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Picnics

Cookbooks help you set your table outdoors

By JOAN BRUNSKILL, Assocaited Press
Published June 29, 2005

NEW YORK - Who needs reminding that food tastes terrific outdoors?

It is, of course, well-known, and it should propel cooks into the kitchen right now, as picnic time nears high season. The plan: summery cooking to pack and go.

The rewards of this great American tradition of picnics are at least twofold: really, really appreciative diners and a change of scene for the cook.

Encouragement is here in the pages of some new picnic cookbooks for the studious and/or adventurous.

Here's a sampling:

A RETURN TO FAMILY PICNICS by Russell Cronkhite (Multnomah, 2005; $32): Cronkhite, a chef, baker and cookbook author, leaves no excuse for not making a picnic. His beguiling introduction traces the history of picnics and the way they've been a part of American life at least since the first Thanksgiving. Then, chapter by chapter, Cronkhite creates picnic scenarios complete with menus and recipes, catering for a variety of occasions, with many details shown in handsome color photos by Tom Henry.

In conversation about picnics, talking from his home in Alexandria, Va., Cronkhite quickly taps into what he feels is the profound value of these occasions, a theme linked to his 2003 book, A Return to Sunday Dinner, and his reverence for heritage.

Beyond the two standard elements about picnics - "you have to be outdoors and you have to have fun" - picnics are time you spend focused on enjoyment of other people, away from the stresses of life, he says.

More than that, "One of the things that picnics should do is reflect a part of our culture," he says. And at this time of year especially, for the Fourth of July, "We want to have foods that celebrate our heritage."

"The theme of my books is that what is really valuable to us is the simple pleasure of having a meal together, passing down our heritage from previous generations," he says.

This Mother's Day, his son made fried chicken with a recipe that had been passed through five generations of the family.

For good reason, fried chicken is a perennial picnic favorite. It travels well, it's best at room temperature and it's easy to pack.

"This recipe is oven-fried chicken, so you don't have to stand over a hot cauldron of oil to make it," Cronkhite says, and the recipe can be multiplied for large numbers. "I'm going to be making this in September for a local church event - for 300 people."

PICNICS by Robin Vitetta-Miller (Potter, 2005; $14.95): This book is a slim, well-focused, brightly illustrated 96 pages. Its recipes cover finger foods and starters, salads and sandwiches, dips and spreads, and desserts.

Vitetta-Miller's introduction is especially helpful, with details of safe food handling - as are all her recipes, with careful instructions for making each dish that include how to pack it. At the end of the book she suggests some theme-party menus and how to create the ambience for, say, an elegant soiree or a Mexican fiesta. When she was asked what she personally would do for a spur-of-the-moment picnic, she had a ready answer.

"I picnic five days a week and weekends, too," she says from her home in Scottsdale, Ariz. "With my two boys, a 3-year-old and a 20-month-old, I do a lot of grab and go. Right now, I'd get cheese and fruit, some crackers. I have a pasta salad. Perhaps some tortillas, and we'd do wraps with turkey. The kids and I make our food on the run - and we go."

This is her list of "extras worth remembering": a bottle opener (for corks and bottle tops), paper towels, bug spray, trash bags, antibacterial wipes and water.

THE URBAN PICNIC by John Burns and Elisabeth Caton (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2005; $21.95 paperback): This is an entertaining anthology of picnic anecdotes, snatches of history and relevant literary vignettes, but also includes menu suggestions - complete with music to picnic by - and recipes.

The introduction advises you to forget rustic details, the wicker hampers and summer meadows, day trips and farmers' fields. The authors say their book offers "inspiration and practical tools to help you take to the streets with a new kind of picnic in mind."

The urban mode is for kids or the child in us all, too. The authors don't forget games for your picnic entertainment, from a peanut race to pie-eating contests.

GOOD DAY FOR A PICNIC by Jeremy Jackson (William Morrow, 2005; $22.95): The book is subtitled Simple Food That Travels Well. Jackson, too, outlines the colorful history of picnics, including Americans' adoption of the custom, before getting down to recipes.

The spirit of fun comes through Jackson's writing. His book is lighthearted, but pauses now and then for reflection: "I think picnics have a way of stopping time and pulling the veil away from our eyes," he writes. "Picnics connect us to our past and ground us in the present at the same time. That, in itself, is magic."

Two 3 1/2- to 4-pound frying chickens

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon celery seeds

2 teaspoons onion powder

1 teaspoon paprika

2 tablespoons lemon pepper

1 tablespoon salt

1 tablespoon fresh chopped thyme

2 large eggs, room temperature

3/4 cup buttermilk

2 to 3 drops of Tabasco (optional)

16-ounce package seasoned bread stuffing mix, crushed

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

Adjust the baking rack to the center of the oven and preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Rinse the chickens thoroughly under cold running water and pat dry with paper towels. Transfer to a clean cutting board and, with a sharp knife, cut each chicken into 8 pieces.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, celery seeds, onion powder, paprika, lemon pepper, salt and thyme.

Whisk the eggs and buttermilk together thoroughly (and for a little extra kick, add a few drops of Tabasco); pour into a shallow bowl. Pour the crushed stuffing mix into a separate shallow bowl. Pour the melted butter onto a baking sheet.

Dredge the chicken pieces in the seasoned flour, then in the buttermilk mixture; thoroughly coat in the crushed stuffing mix. Transfer the chicken to the baking sheet and gently roll the pieces in the melted butter until lightly coated.

Divide the chicken between two clean baking sheets; place the breasts and wings on one, the legs and thighs on the other. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes for the white meat, 35 to 40 minutes for the dark. The chicken is done when an instant-read thermometer registers 160 degrees or when the juices flow clear after a knife is inserted into the thickest part of the thigh or breast.

When the chicken is fully cooked, transfer the pieces to a platter lined with paper towels. Allow the chicken to cool to room temperature before packing for a picnic or refrigerating. Makes 8 servings.

Recipe from "A Return to Family Picnics" by Russell Cronkhite.

Cherry Filling:

8 cups fresh pitted sour cherries

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Pinch of ground nutmeg

1/4 cup cornstarch

1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter

Cobbler Topping:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup cake flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg, room temperature

3/4 cup whole milk

Adjust the baking rack to the center of the oven and preheat oven to 375 degrees.

To make the filling: Combine the cherries with the lemon juice and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl. Whisk together the nutmeg, cornstarch, brown sugar and granulated sugar; fold into the cherry mixture. Cut the butter into tiny pieces and add to the cherries, then transfer to a well-buttered 13- by 9-inch baking dish.

To make the topping: Sift the all-purpose flour, cake flour, baking powder and salt into a medium mixing bowl. Slice the butter into 1-inch pieces and scatter over the flour mixture; sprinkle in the sugar, then cut all the ingredients together with a pastry cutter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbly meal.

Whisk the egg and milk together in a separate bowl, then add to the crumbly mixture. Stir with a wooden spoon until the dough just comes together and attains the consistency of wet biscuit dough.

Spoon the topping into small mounds over the cherry filling. Brush the mounds with a little milk and sprinkle with a little granulated sugar.

Bake until the topping is golden and the fruit is bubbling, 40 to 45 minutes.

Cook's note: Ideally, this dessert is topped with good-quality vanilla ice cream.

Makes 12 servings.

Recipe from "A Return to Family Picnics" by Russell Cronkhite.

[Last modified June 28, 2005, 09:27:26]