The Picnic Papers

As a rule, when a couple contemplates a meal cooked in the city and toted to the wilderness, the sleeker sex automatically takes charge. A man, it's assumed, is capable of building a clay oven or pouring Scotch over rocks, but the woman knows better how to fill the thermos and pat the potato salad. The assumption is correct if you happen to be the kind who can tolerate cucumber sandwiches on thin bread or prune surprise salad with skim-milk punch. But if you want mugs of finnan haddie chowder, sliced rare steak sandwiches with their own beef juice trapped in great crusty slabs of French bread, wedges of mature stilton cheese, or coffee with cognac – if, in short, you pine for a picnic at once rural and urbane, a true Playboy picnic, you'd best read this screed and take matters into your own hands.

Your outdoor menu should reflect a certain easy harmony. If, for example, you're serving cold sliced Sauerbraten, then a German potato salad, onion rolls and Munchener beer would be the most natural menu mates. It isn't necessary, however, to go to ridiculous extremes and feel dismay just because you're unable to serve shark-fin soup before your

You can't see the trees for the picnic paraphernalia–a glittering gathering of gear to make your woodland repasts delicious and delightful.

lobster Cantonese. As a matter of fact, if you have access to a gourmet emporium, you can buy shark-fin soup just as you can now get French rooster combs or quail eggs if you're so disposed. In selecting these recondite foods, it's always a good idea to try them privately before you pass them along to your picnic partner. One costly imported shrimp pate, for instance, packed under a wellknown label, is dull and hardly recognizable as shrimp. On the other hand, an inexpensive pack of smoked mussels, when sampled, may well turn out to be tangy, completely luscious seafood that tastes like seafood.

Perspicacious picnickers know that the main problem of portage is how to keep hot things hot and cold things cold. No vacuum container can maintain its original temperature indefinitely. Optimum heat or cold can be generally counted on for four hours. Naturally, if you open a thermos of daiquiris three or four times on the way to your picnic, the drinks will soon lose their icy snap. Resist the temptation. Before ladling or pouring hot foods into a thermos, be sure to fill it with scalding water for five to 10 minutes. For keeping foods cold, chill the thermos with ice water for the same period of time. If perishable food isn't carried in a thermos, but is transported in a portable freezer or insulated bag, and there is any doubt about keeping the edibles sufficiently cold, use refrigerants in generous quantities. You can get them in cans, or as gel in plastic sacks; stow them in your freezer overnight before packing with the picnic grub and they'll emanate an arctic chill for many hours. You can also get a few hunks of dry ice at most druggists and soda fountains; this, too, will do a lot more than ice to keep foods frigid, and there's no messy meltage to worry about. You'll want to tote ice too, of course – for drinks that demand it. For this noble purpose, a separate ice carrier, insulated, is recommended.

While a good basket party is relaxed and knockabout, it's never accidental. Before you draw a single anchovy from a can, you must take pencil and paper in hand and make out the picnic list, including drink, food and equipage. Unless you do this, you'll find yourself all prepared to serve gin and tonic minus the gin, or ready to devour the ham while the mustard pot reposes on a shelf 50 miles in the rear. Often, in concerning oneself with the niceties of haute cuisine, it's easy to forget simple accessories. You may be planning to eat right in your own air-conditioned car or on a flat rock beside an isolated brook, but you must nevertheless provide such items as tableware, including serving spoons, serving forks or carving equipment; a tablecloth; big napkins (take an extra batch because much of the eating is via the hands); salt, pepper and other condiments, including catsup, mustard or bottled meat sauce; bread or rolls, butter; fresh or powdered cream, sugar; cigarettes, matches – and every other accessory that comes to mind for a civilized expedition. Try, if possible, to assemble all food and utensils in one place for easy packing at the last moment.

