Adventures Of A Latter Day Coosie

I have been looking back at some of my files and found an accounting of a couple of cook-offs and some of the trials and tribulations that went on several years ago.  I hope that you are enjoying my adventures and hopeful too that if you are new to chuck wagon cooking you get some ideas about what goes on around the campfire and behind the wagon.  This writing was done nearly eight years ago.  Enjoy!

Photo courtesy of Desert USA

March 2006

For some time now I have been thinking about writing an essay on the ins and outs of one of the chuck wagon cook offs that Skip Clark and I attend each year.  The next one we have scheduled is The Festival of the West and it is in March of 2006.  In conjunction with the cook off, there are many vendors, reenactors, SASS Shooters and the like who make the pilgrimage to Scottsdale, Arizona each year.  This invitational chuck wagon cook off event is being held this year on the Gila River Indian Reservation.  The site should prove to be very picturesque.  The desert is going to be pretty with its springtime blooms.  This will be the first time for us to compete in Arizona.

Our friends John & Sandy Sullivan have convinced us that this is one event we need to attend.  They say that it has a real laid back atmosphere and the organizers don't get too excited about competition rules.  In other words, they don't get their shorts in a wad over the little things.  After several calls to Silky, (she runs the cook-off for the festival) I thought it sounded like a pretty good event and fun.  When  skip said, "let's do it", I fired off the registration form and started the process of being accepted to their gathering.

This particular festival is one that has had several bits aired on the Encore western television channel.  Thereare always many entertainers like Rex Allen Jr., Buck Taylor, and Dennis Weaver who, by the way, passed away this past week.

I tried to find out as much as possible about the little things like:  where is the water supply, is there hardwood available, is there security, does the event furnish all the food items for lunch and breakfast, what are some of the food items people enter in the competition, do the judges like to see all the accoutrements, when  do we setup, when can we leave, and other things I'm sure were important at the time that I can't remember now.  I thought the more information we had the better off we would be since we have to take so much stuff.  If we can get

by without taking wood and water that would be a big help.  You never no for sure what a new event is looking to portray in their "festival" such as:  do they want all the fluff, because some events want just the bare essentials as far as accoutrements are concerned. And if you turn in some real fancy dish at some events you will sort of get of get your feathers clipped because they may want you to serve just "trail" food.

Being able to show off some of the things we have collected over the years was of great interest to both Skip and me.  Now i get tot display some ites I inherited from my Dad and Grandfather.  I'm really proud of some of the tools and especialloy the Cx brand that was registered by my Great Great Grandfather Elija Clayton Calk in Atascosa County, Texas in 1876.  Ship has some old firearms that came off Patty's (his wife)  family ranch in Sonora, Mexico.  They go back to the Pancho Villa days and one particular revolver that dates to the American Civil War.

This section of "Adventures..." will be the 1st of several and will be continued over several weeks.  Please check in again on this blog and see what happens during the event as some of the things unfold at a "new" competition for us.

New To Chuck Wagon Competitions......continued...sorry, been on vacation....

You are also going to need about three washtubs, or wreck pans, for adhering to the requirements of the various health departments.  One tub will be used for wash, one for rinse, and the third for sterilizing.  Try to gather up some old knives, enamel or tin cups, some bone or wood handled forks, and any thing you can find that is really old....old cooks are good too.

  Even as late as say 1930 or 1940 will work.  There were a number of chuck wagons still doing their thing on ranches at that time and even still today.  You have to remember we are trying to preserve the western heritage as it developed in the 1800’s and up until the 1940’s.  As I started into this “chuck wagon business” I got to use many things that belonged to my late father and grandfather.  So ask around and see if there are some antiques around the old homestead.  It will make you smile with pride every time you use them. 

Some cook-off organizers allow for certain ingredients to be used in the preparations of the entries and others do not.  Some are specific about what is to be prepared and what you can and can’t use in the preparation.  For instance, at some cook-off’s they want the menu to be strictly trail food.  Only entries that would have actually been cooked with what was available on the trail and the seasonings of that era can be entered.  Definitely no gourmet entries of any kind would be allowed or you would be disqualified.  While other locations allow you to expand your culinary skills and they leave the entries sort of open ended.  Many of the organizers will want you to prepare Chicken Fried Steak, mostly because it’s what the public wants.  In the other categories you will find some ingredients that are taboo.  Some of the no no items are:  cheese, biscuit mixes, chili mixes, bbq sauces, mushrooms, powdered sugar, frozen foods, and mayonnaise.  Some will specify the kind of bread they want prepared.  Most of the competitions provide the basic ingredients such as:  meat, potatoes, fruit, beans, potatoes, onions, flour, sugar, oil, wood, ice and water. If you are going to go to an event or have just heard about it, look it up on the web and check out the particulars.

