PORK LOIN Glazed in Balsamic and Brown Sugar

Pork was always a favorite amongst the cowhands working the trail drives. Although the chuckwagon cook normally served it as salt pork or bacon, the rare occasion of  having wild bore would find the cook skinning the hide off a wild pig and butchering. 

Slow cooking pork has always made for great BBQ and Pork Loin is truly a delightful cut.  This was slow cooked and glazed and a true treat that will please your pallet. Christina, from C and C Marriage Factory tried this recipe from Let's Dish stating it was a cinch to make and seriously delicious.

Ingredients:

1 (2 pound) boneless pork loin

1 teaspoon ground sage

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 clove garlic, crushed

1/2 cup water

Glaze:

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup water

2 tablespoons soy sauce

Directions:

Combine sage, salt, pepper and garlic. Rub over roast. Place in Dutch Oven with 1/4 cup water. Cook at on 350 degrees (f) for 1 1/2 hours. Approximately 35-40 minutes later, reduce heat and add glazet about6-8 hours. About 1 hour before roast is done, combine ingredients for glaze in small sauce pan. Heat and stir until mixture thickens. Brush roast with glaze 2 or 3 times during the last hour of cooking. Serve with remaining glaze on the side.

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Cowboy's Baked Beans

Cowboy Greg Martin demonstrates Cowboy Cooking

This recipe share by Oklahoma Cowboy Greg Martin has long been a favorite for those who worked the cattle drives.  Although, Cowboy Bake Beans also complements many other dishes during any gathering, whether served as a side dish with Barbeque Brisket, Chicken Wings, Steak or as a hearty staple with some cornbread. 

Greg enjoys the out-door traditional cowboy style cooking where his friends and family enjoy the splendors of those meals.  Stemmed from a love of western history, Greg has been inspired from the old ways of Cowboy life but his cooking blossomed a few years ago when he worked for a working ranch that performed several large events including the Oklahoma Cattleman's Dinner cooking on a much grander scale.  His average seated meals grew from the mere 8 to 10 people to over 150 to 200 plate settings.  

Greg also enjoys riding his motorcycle and has assisted with the organization "Patriot Guard Riders" who are a diverse amalgamation of riders from across the nation that have an unwavering respect for those who have risked their lives for America freedom and security.  Greg states, "Being apart of the Patriot Guard Riders has been one of the most amazing things I've ever been part of.  Having the family of a fallen hero make it a point to come say thank you, when in fact we are there in order to say thank you to them, humbling to say the least." 


"Since my cooking is conducted outdoors, weather conditions effects how you cook, and I am always honing my skills about the many techniques and types of different foods."  Looking forward to spring and getting out cooking more often for family and friends, Gregg emphasized that a great deal around his cooking style is also education. "Many people are not aware as to the lifestyle and old ways of the cowboys. Often getting the crowd to ask questions from my fashionable attire of a cowboy or the cookware, to sharing stories about the cattle drives and ol' cookie, the chuck wagon cook), helps keep Cowboy traditions alive. 

Cowboy's Baked Beans

 
Ingredients: 

1 lb. Dried navy or Pinto beans 

1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 lb. Slab bacon
3/4 cup maple syrup ( the good stuff)
1 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Dry mustard
Dash of cayenne pepper if you want


Directions:

Soak beans in about 5-6 cups cold water and allow to soak over night.  Beans should be just slightly covered by the water.  

Build a fire when the beans have soak and are ready to cook.  Have an ample supply of wood or coals to keep a good fire going. 

Drain beans and place in your dutch oven, add enough fresh water to cover beans and place the Dutch oven over the coals and bring to a boil with out placing the lid on.  Once at a boil, put the lid on and continue at a slow boil for another 30 minutes. 

Remove from heat, drain and save your water.  Add in onions, cut your bacon into 3 or 4 chunks and toss into beans and mix.  

In separate bowl, take the water you drained off and mix with syrup, salt and mustard.  Using a dash of red pepper if you desire for some added bite, then stir and pour back over the beans stirring gently.  

Put the lid on the dutch oven, place back over coals and keep a medium heat for about 4 hours.  Occasional, lift lid to inspect, give a slight stir and keep an eye on the water level. Then after 4 hours, add additional coal to the lid and continue cooking for two more hours. This will allow the water to cook down a bit and should thicken up, but cautions not to burn the beans.  

