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Cowboy Cooking: Chuck Wagon and Ranch Camp Set-Up
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Aug 23, 2023
Sign up for our monthly email newsletter for cowboy recipes, cooking tips and more here: http://bit.ly/2inQnOJ Cowboy Hash Knife: https://kentrollins.com/shop-1/ use code HASH for free shipping In this video we're taking you on a tour of our chuck wagon. We're also giving you an inside look at cooking with our chuck wagon for working ranches across the West. We'll show you our ranch camp set-up and also walk you through a typical day cooking for working ranches. ______________________________ Check out our BEST SELLING cookbook, A Taste of Cowboy. Available at bookstores nationwide, Amazon http://amzn.to/2uBl4EM and http://www.kentrollins.com/shop-1 Get our FREE guide to smoothing cast iron HERE: http://eepurl.com/ckJhmP ===================== Want more recipes and tips? Sign up for our emails: http://kentrollins.com
View Video Transcript
0:00
Hey folks, it's y'all's lucky day. It's open house day. We're fixing to give you a tour of our old chuck wagon and the camp and the surroundings there, and we're going to let you see a little part of it from our side of the kitchen. It is the best thing, don't we
0:13
Now, this is an 1876 Studebaker, and it is mine and Shannon's greatest thing
0:27
We have done more with this old thing than I thought we ever could, but it has so many
0:30
uses in the different elements of a chuck wagon, and let's come on, we'll see them all
0:35
This here thing, chuck box lid, you can see how it fits through there, and then when we're
0:41
traveling we'll latch it clip it bottom boot comes up and speaking of boot while we're here let's just start at the bottom
0:47
Not this boot this boot is a box that is built on
0:51
Under the chuck box it'll hold Dutch ovens pots pans, but when we get ready to work
0:57
Always comes down and this is just hinged to where you can always set it no matter
1:03
How unlevel the ground might be? It has an automatic adjuster Chalk box were designed, hey, by the cooks for his multiple uses and how he wanted stock
1:15
Ain't everybody's kitchen the same at home, just like mine and Shannon's. A lot of wagons are different in the way they're designed, and this is what has worked best for us through the years
1:23
I like to keep dish pans in it. Inside there is a knife holder
1:28
Here is where we usually keep our flour and sugar containers, and some of you might be asking where we got these fancy canisters at
1:35
It wasn't at Pier 1. These are old cream cans that come out of an old dairy many years ago that I cleaned up
1:42
This and sugar. This and flour. The bicker drawers here on the bottom
1:47
Taller spice bottles. Stuff like that. Seasonings. Oh, whoa. That's for medicinal purposes only
1:55
I didn't aim for y'all to see that. But what's this under my hand
1:59
Probably my most favorite tool of all times. Hash knife, scraper, dicer, chopper, spatula
2:05
Anything in the world. And y'all are in luck. Good friend of mine in Indiana old Tom makes these for us. We do sell them now on the website
2:12
Hand forged in the United States of America by a great blacksmith Tom Willoughby
2:17
in here the linen closet Dish towels aprons miscellaneous tools of any item strikers rolling pins wooden spoons measuring spoons
2:28
Shan built this it's right handy it is holds All of my serving utensils plus two can openers and a thermometer this drawer here full of silverware this one
2:41
As you can see everything you might have in your kitchen Hey, we done got in our kitchen wooden spoon one of them cheese graters measuring spoons
2:53
Every kitchen got one called a junk drawer. It's got everything in the world folks
2:58
You can see this says crown rule, but in in cowboy that means I am a doctor
3:03
So I have a sewing kit in here where I've had to actually sew a few folks up
3:07
Now don't look at me bad like that cookie did the same thing so many years ago
3:12
What do you use horse hair soaked in a little whiskey stitcher through there tie it up
3:17
I used a lot of wax dental floss now So I'm prepared lantern mantles always keep them with their in the dry in a good baggie in this big drawer
3:25
Sort of like that oven What do we got in here Coffee Lot of different spices cornstarch bacon powder oregano chili powder We fully stocked just like your house
3:38
Now we built these working tables here which really help you give a lot more room. It's
3:42
just two horseshoes. One is straightened out, one hooks to where it hits on the edge of
3:47
that rim on the wheel on both sides. It's just like the chuck box lid under there. Keep
3:51
of soap in here, warm me up a little warm water. I can wash my face. Water barrel, about a 35 gallon
4:02
This thing is the life savings. Now, my water bill is always good. Do you have running water
4:09
Sure do, as long as I ain't got arthritis and can't turn the spigot, I'll always have it
4:13
But we built a littler table to fit on the front wheels too. You can't never have too much room
