b'COWBOY COOKININ CAST IRON POTSPART 2 By Joyce WhiteO LD-TIME RANCH WOMEN had a few basic foods which were purchased when they went to town once or twice a year. Among the staples were coffee, beans, bacon, flour, dried fruits, leavenings, salt, pepper, molasses, and sugar. If the ranch had chickens and a milk cow, there was more variety in the diet. Garden vegetables, fish, wild game, berries, beef, and pork completed the food supply. purchased to use in transporting Army supplies on the deserta venture that didnt work out very well because the men disliked them and the camels By the time my husband Bob started in his cowboyBread Pudding Ingredients: frightened all the other animals. Thus they were sold career, the ranch house staples had grown slightly 4 cups bread crumbs to miners to carry ore or for jerky.and included a few canned goods to go with the usual 2 cups hot waterbeans and bacon. Many of the ranch wives still only 2 or 3 eggs When we lived in Burro Creek Canyon we had an went to town once or twice a year.1 cup sugar ideal place to hang and dry our beef jerky on the cup finely chopped beef suet screened-in back porch but on the Hozoni Ranch, A camp cook with a good imagination concocted 1 teaspoon cinnamon we have no such place so we need a box to keep delicious meals despite the limited groceries. Fromteaspoon nutmeg the flies and insects off the meat during the curing the ingredients he had on handbeef suet, hot 1 cup raisins process. To build a jerky box youll need to construct water, and leftover biscuitshe added some spices,teaspoon vanilla a wooden frame about two feet high, five feet long, sugar, and a carefully saved egg or two and cameand two feet wide. Attach three or four wires inside forth with a range bread pudding. This he baked in aDutch oven cooking can be fun, but challenging.the box, lengthwise, for hanging the meat. Cover the Dutch oven by setting the oven on a bed of hot coals,Ive found that it takes practice in judging how manyframe with screened wire, leaving a side that will then putting a few coals on the rimmed lid. In placecoals to put under the oven and on the lid. Foodsopen and close.of a holder, he used a gancho (a forked stick used tobaked in this manner have a flavor all their own and lift hot lids and pans). its well worth the effort (and a few burned biscuits)Cut fresh meat into long, thin strips about one inch to learn how.wide, being careful to cut with the grain of the meat. Should you decide to try a Dutch oven for bakingSprinkle liberally with salt, pepper, and cornmeal. your bread pudding here is the method we use. ShovelDo you like jerky? We do and its often tucked inHang on wires in the jerky box and allow them to dry a small bed of coals out beside the main campfire.shirt pockets when my husband and son start on afor several days. When completely dried, the jerked Heat the oven and lid on the coals (about a minute)long ride. Jerked meat, and a lot of fresh water, reallymeat should be kept in a cloth sack and stored in a while you are pouring the pudding in a round greasedfills a feller up when caught off a ways from the cookcool dry place. Meat can also be dried in the oven. pan. Place a rack or three jar rings in the bottom ofshack. It can be used in many other ways too and isPlace the meat strips on cookie sheets. Set the oven the oven. Set the pudding on them and cover with thedelicious roasted, or ground up and made into gravyat the lowest temperature and place the sheets on the lid. Put the Dutch oven on a thin layer of coals andand served with biscuits. Through the years jerkybottom shelf. Leave the door open slightly and allow shovel some coals on the rimmed liduse only a fewhas been made from many kinds of meat includingthe meat to dry for about eight hours.for a moderate temperature, adding more coals asbuffalo, deer, elk, antelope, burro, beef, and even necessary during the baking time. Bake for about ancamel. In the Bonanza Trail, an interesting accountSeveral years ago Mike hiked into the Grand Canyon hour. Pies and cakes can be baked in this manner too. of early mining days, the author relates that camelswith a group of Boy Scouts. He was among the boys were sold for jerked meat. Originally they had beenwho had decided to walk from the north rim to the bottom and back. In preparation for this long trek, he took several hikes in our canyon, gradually increasing the distance until he could walk many hours over rough terrain. With him, he took a version of Indian pemmican, an ancient food he had read about.Pemmican was made by pounding jerky into a powder and then adding hot fat to hold the mixture together. Sometimes berries were added. That recipe proved to be a bit tasteless but after some experimenting, we found that raisins improved the flavor, while molassesin place of hot fatheld it together nicely. To make it grind together 6 large pieces of jerky, 8 pecans,cup raisins, and then add a small amount of molasses to hold the mixture together. Form into small balls and wrap individually in foil.56 February 2022'