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Last year we were lucky enough to happen upon a little street festival in New York celebrating Bastille Day. Bastille Day falls on July 14 and is a French national holiday commemorating the storming of the Bastille during the French Revolution in 1789.
There were tents featuring French sandwiches and pastries and live music filled the air. But the highlight of the festival was a petanque tournament set up right in the street. Petanque is a sort of outdoor bowling game in which each player tries to throw three hollow metal balls as close as possible to a small wooden ball. The game is usually played in teams on packed dirt or gravel.
This year you can celebrate Bastille Day with an American twist at home with a specially made picnic and some lawn games. The foods of Bastille Day are generally light and suited to outdoor dining. Most commonly you would find sausage or pate sandwiches on French baguettes, along with refreshing salads and fresh fruits. An easy sandwich to make to take along on a backyard picnic is the French Dip sandwich.
Now, even though the name suggests it is French, this sandwich is American in origin (hence the American twist to your picnic) and was accidentally invented by a French chef in Los Angeles in the early 1900s. The story is that he was preparing a roast beef sandwich for a policeman and unintentionally dropped the finished sandwich into the pan juices. The policeman offered to eat it anyway. The sandwich was such as hit that the policeman came back with a friend the next day clamoring for more of the French dipped sandwich. Although it is not strictly French, it’s a delicious combination of roast beef and spices served on a baguette roll with the juices--au jus--that is perfect to take along on a picnic.
You start by slow cooking a trimmed beef roast in a mixture of beef broth and red wine. Season the roast beef with a mixture of garlic and steak seasoning, or if you have another preferred way to season steak, try it your way. Since the beef is cooking in liquid, you won’t have to worry about the meat drying out in the same way you might if you were roasting the meat in the oven. Depending on how the settings on your slow cooker work, the time will vary but should take between six and eight hours until it is falling apart tender.
After letting the cooked beef rest for a few minutes, thinly slice it and distribute it among sliced French baguettes. Cheese is optional. Wrap the sandwiches in foil to keep them warm. Then reserve the cooking juices (season to taste, and skim of fat if necessary) in packable containers for dipping. French Dip sandwiches are best dipped as they are eaten. If you do the dipping in advance they will most likely become soggy.
For picnic side dishes, you can take along a hunk of brie cheese and bread, a nice green salad, and for dessert, some sliced fresh melon and berries. Once you are finished your French-American style picnic, you stage a tournament of your favorite lawn game, be it lawn bowling, croquet, bocce ball, or petanque. Bon Appetit!
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A Bastille Day Picnic From the Slow Cooker
Last year we were lucky enough to happen upon a little street festival in New York celebrating Bastille Day. Bastille Day falls on July 14 and is a French national holiday commemorating the storming of the Bastille during the French Revolution in 1789.
There were tents featuring French sandwiches and pastries and live music filled the air. But the highlight of the festival was a petanque tournament set up right in the street. Petanque is a sort of outdoor bowling game in which each player tries to throw three hollow metal balls as close as possible to a small wooden ball. The game is usually played in teams on packed dirt or gravel.
This year you can celebrate Bastille Day with an American twist at home with a specially made picnic and some lawn games. The foods of Bastille Day are generally light and suited to outdoor dining. Most commonly you would find sausage or pate sandwiches on French baguettes, along with refreshing salads and fresh fruits. An easy sandwich to make to take along on a backyard picnic is the French Dip sandwich.
Now, even though the name suggests it is French, this sandwich is American in origin (hence the American twist to your picnic) and was accidentally invented by a French chef in Los Angeles in the early 1900s. The story is that he was preparing a roast beef sandwich for a policeman and unintentionally dropped the finished sandwich into the pan juices. The policeman offered to eat it anyway. The sandwich was such as hit that the policeman came back with a friend the next day clamoring for more of the French dipped sandwich. Although it is not strictly French, it’s a delicious combination of roast beef and spices served on a baguette roll with the juices--au jus--that is perfect to take along on a picnic.
You start by slow cooking a trimmed beef roast in a mixture of beef broth and red wine. Season the roast beef with a mixture of garlic and steak seasoning, or if you have another preferred way to season steak, try it your way. Since the beef is cooking in liquid, you won’t have to worry about the meat drying out in the same way you might if you were roasting the meat in the oven. Depending on how the settings on your slow cooker work, the time will vary but should take between six and eight hours until it is falling apart tender.
After letting the cooked beef rest for a few minutes, thinly slice it and distribute it among sliced French baguettes. Cheese is optional. Wrap the sandwiches in foil to keep them warm. Then reserve the cooking juices (season to taste, and skim of fat if necessary) in packable containers for dipping. French Dip sandwiches are best dipped as they are eaten. If you do the dipping in advance they will most likely become soggy.
For picnic side dishes, you can take along a hunk of brie cheese and bread, a nice green salad, and for dessert, some sliced fresh melon and berries. Once you are finished your French-American style picnic, you stage a tournament of your favorite lawn game, be it lawn bowling, croquet, bocce ball, or petanque. Bon Appetit!
Slow Cooker Red Wine French Dip Sandwiches
Made with baguettes, beef roast, beef broth, French onion soup, red wine, steak seasoning, garlic powder, salt and pepper, French rolls
Made with baguettes, beef roast, beef broth, French onion soup, red wine, steak seasoning, garlic powder, salt and pepper, French rolls
Serves/Makes: 4
- 3 1/2 pounds beef roast
- 16 ounces beef broth
- 1 can (10.5 ounce size) condensed French onion soup
- 6 ounces red wine
- 1 tablespoon steak seasoning, such as Montreal
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 4 French rolls
- OR
- 2 baguettes, sliced
- provolone cheese, optional
Trim excess fat off of beef roast and season meat all over with salt and pepper. Pour beef broth, condensed French onion soup, red wine, seasoning, and garlic powder into slow cooker and place beef roast into liquid. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.
Remove beef let it rest, covered with aluminum foil, for about 15 minutes.
Thinly slice beef and return to slow cooker on low or very low for 30 minutes.
Lightly toast the bread and evenly distribute cheese between rolls, if using.
Divide beef onto rolls and spoon the beef juice* into ramekins or other small bowls and eat everything while it is warm. Serve each sandwich with its own dip.
*Note: If there is excess fat in your au jus, simply pour it from the slow cooker into a large measuring cup and let it stand for about 5 minutes so the fat separates. Skim it off, then pour the juice into serving cups.
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©2026 CDKitchen, Inc. No reproduction or distribution of any portion of this article is allowed without express permission from CDKitchen, Inc.
To share this article with others, you may link to this page:
https://www.cdkitchen.com/cooking-experts/pamela-chester/923-bastille-day-picnic/