Remove from heat and the beans are ready to serve.  Will feed about 8 people or 5 to 6 hungry cow hands. 

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This recipe was proven to be an award winning recipe: Wayne Calk, 2013 President of the American Chuck Wagon Association wanted to step up his bean recipe for chuck wagon competition.  Receiving 8 different recipes, he narrowed his search down to two.  Liking the idea of using Maple Syrup in the recipe, he selected Greg's and took the recipe to the Cowboy Country Round-Up held in Hondo, Texas where Wayne's gamble on a new recipe proved success as his wagon team won First Place in the Beans:  Wayne caters using his restored John Deere Triumph Chuckwagon. He also has a converted Ford Model TT Truck which he restored into a Chuck-Truck.  One of perhaps three remaining in the USA today.  Read about the Amazing Truck here: 
  

Wayne Calk, ACWA President and Roger Edison, Cowboys and Chuckwagon Cooking

"DRUNKEN PINTO BEANS with Republic Tequila"

Drunken Pinto Bean

A savory ranch dish of the southwest cuisine. This  (TEX-MEX) bean dish is a favorite with any ole Gringo. We add some extra flavor using some black beans and kicking the recipe up with Republic Tequila with a mild touch of heat.   

2 tsp vegetable oil
4 strips bacon, chopped
1/2 onion, minced
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
1 can pinto beans
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup water
2 Tbsp Republic Tequila
2 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add bacon and cook until crisp. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon and reserve.

Add onion and pepper to saucepan. Cook for 5 minutes or until browned. Add pinto beans (drain a bit of the liquid off first, but not much), drained black beans, and water. Stir in bacon. Heat until boiling, reduce heat, and simmer for 20-30 minutes to bring flavors together.

(If beans are too soupy at this point, raise heat and boil some of the liquid off. If beans are too dry, simply add a few splashes of water and continue to simmer.)

Right before serving, add tequila and cilantro; stir well into the dish. This goes great with BBQ, Fajitas and any other Tex-Mex dish you serve.  

If you really desire to put a great deal more spicy bite into this dish, add two additional jalapeno peppers. Although, while you might enjoy the heat on your palate like a Texas summer heat wave, some just can not deal with it when their tongue feels as if it just visited Hadies, so we reccommend  using merely one seeded pepper will make this dish much more enjoyable for everyone.  Also, while we used can beans in the dish, you can soak your own and even substitute the Tequila for a good Shiner Boch dark beer, but then it wouldn't be Republic Drunken Pinto Beans either.    Adios Mi Amigos   

                                                Republic Tequila 

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Chuckwagon Blueberry Dump-Cobbler

Chuckwagon Blueberry Dump-Cobbler  

By the end of the day, Chuckwagon Cooks are tired from a long day caring for their round up crew. Who can’t relate coming home at the end of the day only to still have one last task at hand, making dinner. Today with most women as part of the major work force laboring, managing and devoting their careers, they too still come home with more tasks at hand while the kids and husband often are already relaxing. Dinner has to be served, and the chuck wagon cook knows his cowboys will appreciate a great dessert to complete the nights dinner. Here’s a simple dish that will make any household feel as if you slaved all day at home to make tonight’s treat. It will taste like a cobbler but in truth, it is simply a dump cake: No one has to know it’s not from scratch.

Ingredients:

6 cups frozen or fresh blueberries

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/8 cup water

1 (18.25-ounce) box yellow cake mix (white mix) optional

1 and 1/2 sticks butter

1 tbsp cinnamon

1 Lemon

Vanilla Ice Cream or Whip Cream Optional

1 12″ inch Dutch Oven or baking pan

Instructions:

With Blueberries at room temperature, place into baking dish.

Cover with 1/4 cup brown sugar.  Cut lemon in half and squeeze 1 tbsp of lemon juice in with the Blueberries and stir in water together.  Sprinkle 1/2 tbsp of cinnamon over the berries.