When you get to a competition site you know how much food you are going to prepare because the organizers will tell you in a letter prior to the event.  For example, you will be cooking for 40-60 ticket holders.  Or, while other sites may have you only prepare enough food for the judges.  Most of the competitions you will have “blind judging”.  That isn’t to say that the judges are blind even though there was a time or two when I thought we had the very best, the grand daddy, the ultimo entry and the only thing I could figure out was the judges were blind and had no taste.  The “blind judging” is, for those new to these types of events, when the judges never see the name of the person or outfit that prepared the entry.  Some smaller events will have the judges go from wagon to wagon to judge the various entries.  This very seldom, if ever, happens in the larger events where there are more that about 3-4 wagons.  There was one particular organizer that "caught" the food judges walking around the camp sites looking at what was being prepared and the organizer disqualified the judges and obtained ones that were not familiar with what was being prepared by whom. 

The purpose to have a chuck wagon and enter competitions or cater of your local events is the same:  To preserve “Our Western Heritage”.  What goes along with that is to have fun while doing it.  You can spend a lot of time and money putting together a great wagon and accoutrements.  You can also put together just the bare essentials necessary for competition and spend a good bit less money.  The same goes for the clothing outfit(s) you and your crew chooses to wear. 

However the big money is spent on the wagon, then you have to have a way to haul it from place to place.  You can buy horses or mules, maybe a truck and flat bed trailer, or even a truck and goose neck trailer.  If the ole do re mi allows, you can buy enclosed trailer with or without sleeping quarters.  There are many things to consider and the decisions you make will ultimately impact your bank account. 

Most of the competitions you will receive information about will have at least six or seven categories that are judged.  The food judging will be for:  meat, bread, beans, potatoes, and dessert.  Along with the food will be the authenticity of the wagon and the camp.  There may be additional prizes for the “farthest traveled” and for the “most hospitable camp”.  Sometimes you will find a “hard luck” category you most assuredly don’t want to win. 

You will see all sorts of rigs at the various events and generally their camps are set up basically the same.  There are some notable differences, however.  A person with a non educated eye might see two wagons and think, “Wow, those are great looking wagons.” 

To the trained eye you might find one of the wagons was purchased for several thousand dollars and is of exceptional quality with no detracting features, while the other wagon may have been obtained for far less money and yet may not be as fine or fancy as the next person’s.  The main thing the judges consider is(or in my opinion SHOULD consider):  Will the wagon be in the condition necessary to be pulled by a team up the trail and have the necessary equipment to feed a couple dozen cowboys?  They will both compete in the same wagon division with the only separation being if the competition is divided into a Trail Division and a Ranch Division. And speaking of judges, just so you will be aware,  there have been circumstances where wagon builders were secured to do the judging of the wagons and it turned out that there were wagons in the competition that were built by a judge.  You probably don't want to know who won the competition.  As much as we would like to believe that the judge would not be biased, I would certainly expect the judge to disqualify himself from the judging.

A question arose; do you have to have a ranch to compete?  No, absolutely not.  Many of the competitors do have ranches which use their wagon on “cow hunts”.  Still many others are interested in the Western Heritage and the Cowboy/Cowgirl Culture and want to preserve what they can by getting a wagon and doing what all of us find to be a lot of fun.  Hard work-yes, but more importantly-FUN! Another question that may come up is "do we have to have a team to pull our wagon?"  That is a simple NO!

Speaking of fun, all the fun is not had while cooking.  There is so much BS’ing going on that you have to get up really early to get ahead of some of the past masters. 

Besides all the “bullshipping” going on you can walk around the camp sites and hear guitars, fiddles, drums, harmonicas, and an occasional bag pipe. Hee, hee, bagpipes?

