What Cowboys Ate | Life during the 1800s Cattle Drives

let me take you back to a Time Time long ago right after the Civil War you know people were mostly settled in the East and people moved from the Carolinas and from the south and they went north and west now this was this was land that really hadn't been settled but this is land that people thought I can Farm on this land I can raise a family on this land but there was a great expansion of people that that left country to go make a new start as times went on there become a need for people to have more to eat than what they had there wasn't a lot of stuff like beef running around out there in the Great West that was wild but after the Civil War because there was no one that had took care of these cattle for five and six years there were abundance of longhorns south Louisiana all through cross Texas northern Mexico into New Mexico Texas Oklahoma now there were some folks got together one time South of San Antone and they were talking about you know let's gather them up because the price of these cattle in South Texas were anywhere from 12 to 14 ahead Landon read an article in the newspaper in Chicago in New York City cattle could bring as much as 40 bucks a hand how are we going to get them up there you know how many miles it is from San Antonio to New York City to drive try to drive cattle that far so we needed somebody to come along all through this time and have us what betrayal a mapped out place that we knew we could go it was the Chisholm Trail named after Jesse Chisholm he was a man that had been down this Trail a man that knew cattle a man that knew all about the land that they were going to be in he knew where you could stock that wagon when you took it down the trail whether it be at the Fleetwood store or Plumbing to Abilene Kansas why Abilene Kansas you say there was a railway that had come in there a center Hub now we didn't have to take cattle to New York City or Chicago because you could take them a little over 620 something miles put them in a set of pins they sorted them off loaded them in rail cars and they went now we talked about the Chisholm Trail and for years cattle went up and Downing 2500 head and maybe there's two to three bunches a year you're looking at close to ten thousand head of cattle this Chisholm Trail folks didn't actually wear out it was grazed out later on in the cattle drive area there was the Great Western Trail but as that trail even played out a little the good night Loving Trail so there was many trails here that took cattle to the north but they were all for one purpose to feed the great expansion of people the rail head changed the cattle business more than anything in the late 1860s early 18 seconds [Music] there was record of some herds being over 2500 hayat large now with that many cattle and you're taking them up a trail you're going to need somebody to gather them all up they were Cowboys now cowboys really ranged in age most the time from I would say 17 to 35 or 40. sure there were some old timers there but them old timers became the cooks they become the trail boss and there was usually 12 to 15 that would push these cattle North and you got to feed them and that's when it came about the Chuckwagon the first Meals on Wheels ever invented get you a good old set of mules there and hook them up and you would head out now the cook was going to stock that wagon before he left and we're talking about pounds up on pounds of flour coffee beans sugar hardtack will not have some dried meat in typical days we're going to be anywhere from 12 to 14 miles we'll cook it pull that team in there unhook hobble them up somewhere pull the wagon sheet off of that wagon stretch it out there with two poles stake it down to the ground give him a little fire pit to put him some hanging iron over the top of it he was ready to set up to go to work and as them Cowboys come in it was more like in shift work because you had to have somebody out there watching that hurt you know life on the trail was hard there was trials tribulations things happened people died we created a podcast that just talks about these things for our patreon folks if you're interested be sure and check it out but the Cowboys know that when they got into Camp oh Cookie would have something fixed for he would might not be the greatest meal in the world that they was going to eat supper then what he'd be ringing that dinner bell early in the morning four o'clock he'd be clanging That Old Triangle get out of bed boys or I'm gonna throw it out here they'd come guess what was on the menu coffee beans and biscuits now coffee back then made the same way we make it today just good old boiled coffee but I guarantee you it was a whole lot stouter than what we make today and then them Fellers would just go right up hit them a little plate of that finish come by throw it in a wreck pan or what we call the dishwashing pan Mount up go out there and let's get started could you have somebody a lot of times help him break down Camp catch the mules hook up the team we're headed off but this time folks we're going to put in a full value of it we're probably going to go 14 miles ain't no lunch break we're going to go all the way set up camp and start it over now we know