Picnickery today is no longer confined to the old collation of fried chicken, cold sandwiches and the invariable hard boiled eggs. Any man who owns a wide mouth thermos jug can now serve hot terrapin Maryland just as easily as he can pour rum Collinses or iced coffee. Hot chowders, cream soups and bouillons, even in the middle of the summer, always turn out to be wonderful picnic preludes. Salted foods, like Jordan almonds or Macadamia nuts, are especially pleasing.

With a little judicious shopping and some cooking – not a hell of a lot – it's easy to assemble the kind of outdoor meal that Pepys once described as "noble and enough." At stores with rotisseries, for instance, you can buy freshly roasted chickens, or, on special order, squabs, Cornish hens or turkeys. Delicatessens now provide anything from barbecued spareribs to kosher corned beef. In the gourmet sections of large department stores, like Macy's in New York or the City of Paris in San Francisco, you can choose freshly prepared appetizers, entrecs and main courses. Frozen-food cases in stores everywhere are laden with ready-to-eat repasts from continental hors d'oeuvres to velvety cheesecakes. Finally, if you're still a member in good standing at your own club, or if you're recognized at a fine bistro, you can always order beforehand your own special hash, casserole or bonne-bouche ready to load in the wicker basket.

Here now for wayside epicures is a passel of PLAYBOY picnic menus, all tested under our very own apple tree:

[recipe_title]Picnic #1[/recipe_title]

Hot Clam Madrilene

Cold Shell Steak Sandwiches

Potato Salad with Chives

Dill Chip Pickles

Ale

Camembert Cheese, Bartlett Pear

Coffee with Cognac

A 13-oz. can of clam Madrilene will provide two portions. Open the can and bring the soup to a rapid boil before pouring it into the thermos. Tell your butcher to cut the shell steak (porterhouse minus the filet, flank and bone) at least three inches thick. Allow eight to 12 ozs. of boned meat per portion. Broil the thick steak under a strong flame until well browned on each side. Inside will be undone at this point. (concluded on page 58) Picnic Papers(continued from page 20) Finish the steak in a moderate oven, allowing 20 to 30 minutes more cooking, depending on rareness preferred. Let the shell steak cool to room temperature before putting it in the picnic cargo. Carry it unsliced, but wrapped in aluminum foil, in a pan to save drippings. Carve diagonally. Salt slices well. Present slices on open French bread brushed with drippings. Test jar of pickles before embarking so that it may be opened without the usual critical struggle at the last moment. Ale should be moderately cold, not glacial. Remove camem-bert cheese from portable freezer, if possible, about a half hour before eating, to release its mellow flavor. Provide crackers or French bread with the cheese. Be sure fresh Bartlett pears are creamy-yellow ripe. For coffee with cognac, pour hot coffee from thermos into mugs. Hold a tablespoon over the coffee, place a lump of sugar in it, then fill spoon with cognac and set aflame. Let it burn a moment or two and then stir into coffee.

Potato Salad with Chives. Four Portions. Boil four medium-size new potatoes in jackets 30 minutes or until tender. As soon as potatoes are cool enough to handle, peel and cut them lengthwise into four strips. Cut strips into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Cut 1/2 cup celery into small dice. Combine 1/4 cup mayonnaise, 1/4 cup dry white wine, l tablespoon spoon minced chives, l tablespoon salad oil, 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon white pepper. Pour mayonnaise mixture over combined potatoes and celery. Chill well.

Picnic # 2

Vodka Martinis

Smoked Eel

Cold Glazed Duckling

Beet Relish

Pumpernickel

Brandied Apricots

Turkish Coffee

Twirl martinis in ice before pouring into thermos. Don't forget pitted olives. Swedish smoked eel in a four-oz. can will serve two. To make beet relish, put the contents of an 81/4-oz. can of diced or julienne beets, drained of all juice, in an electric blender. Add 2 teaspoons horseradish, l tablespoon lemon juice and l tablespoon sugar. Blend until smooth. Chill thoroughly. Be sure pumpernickel is cut thin. Spread bread with sweet butter and put slices together. Cut in half. Chill brandied apricots. A 20-oz. jar will provide three servings, a 38-oz. jar will be sufficient for six. Try instant powdered Turkish coffee, now available in a 12-oz. jar. It's very handy, quite potable – as well as portable. Follow directions on jar.