I hope that some of the things in these few paragraphs may be helpful to someone just getting started.  

See you on down the road...............  

New to Chuck Wagon competitions...........continued

Now here's a few long horns that are just waiting to go up the trail to make some ole cowboy some dough rey me.  Uummmm, on second thought maybe they think the grass probably isn't too much greener on the "other side."

NOW ON TO  THE FOLKS THAT MIGHT BE NEW TO COMPETITIONS......

Now I can’t speak for some of the “Big Dogs” who consistently win time and time again because our little pack of coosies aren’t in that category.  That doesn’t keep us from trying to figure out what to do to get us some more points.  I hear the better you cook the better you score.  Can it really be that simple?

It really can be a simple issue if everything is just right when it comes time to cook. However, there are many, many variations in cooking that makes it difficult for the product to be the same every time you set up camp.    Elevation, wind, rain, type of wood, quality of food provided, number of cooks, judges, and local cultures are a few of the variables that come to mind.

When you have to fight Mother Nature you have to be equipped for whatever she might bring.  One time cooking over in Hobbs, New Mexico the wind was really blowing hard and our campfire got away from us and burned the grass up to and in our neighbor’s camp.  We were out talking with some folks and we looked up and people were running to our camp with shovels, blankets, and pans of water to put out the fire.  We all luckily got it put out before any damage was done.  We learned you want to make sure your fire has proper wind breaks.  The wind breaks control the fire by containing it within a specific area, plus it helps to control the heat when using the Dutch ovens.

Another Mother Nature spoiler is to have a good wagon sheet and cook’s fly, preferably with side curtains.  They will help you keep things dry, along with yourself, and be able to cook even if it rains or snows.  We were in Ruidoso, New Mexico a while back and it snowed and the fly and curtains came in handy.  I think that was the morning we woke up to find the beans and potatoes we had soaking over night were frozen in the pan.  Warm clothes help quite a bit under those conditions.  Another time we were in Austin. Texas and it was raining pretty hard and the fly we were using had had some mildew and it was cleaned and the areas cleaned were not
resealed with waterproofing so the rain was coming right through the canvas.  It was leaking like a sieve and the water was going right into the hot grease.  We had to improvise with additional canvas sheets and holding a slicker over the popping grease until it quit raining.   At times you have to make special concessions for cooking at a high altitude.  I heard a story about a wagon cook by the name of Sam Howell who sort of invented a poor boy pressure cooker to get his beans done because of the high altitude.  Best way to find out where to get a canvas fly or wagon sheet or even a tee pee tent is to ask someone at a cook off. Nearly everyone has "their" favorite vendor.

When it comes to wood, the best advice on what kind of wood to use when cooking would be to choose one that is readily available in your area and stick with it and learn how it works for you.  You can get as much advice about what wood to use as a porcupine has quills.  Consider all input then try some different kinds then choose.   Most sites will also provide “conversation wood”.  That would be wood to burn at your camp while sitting around or to keep warm.  The type wood provided might be: pine, juniper, cedar, oak, bois d’ arc, or mesquite.  The amount of heat put out by a specific species of

wood will vary quite a lot, and each cook will have a preference.  That particular wood is brought along with the other wagon necessities and the “conversation wood” is used for non-essential fires.  Of course if you are using the wood to grill meat, vegetables and such, make sure you use a hardwood or you will get an unwelcome taste.

This might be a good place to tell you a little about what you need to cook with.  D U T C H   O V E N ‘ S and lots of them are required…..no, not really.  You will need some to start with and you can add to the collection whenever you run across a good deal 

at a garage sale, flea market, or find something on eBay.  You will, for sure, need at least two 16” ovens and a couple of 14’s.  The “deep” ovens are usually used for cooking meat and the more shallow ones are used for bread.  You may find that some heavy duty trivets that will keep your ovens off the fire by about three to four inches will help in not burning everything you cook.  I’ve seen these made from bent ½” square stock, to welded horseshoes or railroad spikes.  What ever works for you and you can make or lay your hands on will work. At least one 20” skillet is necessary for frying.  A real  large size enamel stock pot is usually used for cooking beans.  You might want another stock pot for cooking potatoes and still another one, but somewhat smaller for mixing up sauces etc.  You will for sure need a good sized enamel coffee pot or two.  That will pretty well get you started and you can and will add to the collection according to your needs as you begin to develop your cooking style. 