Pour the powder cake mix evenly over the fruit. (Note)  No mixing, then sprinkle remaining brown sugar over cake mix. Slice butter into thin squares about 1/8″ inch thick and lay evenly on the surface of the cake mix about 1 inch apart. Then sprinkle the remaining cinnamon over top an add 1/4 tsp lemon zest on top. Place in preheated oven at 350 degree (F) and cook for 35-45 minutes. I use a Dutch Oven outdoors and line the bottom with a piece of aluminum foil before adding ingredients. I also place 8-12 hot coals under the dutch oven with about 18-20 on the lid. There’s no mixing as the cooking does the work for me allowing me to work on the main meal. Serve warm adding a scoop of ice cream or whip cream to complete the dish atop.

The Cowboy Cooks notes:

Some recipes call for merely 4 cups of fruit which truly short changes this recipe. Blueberries are naturally a bitter sweet requiring very little sugar to sweeten the dish, but using brown sugar will give it that old fashion country flavor. While I use a cast iron Dutch Oven and cook this outdoors, you can use any baking dish in an oven. Once I remove from the coals, I also remove the lid and allow the dessert to rest on a trivet until time to serve. The powder cake mix will form a slightly golden color crust when ready.

You can try this same dessert using different fruit filling. Let your imagination go wild as you will find even the most persnickety folks will be pleased with your results.

For the relationship between Cobblers, Grunts, Slumps, Crisp, Betty, Brown Betty, Buckles, Pandowdy, Bird Nest Pudding  click here  for the history:

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"Cowboy Peanut Brittle with a Kick"

"Cowboy Peanut Brittle with a Kick"

Last Christmas season, my son Austin and his mother made various candies and cookies. One candy, was peanut brittle.   Austin enjoyed making the various hard candies during the holiday season.  Several weeks later while window shopping with me in a Texas Specialty shop, we saw a Peanut Brittle made with Jalapeno Peppers and drown in green food coloring.  Austin purchase some, yet after tasting, he wanted to improve the taste and appearance. Assisted by his mom, the two came up with "Cowboy Peanut Brittle with a Kick."  Changing their standard recipe, they added cayenne pepper to give the taste some real kick but smoothing it out using a pinch of cinnamon and leaving the color it's natural golden brown. It's a taste every buckaroo will love.  At the Cowboy Country Round-Up held in Hondo, Texas, Austin entered this in the baking Candy category winning First Place Youth Candy Entry and BEST in CATEGORY:

Ingredients:

    3 cups sugar
    2 cups water
    3/4 cup light corn syrup
    4 cups coarsely chopped salted roasted peanuts
    2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) unsalted butter
    1 tablespoon baking soda
    1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    1 1/2 teaspoons of cayenne pepper
    1/2 teaspoon salt
    1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

Directions:

Butter 2 heavy large baking sheets. Vegetable oil can be use in place of butter, though the butter will enhance flavor.  Next, mix the peanuts, cayenne pepper and cinnamon together and then set aside.  Pour sugar, corn syrup, salt and water together in a large heavy saucepan and boil over medium heat stirring until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to high and boil without stirring until candy thermometer registers 260°F.  Mix in peanuts and butter. Increase heat cooking until thermometer registers 295°F., stirring constantly, for about 15 minutes.  The mix will turn to a lush golden brown.  Add baking soda and vanilla and stir briskly (mixture will foam up). Immediately remove from heat and pour out onto prepared baking sheets, dividing evenly. Spread brittle out as thin as possible and let stand uncovered until cooled and hard. This may take up to 45 minutes depending on room temperature and humidity:  The candy should become hard and not feel sticky.  Once harden, break brittle into pieces for serving or store in an air tight container.

Each year, January 26th is celebrated as, "The National Peanut Brittle Day."  While the first noted recipe for Peanut Brittle was Sarah Rutledge in her 1847edition "The Carolina Housewife,"  I have heard many stories about this candy.  Some come with much folklore such as, lumber jack Tony Beaver saving a flooding town casting the ingredients into the river turning it into peanut brittle. Another is that Irish immigrates who came to the early colonies just after the American Revolution brought the recipe with them.  Though, my favorite was a story around a camp fire about the chuckwagon cook name Nadine Groot. 