4:18
to actually store stuff. Upholstered seating. Spring ridden. It will hurt your backside in rough country
4:28
I have sat in this old thing and beat my butt down many an old bad trail
4:31
You look back in history and you see old Cookie sitting up there. He might have been sitting on a wagon full of bed rolls
4:37
A lot softer, more cushion. Hey, we just keep fly stakes in there
4:42
It'll hold every one of them. This is the tongue where you'd hook up the team
4:46
Double T would fit in here with the wheel wrench coming off there hook back up there to a single tree on the front hook to the harness
4:53
Yee-haw Important part. This is a break now I've had to use it a lot keep a foot on it where you can just mash it all time or you can run it by hand
5:03
You can see as it comes on now. I put rubber disc on them long time ago
5:08
Oh cookies was leather or rawhide They will get slick and hot and they'll slide at times that rubber it don't give none
5:14
and keep an assortment of things in at times. I've used it as a tater box, an onion box
5:18
because it's slatted on the back, which will let it breathe. But I keep assorted gloves in here, duct tape
5:24
You can't never have none of that. Trash bags, gloves, dinner bell ringer
5:29
This old cookie had a lot of stuff that was strapped on a wagon at times, and we still keep the bare essentials that we need and tools of the trade
5:36
I use a double-bit axe, split firewood, chopped firewood, this good old hammer to drive them tent stakes in
5:42
and them fly stakes when you're there. This is sort of like your kitchen. You may not have a big hammer in there
5:48
You might need one if people are getting unruly in your kitchen. So you've seen a tour of our old chuck wagon, but let's go down that road and take a little different tour
5:56
Now there's all different kinds of wagons, and I've used my wagon
6:00
I've used the ranch's wagons when I pulled out somewhere else. But up there at the Poison Spider, I even used a different wagon than I've ever used in my life
6:09
Some of you are probably noticing this don't look like my wagon, does it
6:13
Well, when you're a ranch cook, sometimes you go different places, use what they got
6:18
And when they called us wanting to cook, I said, well, do you need me to drag my wagon
6:23
No. We got a wagon. Well, wagons is different, folks. As you can tell, this one's got all the chuck box
6:30
This ain't your traditional chuck wagon. This is what I would call a utility bed truck that's been converted into a chuck wagon
6:38
And ooh, does it work good. And Shan just loves it because it's got these pantry shelves down the side
6:45
She thinks it's one of the best things ever. It's got good rubber tires on it
6:49
You can pull it behind a pickup because they ain't having to have a team to pull it with
6:53
You can get in some really good places with it. You know, as you can tell, this is the biggest, second biggest fly I ever had
7:00
Biggest fly I ever had was in Biloxi Mississippi cooking in a hockey rink Why are we here you asking Well let back up about six days right after supper was peaceful there for a little while Then Mother Nature said let me
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remind you who's in control. 60, 70 mile an hour wind ripped the fly to shreds
7:20
I mean tore it up. So where do we go to get out the weather a little? Hey, we're in the barn
8:04
Got benches set up around here for our cowboys to eat on in fact
8:09
Let's take a little tour around this wagon here. It's got these tool boxes all down the side
8:13
We got no tools in them, but Folks we got everything in the world that you can imagine
8:20
We got our taters and onions little macaroni in there. They're putting me a piece of plywood right out here as my drying rack
8:26
Now that's where everybody's gonna set their plate after they get it out of the wreck pant
8:31
Look here, it's another pantry. Paper, towels, trash bags, bleach, soap. You know, wagons come in all shapes and sizes from radio flyers to them great old big things them Anheuser-Busch people drive
8:45
But it depends on the country and what you're in and what you think you can get by with
8:50
Because I'm telling you when you're out in remote conditions, you cannot be running back and forth to town
8:55
or have somebody bring you some groceries. You know, a lot of you folks might have seen us on TV
9:00
or maybe seen us at some festival or you might have even seen us in a Walmart parking lot
9:04
I don't know. But I'd like for you to know really what me and Shan really do
9:08
that we love and that's where our heart is. And that's cooking for ranches and cooking for cowboys
9:13
Days is long, nights is short. God and Mother Nature are in control
9:18
Earthquakes, hail storms, blizzards, dust storms, 65-mile-an-hour wind, near tornadoes, Rip the fly plumb off camp all the firewood wet
9:28
But what do you do? You improvise and you get by. When we're out there, hey, it's anywhere from five days to five and a half weeks
9:36
On a ranch that might be anywhere from 30,000 acres to near 300,000 acres
