Magical Moments in Melons, from Vintage Bon Appétit
"Julia, have you ever heard of 'watermelon chicken'?"
This is a typical question people ask me.
"It's a chicken cooked inside a watermelon. It ran in Bon Appétit in the '90s."
Because I spend a disproportionate amount of my time in the corner of our little office library, carefully flipping through old issues of Bon Appétit, I am supposed to know about these things. I think of the time I made literal pounds of macaroni-ham salad and scooped it into a cantaloupe. A chicken in a watermelon seems likely.
There exist a few different methods for efficiently searching for past content: browsing the Internet, using some ominous database called a "Content Tracker," and consulting annual print indices. These strategies are just so...clinical. I prefer to page through one back-issue at a time, falling willingly into rabbit holes, bookmarking recipes to try, and sometimes just, you know, reading the articles. But "Watermelon Chicken" wouldn't give itself up so easily. I couldn't find it through perusal, I couldn't find it in the indices, I couldn't find it in the "Content Tracker." Finally, I looked up "Watermelon Chicken" on the Internet. It's from the New York Times.
But during my painstakingly inefficient "research" process, I found some magical moments in melon from Bon Appétit that might just rival it.
1/8Kentucky Watermelon, July/August 1959
Bourbon and watermelon is a pairing people don't spend enough time thinking about. Here are the instructions: "Select a medium-sized watermelon and a pint-and-a-half of good straight bourbon. Rest the melon on a tray or a platter, then score diagonal gashes several inches apart all around the melon, cutting through the rind into the 'meat.' Take a sharp knife and cut out a conical plug from the top center. Place the tray with the melon in your refrigerator for at least an hour. Fill the hole slowly with straight bourbon. Return the melon to the refrigerator, chill thoroughly, and keep adding bourbon periodically. Serve the melon sliced, or as a coconut-garnished melon ball dessert."
2/8"Twosome" Drinks and The Watermelon Punch Bowl, July/August 1969
"You can do wonderful things with a watermelon shell." Isn't that the truth. Here are some ideas: "For a couples party, serve big 'twosome' drinks as they do in Hawaii. For melons, scoop out the fruit, and fill the cantaloupe with a Hawaiian Screwdriver, using orange-flavored Hawaiian punch, or serve a Honolulu Vodka Cooler with fruity-juicy red punch in a honeydew shell. Serve with two long straws."
3/8A Stained Glass Window Dessert, June/July 1975
"Color and artistry combine to fashion a dessert reminiscent of stained glass," write the editors of this story. This is, perhaps, a reach, but the ambition is admirable. If you want to see whether the stained-glass effect is perhaps more visible in person, cut up a bunch of fruit (including, of course, melon balls), and cover it in a mixture of hot water, gelatin, orange juice, lemon juice, and sugar.
4/8Toss A Salad Party, September 1975
The cover recipe: "A crystal bowl carpeted with greenery makes a perfect showcase for the luscious fruits of summer. Top it off with orange mayonnaise dressing."
5/8Do-It-Ahead Tennis Brunch, August 1977
Jinx Morgan's "off-court strategy for weekend entertaining" includes shrimp-filled Bloody Mary Aspic, "Beef Vagabond," golden cheese puffs, and "a showy watermelon basket."
6/8Spiced Tropical Fruit, June 1983
This Indonesian menu includes spicy chicken croquettes and coriander beef patties. But what would it be without a hollowed-out, elaborately carved piece of fruit stuffed with melon balls?
7/8Melon-Lemon Vacherin, June 1983
This is one of my favorite recipes ever published in Bon Appétit, solely because of how insane it is. It calls for 7½ pounds of fresh cantaloupe, puréed, plus an additional 2 pounds cantaloupe for the sauce; 15 egg yolks; and something called a "round vacherin case," which takes almost a page to explain. Mark my words: I will make this.
8/8Three-Melon Soup of Summertime, July 1983
We're all in favor of foods that can be "either a cooling starter or a light dessert," right?