typically there was two meals a day and folks there wasn't a lot to them you know but there's going to be some some days that things are going to get a little better because when old cookies stocked that wagon before he left on our South San Antonio he got plenty of sugar and something that Hill cookie would always tell you he would hide that Sugar sack because you'd get some of them colors come by there wet a finger get her in there get them some of that sweetness and I guarantee your old cookie would had him some dried fruit so on occasions there would be a cobbler and ooh with them fellas eat it up later than eat them because they needed something sweet but a lot of times too if you ever passed a fruit tree going down the trail and back then folks there was a lot more fruit up down here than what there is now but could you gather some up because we could have what something that was simple and easy as it could be and that'd just be like stewed apples dried meat and jerky sure he was pretty abundant but hey we come up on what there's a deer upper oh cookies a pretty good shot so let's just go ahead and shoot him fresh Camp meat now he ain't gonna sit there and dress this thing out we're going to waste a lot of time he's gonna quarter that thing up salt it a little put it in the wagon take it with him we're gonna eat some cured meat as we go along well you say they had 2500 head of Big Macs out there well folks that beef was going to Market it wasn't going to be to eat now if one fell down dead in the trail he wasn't going to waste let's go eat him but folks remember times were hard times were lean but old cookie had a job Cowboys had a job and they both did it well now on occasion I promise you there was Critters that come into camp that ended up in the pot it'll happen now there was a lot of old folks used to tell me that when they were sitting in them on camps and you'd have something like maybe get really the cook would get really experimental one day and we were having chili but you know what that chili meat was made out of rattlesnake now you kill a big old snake or two or three and you go ahead and just bone him out they ain't a whole lot of meat on the snake and we're gonna throw some peppers in it we're gonna throw some beans in it because that's about the only thing we have for meat now prickly pear hey there's a lot of them going up and down the trail in a certain time of year they'll make a big old Berry cook that down a little we got something sweet to go with it so cookies going to make the most of whatever he had and I wouldn't be a bit surprised folks if a possum or a raccoon come through camp that he didn't make breakfast or several one now one really iconic dish that you might have heard of and you you think what is this stuff it was called son of a gun stew now son of a gun stew used everything that a piece of beef had to offer from the tail to the hoof it's not the good stuff that you're thinking well I have rib eye in there we're going to have a New York strip we're going to have right above the hoof to the hawk peel that meat off there the kidneys brains heart liver any organ that you can stick in there that maybe wasn't going to get used for something else it's just a catch-all for what we call the leftover parts now let's talk about what cookie brought with you you know I figure he had probably four dutch ovens too big too small he'll have three or four Bean Pots two coffee pots a shovel a ax cross-cut saw and he's going to have at least a rifle or a shotgun and a pistol cookie didn't need Refrigeration Refrigeration hadn't even been invented they wasn't no little wooden box with a block of ice in it out there where he was there was no canned milk really that he was going to take with you it was sourdough starter sardo played a very important part in Cookie's role as being a cook from anywhere from I'm gonna make biscuits with it Tom will make pie with it I can fry meat in it and a sourdough starter was one of Cookie's prized possessions that he was going to have with him at all time folks asked me oh they're still cattle drives not like there were before folks I didn't know cookies time going down the Chisholm Trail no you know you know we've cooked on wrenches that have been near 300 000 acres big and in some of those ranches there would be pastures that would be 25 30 000 Acres and there may be 14 1500 had a cattle in that one specific area so instead of taking them from south to North no them cattle are going to a set of pins a specific spot in that particular part of the ranch to where we can bring everything to it funnel it in a set of pins then we can begin to work the kettle it's time to vaccinate time to Brand time to ear tag time to castrate spring works or over or even fall works when it's weaning time and all this has been branded all of it have been straightened out people are back to their prospective pastures and the cattle that we need to be somewhere else are shipped on a truck not a rail car anymore you'll bring what we call a big old pot bellied cow truck in there he'll back up to shoot they'll load 80 head on there and he's gone and he's probably headed for a feedlot they're going to take them up there start feeding these cattle and we're going to make beef that