The Cook - Part 1

I came across this story of the chuck wagon cooks and thought it would be a good story to share with you!!


In the old days, cowboy cookln' depended just as much on the availability of ingredients as the skill of the cook.

During the spring and fall roundups or on a trail drive to a northern railhead, the camp cook, or "cookie," as he was sometimes called, did not have the opportunity to saddle up and head for a grocery store to replenish the supplies for his chuck wagon.

When cowboys and cookie headed out on a trail drive or roundup, they provisioned the chuck wagon before leaving the home ranch. Without refrigeration, nearly everything had to be dried. Some canned goods might have been used, but space and weight in the chuck wagon limited the selection.

Staples consisted of dried beans and fruit, flour, coffee, sugar, salt, cookie's sourdough starter, and a few spices such as dried chilies, pepper, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

If the hands wanted fresh meat, it meant butchering a yearling beef or bagging a deer or antelope.

The cookie would butcher enough meat for a couple of meals and "jerk" (add spices and dry) the rest.

Jerky gave the cowboys something to munch on between meals. Cowboys took advantage of any opportunity to vary their usual diet of biscuits, beans, and beef.

They picked wild fruit whenever they had the chance. A Dutch oven cobbler prepared with the wild fruit was enough to send even the toughest cowboy to his bedroll with a smile!

Wild onions and other edible plants were used when available. The cuisine, if it could be called that, leaned toward the simple side.

Besides doing the cooking, the cookie had to set up and tear down the camp every day, rustle up enough firewood or buffalo chips for fuel, keep the water barrel full, and do a lot of other chores the cowboys thought beneath them.

But, when the herd stayed in one place a couple of days, the cookie usually went to great lengths to come up with an extra-special dish to break the monotony and help restore humor to the crew.

Cowboys didn't have much choice when it came to beverages served with their meals: Their choice was coffee or water.

And anyone who has witnessed a wild cow-milking event at a rodeo knows that cream for coffee required more work than it was worth.

It wasn't uncommon for the trail boss or the cookie to have a couple of bottles of moonshine stashed in the chuck wagon for medicinal purposes, but the cowboys were usually dry for long periods.

Some folks might find it hard to believe, but short of the trail boss, the most important person on a cattle drive was the cookie!

A cook, either through lack of skill or desire, who didn't keep the hands happy at suppertime became a liability to the ranch owner or trail boss.

Cowboys might not have many material goods, but they did have principles. It was not unheard of for a bunch of cowhands to threaten to quit or out-and-out quit - not for better pay, but for better grub!

And on more than one occasion, only the trail boss's considerable diplomatic skills convincing the cook to do a better job kept a rangehand mutiny from occurring.

And with that the story stops today but will resume again tomorrow for the ending.

Please return tomorrow to the old west!!!