June Ebook: Anne’s Summer Picnic Savories
June has come, and we are so delighted to finally share with you our ebook this month inspired, yet again, by the whimsical world of L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables series. Last month, we shared a collection of recipes with you for late spring picnic desserts. This month, we are focusing on savory dishes for Victorian style picnicking. I have been spending the past couple of months researching what picnic culture was like during the mid to late 1800s and the types of foods that would have been popular.
Unsurprisingly, many of the same foods that we enjoy today, nearly 200 years later, are still enjoyed on a summer picnic spread! When you think of a classic American picnic or barbecue, which types of foods do you imagine? For me, it’s something along the lines of coleslaw, watermelon, potato salad, and other mixed salads. For the Victorians, those recipes existed but they were only slightly different.
savory foods at a victorian picnic:
I have talked about the Victorian picnic at length in this post, but it does not hurt to mention again the types of savory dishes that might be served at a 19th century outdoor luncheon!
Cold meats and sandwiches were the main staples at any picnic, usually consisting of some sort of roast fowl or beef. The sandwiches would be filled with cream cheese or mayonnaise and sliced vegetables like radishes or cucumbers, though often they also were filled with cold meats!
what would Anne have enjoyed at her picnics?
In this month’s ebook, I dove through the chapters and found that inside many of the recipes mentioned by L.M. Montgomery are quite true to the era (the first book was published in 1908 and is set in 1870s). There are also so many repeat recipes! Things like ham and boiled potatoes or creamed potatoes are mentioned several times. This makes sense, though, as it was simple to throw together some cured pork and potatoes for hearty yet easy supper.
In the books, I chose to go with a few options that are mentioned like tea sandwiches or cucumber sandwiches, potato salad, roasted chicken, and deviled eggs.
what is inside the ebook?
This month’s ebook focuses on lovely summer savory dishes. They are all inspired by Victorian recipes, though I have added in my own twists to them as many true Victorian recipes are rather bland and boring. For instance, a true Victorian potato salad is made with an oil and vinegar dressing. While this can be delicious, I do love the creaminess of a mayonnaise dressing for most summer salads!
For my recipe inspiration, I poured through a couple of my historical cookbooks and I found that the Fannie Farmer 1896 cookbook held most of what I needed to get started. In fact, I found a recipe for nearly every single savory recipe mentioned in the Anne series! I loved that.
In this ebook, you will find the recipes for:
Victorian Bacon Potato Salad
Dill Cream Cheese Sandwich Spread
Smoked Salmon Deviled Eggs
Lemon Luncheon Rolls
Crispy Roasted Rosemary Chicken
As always, I hope that you enjoy this little miniature ebook of recipes! We love sharing them each month with you, along with our free blog recipes. They help us to bring in an income and continue creating and sharing our content with you.
If you would like access to all of our ebooks for a steal, then please consider joining us on Patreon! It costs $3 per month, and you get access to all of our ebooks, printables, exclusive videos, exclusive blog posts, and more. It’s a fun community!
xoxo Kayla