y'all are going to see in the grocery store so is there still a Chuck Wagon is there still a cook you bet your bottom dollar there is that's what I've been doing for more than about 30 years probably because when you get this this Ranch that's going to move all these category spring works or its fall works and you're going to bring in a crew 12 to 15 strong just like little cookie did back in the day I got to feed them but most the time folks I'm going to get set at a set location somewhere on that ranch maybe not the whole thing but maybe it's two or three days then we move camp we go to another place on the ranch maybe we're there two days maybe we're there a week but it's the same principle in what old cookie was doing I have the same equipment have gotcha I have a coffee pot I have more groceries than he had I promise you and I have a little more to work with than he did you remember me telling you that on the trail with old cookies time there was early early morning meal and a late late night meal most time ain't that way no more we get three meals a day now and me and Shannon are talking about we're gonna feed them best food ever eat in their life now typical breakfast might start for us most time if we're getting up 2 45 to 3 o'clock because breakfast is going to be from 4 30 to 5 30 depending on what season it is when they come in there what's the first thing on we've got two of them big old coffee pots that are rolling that coffee and I mean everybody heads to that one spot to pour a cup of coffee now we've Made bread Let It Rise it may be in sourdough maybe it's a buttermilk biscuit but we're gonna have eggs we're talking probably three eggs per person on a ranch because they're doing a lot of work we're gonna mix with some Jalapenos in there some cheese sausage bacon pile it on that plate cover it up with gravy and call it good we'd also serve pancakes we'd have breakfast burritos on occasion but we'd get them fed they go do their job and they're always coming back noon meal a lot of casseroles chicken fried steak gravy mashed potatoes stuff like that but there was always a dessert noon the Cowboys might not eat quite as much as they did at breakfast because they've still got to go back and work that afternoon but when they come in for supper we're finna put it on and we are it'd be rib eye sometime they'd be baked potatoes sparkling potatoes how many in green chili casserole homemade cakes cobblers pork chops we even have catfish night but when them guys get through what they're looking for a recliner and a nap now people ask me this question all the time how do you refrigerate stuff how do you keep it from going bad well when we're going to be at a ranch say it's five weeks long I'm going to send a grocery list to that range they're going to pick up all the groceries they're going to have stopped when I get there it's going to be at a certain place and all the groceries are going to be in there whether it's frozen fresh or dried and then I'm going to stock one week at a time then somebody's going to bring it to me now I use good Yeti ice chest when we're talking about we need to keep some meat frozen okay I'm gonna lay some dry ice in the bottom of a Yeti cooler tighten some of them papered grocery sacks lay on top and then I'm gonna put just sack ice down there then I can lay that meat in there just keep stacking it up shut that lid good folks I have got me a freezer but also I've got a cooler over here with meat that I'm going to use that day that's already it's not frozen anymore it's there I'm gonna have a produce cooler I'm gonna have a dairy cooler you know there's a lot of things changed from the 1870s to now and there's been many a thousand pounds of beef that went up a trail or in a rail head or in a grocery store folks the ways and the means are still the same and it's still the same great fulfillment and something that I get in my heart that we get to do this job and pass it on and we're honored and we're privileged that we get still serve in this purpose to pass on something to another generation maybe that hey we're following in the footsteps of some of the greatest people in the world whether they was horseback or in a wagon seat I commend them I do and it is with pride and honor I salute that flag over there and all the veterans and service men and women that have kept it flying free we appreciate you one and all we do for the rest of you hey we hope that you enjoyed this little backup in history and going down trail that was then and now thank you each and every one God bless you and remember Cowboys and beef got to have them both and then [Music]

Channel: Cowboy Kent Rollins

Views: 672,593

Keywords: cattle drive, cattle drives in the old west, old westerns, old west stories, cowboy cooking, trail drives of the old west, old west food, pioneer food, texas history, texas cattle drive, history of the cattle drive, cattle, longhorn cattle drive, 1800 cooking, kent rollins, cowboy kent rollins, food history, cowboys, old west cowboys, cowboy history, trail drive, history of the west, westerns, camping cooking, outdoor cooking, camp coffee, cowboy coffee, depression cooking

Id: wUol7kJkQkQ

Length: 15min 0sec (900 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 19 2022