Recently I’ve spent some time working with an insanely intense and very, very, dedicated group of people with a goal. That goal, believe it or not, is to bring cattle trail, Western, inspired cooking into the Bay Area. A great, and commendable, effort – albeit it sounded easier than it turned out to be.
We knew, from the get-go, that we wanted chuckwagon inspired foods, taken into the modern days, bold and rich flavors, and fresh products, well-sized portions and an affordable price range. Which is, where it starts…
To stay true to our chuckwagon philosophy, we had to quickly abandon a number of signature dishes we would have loved on the menu. Chuckwagons, although this would not be an option these days, had no refrigeration. Which led a sort of culinary doublespeak – on one hand, of course, we use refrigeration, and we do use fresh ingredients, on the other hand we’d be hard-pressed to, for example, serve ice cream in the summer.
At the other end of this, something great came about – we vowed rather early in the game to not use any product that could not have come to the restaurant during a day’s worth of cattle drive, about 45 miles. We had to stretch this a little bit to get access to a free range hog and cattle farm, but could get most of our fresh ingredients quite locally. And, surprise, surprise, at a price that made it actually viable for us not to give in to enticements and not-so-veiled threats from meat and seafood purveyors wanting our business for themselves.
Dutch Ovens
A little research showed, that the first ever Chuckwagon was built by Charles Goodnight, who rebuilt a surplus Army Wagon for his trail crew. Thankfully the guys and gals from Bar Bee Cue Cattle and Cooking Co. in Boulder, CO heard about our endeavor and loved it so much, they sent us (quite modernly, via PDF files in eMail) recipes and some ideas they’d been tossing around within their Chuckwagon re-enactment and competitive cooking team.
Our first step, was to try to produce all menu items “in the field”. Two dishes quickly went the way of all things unfeasible, but two quick apps and a dessert was born the same day.
We used the three means of cooking common in chuckwagon land – Dutch Oven, open flame / grilling, and poaching. If you haven’t completely immersed yourself into the world of Dutch Ovens, I highly recommend it. It’s a culinary place of its own, quite different from anything “modern” we tend to do, yet so familiar in many ways.
Original ingredients are quite limited: potatoes, onions, corn, tomatoes, anything and everything from cattle and pig, wheat, beans, whiskey, and whatever else could be dried and taken with.
Sourdough Bread
Of course, come opening day, we won’t be taking things outside and grill them in the backyard. Instead, our next step was to try to replicate both the basic concepts and flavors in the kitchen. Which is, where “addition” creep started to happen. Won’t no one notice if we use rice wine vinegar? Unlikely, but it’d be a violation of our own goals. So, instead, we played with what we had and, I think, came up with a great and rather original menu. And, of course, there’s apple pie in there :).
Staples include, of course, chicken fried steak, stew and potatoes, an assortment of rolls and cheeses, cobblers, our dutch oven apple pie, and much more.
Can I really do this without giving out my Sourdough starter recipe? Nah, I can’t. :) Here it is:
- Make potato water. This is a simple way of making a starchy solution. Cut two large, starchy (russet, not red skinned ones) potatoes into medium dice and boil in about 3 cups of water until very tender.
- Remove the potatoes and set aside (mash them and serve them with your mains, maybe?)
- Measure out two cups of the potato water and let cool down to about lukewarm.
- Mix with 1 tbsp of sugar and 2 cups of flour into a smooth paste.
- Set the whole thing inside a cast iron (YMMV) container in a warm place and let double in size.
Ok, ok, and here’s what to use it for:
Sourdough Cornbread
- Take about one cup of the starter we made above.
- Beat two eggs, add 1 1/2 cups of warm milk and add the starter
- Mix in cornmeal until the the batter becomes a nice, beatable, consistency
- Melt about 1/4 cup of butter (or use lard), beat into the mixture together with salt and about 1/2 tsp of soda.
- Pour into a Dutch Oven (or, if you’re at home, use a greased pan) and bake for 20-30 minutes.
- Pour gravy, liberally, eat. Done.
Here you have it. Now get to cooking :)
To learn more about Chuckwagon cooking, check out the American Chuckwagon Association.
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