Picnics and Parades ~ An Old Fashioned Memorial Day

Today it seems as though Memorial Day is the beginning of summer, rather than the summer solstice on June 21. Memorial Day marks the opening of pools and beach rentals. That is not the way our grandparents and theirs observed the day.

Memorial Day or Decoration Day was a day filled with parades and picnics. The entire town or city followed the marching bands and military units into the oldest of cemeteries. There they listened to music and speeches and then made their way to their family plots and unfurled a blanket and unbuttoned the picnic hamper.

The cemetery was almost a public park with natural areas and scenic vistas and a variety of sculpture. It was designed to be peaceful and quiet, well except for those bugles and trombones on parade days. Memorial days were most likely the busiest of visiting days in the cemetery.

With all of the festivity and then the work of tidying up the lots and placing flowers on the graves, visiting with neighbors, sustenance was a necessity.

In Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management (1859), Isabella Beeton wrote of picnic menu items including: sweetened stewed fruit with plain pastry biscuits, cold plum pudding, cold meats, pigeon pie, lobster, fresh jam puffs, baskets of fresh fruit and cheese. She also includes breads and butter for tea. Beverages should include ale, wine, brandy, lemonade and soda water.

She warns of items not to be forgotten: cork screws, a bottle of vinegar, a stick of horseradish and a bottle of mint sauce. And of course, wine glasses, teacups and saucers and lump sugar and milk. (This info comes from a wonderful reference by Susan Williams: Savory Suppers and Fashionable Feasts: Dining in Victorian America)

The Victorians used convenient hampers and even make-shift ones of boxes, partitioned on the inside into compartments. Today it is much the same; all manner of baskets and hampers and totes can hold our picnic items. If you are in the market for a new tote of sorts, check out Picnic at Ascot, Inc. They have back packs and collapsible market baskets. The Impulse Wine and Cheese Set consists of: 2 cotton napkins (5 designs from which to choose), 1 corkscrew, 1 wood cutting board and one cheese knife. It closes up into a neat 8 1/2 X 12 packet and weighs, empty, one pound. The neatest item I saw was an ice cream tote!! Now you can take along your half-gallon of Bryers and it'll stay cold! No need for an ice cream maker.

One of the most popular picnic items today must be fried chicken. If you want something other than fast food fried chicken, here's a recipe ~ the secret is soaking the breasts overnight in buttermilk and frying in your grandmother's seasoned cast iron skillet. This comes from the humorous book Some Day You'll Thank Me For This: The Official Southern Ladies' Guide to Being A 'Perfect' Mother by Gayden Metcalfe and Charlotte Hays:
6 chicken breasts buttermilk 2 eggs 2 cups whole milk 2 cups flour
salt and pepper to taste pinch of garlic powder 1/4 t. baking powder
fat for frying ( Crisco, vegetable oil or combination)
Soak breasts overnight in buttermilk.
Beat eggs and milk; dip chicken in mixture.
Combine flour, seasonings and baking powder in a brown grocery bag and shake to mix.
Shake the chicken one piece at a time until well coated.
Heat enough of the fat in the skillet to almost cover the chicken.
When you drop the chicken in, the fat should sizzle.
The art if frying chicken involves the grease, which must not burn the chicken but cooks it at an even, medium-hot level.
Do not crowd the chicken when frying.
Turn only once, when golden brown on one side.
Remove from the skillet and drain on a brown grocery bag that has been covered with a layer of paper towels, approximately 20 minutes.

It's not fast food, but I can smell it frying now!