Summer is here in New England, and although I love my time in the kitchen, the warm weather has me thinking of more portable ways to enjoy European foods.

Just as Americans love their picnics, Europe, too, has a wealth of savory and sweet baked goods that you can make ahead, pop in a basket, and enjoy on a blanket under the shade of a tree.

Today, let’s explore some of those foods from across the continent, and at the end, we’ll build a menu for an outdoor culinary tour.

When I think of pocket-able baked goods, my mind immediately goes to the British Isles. I’m not sure that the venerable tradition of filling pockets of pastry originated there, but they do have a long and varied tradition of such foods.

The Cornish pasty is perhaps the most well-known example. Originally, these were workman’s fare, and particularly for tin, silver, and copper miners in the 1800s. Though you can find versions today stuffed with many different things, the UK’s Protected Geographical Indication of a Cornish pasty is:

The regulations also provide specific ratios for the filling, and anything that doesn’t fit these criteria technically can’t be sold as a “Cornish pasty.”

Now a pasty would be a great centerpiece for our European picnic, but 4.5 hours to the north, there’s another hand pie that might give it a run for its money.

The Bedfordshire Clanger also started as the food of laborers—this time farm workers. Made of suet shortcrust and traditionally filled with liver and onions or pork and potatoes, the variant that I’m most interested in was described by a 1966 issue of the Bedfordshire Magazine as a ‘alf an’ ‘alf, which is essentially lunch on one side and dessert on the other. Mackay Brown, the article's author, simply prescribes jam as a sweet filling option, but some of the recipes I found suggest apple or plum.

We could fill an entire picnic basket with portable British delights: pork pies, Scotch eggs, steak & ale pies, mince pies (why not?!), Aberdeen rowies, Bakewell tarts, treacle tarts… I could keep going.

But we’ll leave the UK and Ireland with one last tidbit: according to the 2005 BBC documentary series, Tales from the Green Valley, peas porridge in the pot nine days old was not just a nursery rhyme.

People would keep boiling it and eating it until it thickened into a sliceable cake that could be wrapped up and put into one’s pocket on their way to the fields. I can’t say we’d want to add this to our modern day picnic, but it shows that the people of these islands have a long history of carrying food along with them.

Hopping the channel, we’re thinking less of rustic pastries and more of fine cheeses, charcuterie, grapes, and a bottle of good wine that you might toss in the back of a convertible.

Will you forgive me for completing this image with what is perhaps the most iconic French baked good? Yes, I mean the baguette—portable, versatile, and ubiquitous no matter where you are in the country.

These long, thin loaves with a crisp exterior contain just four ingredients by law: wheat flour, water, yeast, and salt.

You can of course pull it apart and eat it as-is, but if you bring a knife in your picnic basket, you can make a classic Parisian sandwich called the jambon-beurre.

The name “ham-butter” doesn’t sound very romantic in English, but this simple sandwich is extremely popular as a midday, on-the-go nosh.

To make it, cut your baguette lengthwise, spread with good butter, and then stuff with thin slices of jambon de paris (i.e, jambon blanc, white ham).

Of this sandwich, the late food writer, Anthony Bourdain once said,

But let’s say you’re trying to impress. Pissaladière would be a great choice, the French nod to the Italian pizza.

Originating in the Provence region of France, this savory tart is similar in shape and presentation to pizza but the olive oil rich dough is thicker and topped with caramelized onions, anchovies, and black olives.

This has always been made for transport, as it was and still is a street food sold in slices to be eaten either warm or at room temperature.

I won’t belabor the point, because I’d like to get onto the sweet stuff, but a quiche Lorraine would also be a great savory option.

As for dessert, there are so many pocket-able options in French cuisine. Everything from the macaron to financiers to palmiers to palets Bretons.

But what about a full-sized dessert perfect for summertime sharing? I’d suggest the gâteau basque.