9:41
And we make a menu, we make a grocery list, and you stick to it. And you ain't going to stop right in the middle of it and say, dag, fetch it
9:48
I have got to go to the store and get me some eggs. Unless you find a bird nest out there in one of them skinny little old trees out there
9:55
you ain't going to get no eggs, folks. How do we keep groceries when we're out there that long
10:00
Hey, now that grocery listing menu, that goes to headquarters. We got them good Yeti coolers
10:05
We'll stock with meat, vegetables. We try to use them at the first to keep something really green and fresh as long as we can
10:11
Then it's back to canned goods. But somebody from headquarters will fill our order maybe once a week, maybe twice a week
10:17
Some of you might be thinking, well why don't you just run them fellas to town and go to Mackey D's and get a hamburger
10:23
Well folks, where we're at ain't on a GPS and you can't find it on a map
10:27
We could be 70 miles from town in the roughest road you could find
10:32
You can even bring lunch to them without it bouncing all over the pickup That why that chuck wagon is still a tradition and still alive It the most feasible way to feed cowboys You know a typical camp setup
10:44
first thing they do, all them cowboys come help the cook. That is tradition. Unload that old wagon
10:49
or unhook the team, get the fly set up, all the poles there, get everything set for the cook
10:54
Then the cowboys go over there and they take care of their teepee. There is sacred ground on a ranch
10:59
I promise you, if you've got a cook there, that is the position between the chuck box lid and the fire
11:06
Now, you let a cowboy get caught in there, and some of them old-timers or any of them know the etiquette rules
11:11
he'll get him a shopping for that. They'll drag him out there away from the fly, stretch him out, I mean, feet and legs
11:17
get a pair of them old leather leggings that they wear, and draw them across his backside until they think he's had enough
11:23
Now, our typical day for us, hey, might start, let's say, a tad early
11:28
215 to 230 along in there. I'll bust a fire off in Obertha and get things to going and warm it up
11:34
So when her and the Beagle come over, I'll have their chair slid right up there by the fire to
11:39
where they can sit and warm up a minute and get that coffee in them. But then it's time to go to
11:43
work because that little woman I got is toughest thing I've ever seen. She'll go to making bread
11:48
while I put some meat together or something like that. The coffee's boiling. We visit. We talk about
11:53
the day ahead. We talk about what's going on. What's on the menu? Just go up by the drive-up
11:59
window, honk the horn. Somebody slides down the window, you just throw them a sack and off they go
12:02
right? No, that ain't it, I'll tell you. A lot of times we'll have a scrambled eggs, biscuits, gravy
12:09
bacon, sausage, sometimes steak and eggs, but there's always plenty of that cowboy coffee
12:15
They go about their morning chores. What are they going to do? Gather a cattle in a pasture
12:19
Bring them to a centrally located set of pens that's not too far from the chuck wagon
12:24
They'll go to splitting off cows from calves, and they'll get ready to go to vaccinating and working the calves
12:30
But guess what happens? There's somebody over there with a time clock, blows a horn, says
12:34
Lunch time! I'm just telling you, folks, on a ranch, a cow does not care what time it is
12:40
what day of week it is, or nothing. She'll make up her mind when she's good and ready. What are we having
12:45
hey, let's throw in a chicken fried steak with some gravy, some mashed potatoes
12:50
What do we always have? Something for that sweet tooth. Shannon has made a great dessert every time
12:55
The boys will ride out again. What are they doing? Finishing working them calves before the end of the day
13:00
Some of my favorite time it is. Because them cowboys will get up here maybe an hour for supper
13:05
And they'll be sitting down there on their end of the fly. But you'll hear the stories and the camaraderie and the laughter that they have about what happened during the day
13:13
how funny it was. To them, fun is somebody nearly getting killed, but it just didn't quite happen
13:18
You know what I'm talking about? It won't be long. We'll call supper. We come up there
13:23
We give thanks to God for what we've got and keeping us safe during the day. The most rewarding lifestyle that I've ever led in my life
13:38
The view out our kitchen window, tremendous, breathtaking. I've seen a rainbow stretch plumb over camp and I mean God will show you the prettiest picture in the world and we are blessed to see it
13:50
As long as there's a cow out there in some old remote ranch and as long as there's a cowboy and there is that's taking care of him, they gonna need to cook
13:58
And that's me and Shannon. God bless you for stopping by. We hope you enjoyed
14:03
Hope you like the first meals on wheels
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