Ole Nadine needed to cross the Red River with his Chuckwagon. The river was running rapid an ole Nadine just didn't care much for the water. Perhaps he latched onto fears about the river since he couldn't swim or maybe it was just that he was too afraid he end up getting a bath. Regardless of which scared him most, he was determine to get across without getting wet. His trail boss Thomas Dunson was already bellowing as they moved the herd of cattle across. Nadine wasn't yearning to hear any more hoop la yelling from Mister Dunson.  So, with a crack of the axe, Nadine broke open a whole barrel of molasses pouring it into the river. That Molasses was so thick, the river nearly came to a stop.  Nadine then poured a 50 pound sack of peanuts over the surface throwing in a pinch of salt and baking soda with it. As the peanuts mixed into the molasses, the river soon harden like brick, leaving Nadine able to cross over without getting the slightest bit wet and making a very sweet snack for the wranglers.  Regardless of the folklore or the origin of Peanut Brittle, this Blue Ribbon winner makes a great treat your wranglers will enjoy begging for more. While it can be made weeks in advance, it also makes a great gift.

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Drinking Water - Usage of Charcoal and Ash

 

Cowboy Camp Fire

Springs provide rich quality drinking water but not all watering holes yielded good potable water.  The chuck wagon cook boiled the water killing any bacteria.  Then placing charcoal in a cloth, he filtered the water by pouring the water through the charcoal ash into the barrel, it acted as a filter-purifier.  Although, cookie kept a small keg of charcoal for other reasons. While it could be turned into black powder, correct Ph balance, or used for making lye and even pickling by early pioneers, cookie often used it as a top dressing on wounds that help absorb infections. If a cowhand got sick due to unknown poisoning, the cook fed 2 teaspoon full’s, three times a day until the poison was absorbed and the cowhand was feeling better. They also used it mixed with animal fat for soap along with cleaning cooking gear. The chuckwagon cook was an innovative soul making good use of everything available in their surroundings.

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Sancocho de Cola De Res (Ox Tail Stew)

Ox Tail Stew

Cooks who hired on the various outfits during the cattle drives came from many different ethnic backgrounds. Their cultural heritage influenced the cooking styles used working the chuckwagon with ingredients on hand, their culinary knowledge and the available time to prepare meals.  Creations often simple were given unique names like Son of a Gun Stew, Cornmeal Mush or  Black Pudding.  Sancocho de Cola De Res, a Spanish influenced stew was made by cooks of other heritage called niú-wěi-tāng to the hand full of Chinese cooks that work the trail drives. The Gringo's just called the dish, Ox Tail Soup that would later become so popular, the Campbell Soup Company founded in 1866 would eventually carry the product. Although today, it has been discontinued by Campbell's in the United States, the Heinz company continues to sell this canned entree in the United Kingdom.  

The secret to a great Ox Tail Stew is adding calabaza 'pumpkin.' states Blanca Valbuena, Editor and Chief of  FriendsEat.com.  "It works to thicken and flavor the soup.  Colombians use pretty much every part of the cow. When you go to the galleria (the farmer’s market) you will find all the yummy parts that are unusual to people in the United States: Brain, Eyeballs, Tripe, Tongue and Ox Tail to name a few.  I think ox tail is a nice way to introduce people to more unusual parts. It is simply scrumptious. This is my family recipe for ox tail stew. There are no real measurements, you just add more or less depending on how many people will be eating that day."

Ingredients:

Ox Tail (make sure it’s cut into individual pieces)

Chicken Stock

Green plantain (Do not peel or chop the plantain until the moment you’re putting it in the stew)

Scallion (1 stalk)

Corn

Potato (chopped)

Yucca  (chopped)

Pumpkin (chopped, skinned and seeded)

Cilantro

Garlic

Preparation:

Put the ox tail in the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Cook for an hour (if you don’t have chicken stock, use water).

Add the plantain and corn, cook for 1/2 hour.

Add the potato and pumpkin (calabaza), cook for 1/2 hour.

Add the yucca (cassava), cook for 1/2 hour.

Garnish with freshly chopped cilantro.

Serve with a side of white rice and a slice of avocado. You can also slice a banana and add to the soup. I know it sounds weird, but is really delicious.

Ox Tail Stew

Photos provide by Friends Eat: 

Read more about Blanca Valbuena

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