This tart is made with a sturdy top and bottom shell of shortcrust filled with pastry cream or cherry jam (and sometimes both!). The slices are thick and hold together well. Who wouldn’t enjoy cherries and cream in the heat of summer?

Speaking from my own experience, German cuisine is rife with foods that are perfect for a picnic. I stayed with a host family in Germany two summers in a row when I was in high school. They lived in a little village on the edge of the Schwarzwald (Black Forest) and one Sunday we went on a hike in the forest, picnicking in a meadow after our trek.

For a Black Forest picnic buffet, you could swap out the French baguette, butter, and ham for Bauernbrot (farmer’s bread), Allgäuer Bergkäse (Allgäuer mountain cheese), and Schwarzwälder Schinken (Black Forest ham).

What we call Black Forest Ham here in the United States is a far cry from the real deal. Authentic Schwarzwälder Schinken is very similar to Italian prosciutto. You may be able to find it at specialty import shops, but if not, substitute prosciutto, which is much easier to find.

Pick up some local in-season fruit to pair with your bread, cheese, and meat. The Germans love their apricots, plums, and berries in the summer. If you want a meal with a little more effort, German Kartoffelsalat (potato salad) and some cold sausages would make an excellent outdoor meal.

There are also many options for transportable desserts, but I especially remember the cake my host mother brought—Aprikosenkuchen or Marillenkuchen. This is a classic German sheet cake with halved apricots.

I shared a slightly more complicated version on my channel last summer featuring almonds and meringue baked into the top. You could also add a streusel topping like in my Pfirsich-Streuselkuchen (peach streusel cake) video.

Let’s take one last hop down the continent and curate an al fresco dining experience Italian-style. For a no-cook picnic, choose a rustic, country-style bread like pane di Laterza or a classic focaccia genovese.

Pair it with a regional salame like Finocchiona from Tuscany or Felino from Emilia-Romagna and a cheese like Pecorino Toscano—sheep’s milk cheese that pairs beautifully with fruit or honey.

For fresh fruit, prosciutto e melone immediately comes to mind. This classic Italian appetizer is made of prosciutto wrapped around fresh slices of cantaloupe, accomplishing what Italian food does best—using fresh, high-quality ingredients to create simple yet flavorful dishes.

If you’re looking to spend a little more time in the kitchen before your outdoor meal, whip together an insalata di farro (Tuscan grain salad) to pair with a frittata di zucchine (Italian omelet with zucchini). We often think of a frittata as something to be served hot, but it also makes a delicious meal cold or at room temperature.

And, if you’re short on ingredients and happen to have leftover spaghetti in the fridge, you could make frittata di spaghetti—a crispy, sliceable frittata made with ingredients from last night’s meal! Both delicious and frugal.

Sweet pairings for the meal could include fichi al cioccolato, dried figs stuffed with an almond and dipped in chocolate. This Sicilian specialty is simple yet decadent. For something more involved, a crostata di marmellata is a beautiful tart filled with jam of your choice, apricot, plum, and fig are popular choices.

Torta caprese, a cake beloved on the gorgeous Amalfi Coast, would also make an excellent end to a meal. This flourless chocolate almond cake is both rich and easily transportable in slices.

Now let’s put together a Pan-European menu that will give you a taste of all four countries that we “visited” in today’s newsletter.

The dessert I chose for the final menu comes from Germany’s Black Forest region. Known as Kirschenmichel, it’s a rustic German take on bread pudding—made with stale bread, milk, eggs, and sugar, then folded with sour cherries for a comforting, old-world treat.

You can make this in advance and slice it into Schnitte to bring on your picnic! It does a great job of holding its shape once chilled.

I hope you enjoyed this picnic basket tour of Europe. If you’ve ever been on a picnic while vacationing in Europe, reply to this email and share with me what you had! Or, if you live in a European country, let me know what your favorite local picnic fare is.

Below is a photo of a picnic I had on a weekend trip to Vienna way back in 2009. I still think about the sunflower honey to this day!