Cold Glazed Duckling. Two-Three Portions. Since almost all ducklings are sold frozen nowadays, and since duckling cannot be split for broiling while the bird is still frozen, it should be ordered from the butcher a day or two in advance. You will need a four-to-five-lb. duckling. Tell the butcher to thaw it and split it for broiling, removing neck and backbone. Place duckling, skin side down, under a moderate broiler flame. Broil 20 minutes. Turn. Pierce skin in six or eight places with a kitchen fork to permit fat to escape. Broil, skin side up, until duckling is golden brown, about 20 to 25 minutes more. Place duckling, skin side up, on a wire rack, in an uncovered roasting pan. Combine 3 tablespoons honey with 3 tablespoons dry sherry and 1/8 teaspoon ground cin-namon, mixing well. Roast duckling at 325°. Brush skin about every 10 minutes with honey mixture. Roast until drumstick separates easily from second joint, about one hour. Cool to room tem-perature before chilling in refrigerator.

Picnic # 3

Pate' de Foie Gras

Cold Sliced Ham and Turkey

Onion Turnovers

Sour Rye Bread

Watercress and Tomato Salad

Planter's Punch

Fresh Mangoes

Earl Grey Tea

A 11/2-oz. terrine of pate' de foie gras will serve two. It should be well chilled and spread on crisp crackers or melba toast just before serving. Buy cooked turkey and ham, sliced thin, allowing three to four ozs. cooked meat per por-tion. Transport the sliced meat just as it comes from the delicatessen well wrapped in wax paper. Arrange slices on an attractive platter for serving. Provide one bunch of watercress and two large beef-steak tomatoes for four portions of salad. Cut tomatoes into wedges. Carry salad dressing in bottle. Mix planter's punch with ice before leaving. Drain and pour into cold thermos. To serve, pour over ice in tall glasses, adding at the last moment a splash of soda water. Be sure mangoes are soft and ripe. Take along a paring knife to peel mango skin from top down, petal fashion. Brew Earl Grey tea five minutes before pouring into hot thermos. Don't forget sugar.

Onion Turnovers. 12-14 Small Turn-overs. Boil one medium-size peeled potato. Mash through potato ricer. Cut one slice of bacon into small dice. Mince two medium-size onions and 1/4 medium-size green pepper. Put 2 tablespoons butter, bacon, onion and green pepper in a saucepan. Saute slowly until onion turns yellow. Combine mashed potato and onion mixture. Mix well. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Prepare a package of piecrust mix, following directions on package. Roll dough to 1/8-inch thick-ness. Cut dough into four-inch circles. An empty No. 21/2 can may be used as a cooky cutter. Beat one egg, and brush the rim of each circle of dough with egg. Place l tablespoon onion mixture on each circle of dough. Fold dough over, pocketbook fashion, pressing ends together. Bake in hot oven, 450°, 12 to 15 minutes. Wrap turnovers in aluminum foil and transport in insulated bag to keep warm. If turnovers are baked beforehand, they may be reheated just before packing the picnic hamper. They may be eaten cold if desired.

Picnic # 4

Claret Consomme' on the Rocks

Frogs' Legs Provencale

Julienne Potatoes

Buttered Rolls

Alsatian Wine, Sylvaner

Baba au Rhum

French Roast Coffee

Open a 13-oz. can of claret consomme, serving two, and spike with two ozs. dry red wine. Do not chill. To serve, pour over rocks in old fashioned glasses. Julienne potatoes, variously identified as shoestring potatoes or matchstick pota-toes, are available in either cans or cello-phane bags. Slice and butter rolls before wrapping in wax paper. Luscious Syl-vaner wine goes well with practically every food known to man. Serve it well chilled. Baba au rhum, small rum cakes, are available in 14-oz. cans which will serve four to six persons. Be sure can is turned upside down five minutes before opening so that the syrup can drizzle over the babas. If French roast coffee isn't procurable, prepare the in-stant espresso instead. Either the French roast or the espresso should be served black.

