salad to keep it zesty and creamy. I like to include some diced onion, red or white, or scallion or chives. A little grainy mustard is nice in there, too, as is parsley. Salt and pepper, maybe some garlic powder, and you are good to go.
I kind of lied when I said we were going to hang with potato salad, because I feel that coleslaw fits with the picnic vibe – and can absolutely be made with mayonnaise but it is equally delicious when dressed with a vinaigrette. Consider this alternative to the classic if you want both but not feel redundant.
When I make a vinaigrette I like to use fresh garlic, and to mitigate its bite I will mix 1 part vinegar or lemon juice with 2 parts oil, stir in the garlic and let it sit and steep for an hour before tossing it into the shredded cabbage, carrots, celery or whatever else you like in coleslaw.
Obviously tons of other things might appear on your picnic menu. There are myriad sandwich options (pimento and cream cheese, for example), all kind of pickles, deviled eggs and pasta salad, but don’t you go telling me that you are adding burgers or hot dogs, cuz that’s not a picnic, that’s a cookout, and while there might be endless crossover, I will maintain that they are simply not the same thing.
Send cooking questions to JJ Gonson, a personal chef at Cuisine en Locale, at jjgonson@csindie.com.
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