Obviously not a competition but it shows lots of vessels in which you can cook.

A Dutch oven in an "oil pan" with water which serves as a double boiler to keep the cobbler warm

Cooking potato cakes on a Dutch oven lid

New to Chuck Wagon competitions?

I looked at some of the stuff I had written a while back and thought this might be of some interest to someone new to chuck wagon competitions.  Give it a look.  This, of course, is just my opinion......

August, 2006

There are many chuck wagon competitions held through out the country and you can find one somewhere just about every week end.  There are a number of ways you can locate one close to where you live.  You can subscribe to the bi-monthly publication, Rope Burns, which is put out by Bobby Newton in Gene Autry, Oklahoma.  Another way to find about chuck wagon gatherings is to get in touch with the American Chuck Wagon Association which puts out a newsletter to its members and it contains information about upcoming events.  They also set up guidelines for cook offs and provide valuable information to folks who are organizing chuck wagon cook offs. You can send your information to ACWA, 1723 E. Tate Street, Brownfield, Texas, 79316 or join the ACWA at the same address.

As this article is being written, the Lincoln County Cowboy Symposium will be hosting the World Championship Chuck Wagon Cook Off in a couple of weeks.  The dates are October 12-15 in Ruidoso, New Mexico.    The event will draw wagons in from all over the country.  The total prize money will be around $10,000, plus the Bloodworth Buckle.  The buckle is awarded to the overall winner of the competition and most of those who have won the event say the buckle is far more important to them than the prize money.  

The very next week end after Ruidoso there are three competitions scheduled. All are in Texas and will be held in Llano, McKinney and Ft. Worth, Texas.  The first two of which are in their early beginnings and the Red Steagall “Cowboy Gathering” in Ft. Worth has been going on for some time.  It is a little different in that the rules call for your wagon to be hitched to a team and pulled through the streets of the “Stockyards” in the old part of Ft. Worth.  You don’t actually have to have a team of horses or mules to enter because there are some local teamsters available to hitch to your wagon.   

Many events are scheduled throughout the country and chuck wagon competitions or cook offs are catching on and we are seeing more events ever year.  So, if you are thinking about getting into this kind of activity, then get you a wagon and put yourself together the necessary equipment and get to cooking. 

Whoa Hoss, easier said than done.  Where do you get a wagon, ovens. pots, pans, clothes, poles, stakes, fire irons, utensils, and the other necessities you will find on just about every wagon you see?  A good way to start is to get your little Brownie camera or maybe a digital one may be a little better, but what ever you use, go around at a competition and take pictures of every thing you can think of in a camp and then go to the next camp and do the same thing.  You will find the ole coosies are usually pretty friendly and don’t mind answering questions and folks taking pictures of their stuff.  If you go to say ten or twenty camps you will have quite a repertoire of pictures to look at. 

I guarantee you will look at them a hundred times and still see something different each time.  Looking at the pictures will give you countless ideas and combine those ideas with your own and you will find what it is you need to look for or how you want to do something.  You can also look in your local library and see what you can find in the way of pictures.  You can look on line at the Amon Carter Museum and look for Erwin Smith’s collection.  There in you will find a multitude of ranching and chuck wagon pictures.  Check it out. 

 A number of our friends have won the various chuck wagon competitions around the country and done really well over the years.  But just because you win with a particular entry one year, there is no sure fire guarantee that you will win with it next year or even at the next cook off.  However, on one side of the coin, when you have something so good like the Adamah Ranch’s dessert entry, you can say the chances are you might just win over and over again.

 Their dessert entry, Apricot Cobbler, has won the Ruidoso event for four out of the last five years.  Everyone has their sights set on beating Adamah.  The problem being is: they are just plain hard to beat and the reason is they still look for ways to improve.  On the other side of the coin when you are new to chuck wagon competitions or like us and don’t cook all that often, you are constantly looking for a new twist to an old recipe or a new recipe all together, anything that will catch the attention of the judges’ taste buds.  There are several good cookbooks out there and are really helpful.  You might see if ACWA has any of their books left or you can check with Big Bend Saddlery in Alpine, Texas.  They have an excellent library of cookbooks.

To be continued......................