Frogs' Legs Provencale. Four Portions. Wash, disjoint and bone 11/2 lbs. fresh frogs' legs. Mix in a large paper bag with 1/4 cup flour, l teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon monosodium glutamate and 1/4 teaspoon paprika. Place meat inside and shake bag well to coat meat thoroughly with flour mixture. In a heavy saucepan melt 3 tablespoons butter. Add 2 table-spoons oil. Saute frogs' legs until light brown. Add 1/2 cup dry white wine. Simmer three minutes. Add 3 tablespoons minced parsley and 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder. Drain a No. 2 can tomatoes, chop meat coarsely and add tomatoes to pan. Do not include tomato juice. Simmer five minutes longer. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Spoon into wide-mouth thermos jug.

One final tip: though preparing the hearty masculine edibles is your job, once you arrive at the picnic site, dele-gate the serving chores to her. Wilderness, like the man said, will be paradise enow.

Top Row, I to r: a lowdown, sturdily webbed aluminum armchair; $10.95. N'lcer bucket totes 3 lbs. of cubes for your cocktails, is made of pliable plastic that can't break, can't den't; in wicker carrying cradle; $9.95. Long-handled salt and pepper shakers keep your mitts out of the flames; $1 the set. Gallon-size Thunderbird jug sports a swing-out spout for peddling potables; $7.98.Regency leather-covered transistor portable radio lets you listen to what's going on back in the stuffy city; $44.95.

Middle Row, I to r: Thunderbird ice chest boasts fiberglass insulation, can't stain, corrode, scuff or rust; $21.95. Mister Chef stainless steel cook-out set comes with super-long Pakkawood handles and rawhide thongs, includes tongs on center tree; $24.95 the set. The biggest frying pan on God's green earth is cast iron, 24" in diameter; $12.95. Open your clams sans calamity with a Shuck-Em aluminum opener that won't damage the meat or carve up your thumb; steel blade divides shell, juices are trapped in pan below; sorry, won't do for oysters; $6.95. That green Stanley thermos is unbreakable, is a whiz at keeping grub or grog hot or cold, has a seamless, stainless steel lining; one-gallon size with deftly shielded push-button faucet; $23.

Bottom Row, I to r: a sumptuous service-for-six British willow-wicker picnic basket with leather bindings, stainless steel cutlery, stainless thermos jugs, salad and relish containers; $69.50. You've never munched a baked potato unless you've had one done to a mealy, magnificent turn in a Rosin Baker; this one comes with 10 lbs, of re-usable gum rosin; includes heavy steel charcoal pot, aluminum legs; with rosin kettle removed, it's a conventional grill; $26.95. Succulent steamer clams and tasty clam broth can be perked in that metal clam steamer; juice drains into spigoted section for simple serving; $11.95. The thingamabob that looks like a hair dryer is really a battery-powered brass fire blower that whips a spark into a blaze in a jiff; $12.95.

Straw bottle basket lugs two jugs of your favorite mountain dew, plus light snacks on the other side; $7.50. Folding steel table-and-bench opens like a book, seats four happy revelers, has nolegs to get in the way of theirs; carries like a suitcase; $32.50.

Super Hang-lt-All, with versatile vertical design, can broil or rotisserie on either side, prepares complete meal plus coffee in one swoop; $24.95. Fiberglass-insulated Thermo Keep keeps hot grub hot, cold beer cold, in separate Koroseal compartments; $12.95.

L fo r: Cowhide cose carries two glasslined thermos jugs; $17.50. No spilled drinks with this midget redwood picnic table and 8 embedded drinking glasses; $11.95. Walnut carving board with magnetized knife; $9.50. Webbed and low folding chair keeps your bottom off the grass; $10.95.