HFF 5.25: Picnic

The Challenge: Picnic. Make a food to be eaten outside or on the go.

The Recipe: Chicken Salad from The Godey's Lady's Book Receipts and Household Hints. I set about looking for picnic receipts from the 1850s/1860s, and found that after generic 'salad' the most commonly named varieties (in a picnic setting) were lobster salad and chicken salad.

Chicken Salad--Mince the white meat of a chicken fine or pull it in bits; chop the white parts of celery; prepare a salad dressing thus: Rub the yelks of hard boiled eggs smooth with a spoon, put to each yelk a teaspoonful of made mustard, half as much salt, a tablespoonful of oil and a wineglass of strong vinegar; put the celery on a large dish; lay the chicken on that; then pour it over the dressing. Lettuce cut small in the place of celery may be used. Cut the whites of the eggs in rings to garnish the salad Turkey meat prepared in the same way makes almost as good a dish 

The Date/Year and Region: 1870, Philadelphia

How Did You Make It: Having no leftover chicken, I started by pan-frying a chicken tender and boiling an egg.  When done, I cut the chicken into small pieces, and sliced the egg into rounds. I removed the yolk from the egg, mashed it with a spoon, and then stirred in 1 tsp of mustard, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 Tbsp olive oil, and finally 1/4 cup white wine vinegar (~2 oz, which is one "wineglass" equivalent according to some sources). I then divided up a small head of lettuce, arranged the chicken on it, poured the dressing over, and finished by arranging the egg whites along the edges.

Total Time: About 10 minutes to arrange, after the chicken and egg are cooked.

Total Cost: Very little. Less than a dollar for the amount of egg and chicken I used, with the lettuce coming from my garden.

How Successful Was It?: Too much vinegar. It overwhelmed the flavors and made me drink a ton of water. What little I could taste beside that, seemed nice. This is very similar to other 19th century chicken salads I've made, but what I found appealing about this one was its simplicity. I don't have any cucumbers or beets or borage in the garden yet (only lettuce, endive, and the very first nastrutium), so I liked that this receipt would work in the early summer days when I have lots of lettuce to use and little else. Unlike Beeton's delightful recipe, this one also doesn't need milk for the dressing, which would be convenient for travel, allergies, and times when I don't have milk on hand. Next time, I would scale the vinegar down to 1 Tbsp (maybe up to 2 if needed after tasting).

How Accurate Is It? I used an actual heirloom lettuce from this period (Tom Thumb), so that was fun. I actually only tried that variety because it was from my main era, and found therein a very easy lettuce that grows fast, tastes nice, and is perfectly-sized for a single serving of salad.

 

 

Chicken Salad (1870): probably ok with less vinegar.