Classic Cowboy Cuisine

Photo Courtesy of Travel Alberta/ Hero Images

Keeping the cowboys properly fed was a critical job of the old west. This task was entrusted to the camp cook.

Hugh Dempsey, in his book The Golden Age of the Canadian Cowboy, describes how the chuckwagon had a leading role back in the late 1880s as cattle began to move in and through Alberta on drives and roundups.

“Chuckwagons usually went ahead of the roundup to the next camping place and had a meal ready when the tired cowboys came off the range,” writes Dempsey. Quoting reports of a visiting journalist, Dempsey describes the typical chuckwagon food. “For breakfast, he said the cowboys had steaks, buns, jam and coffee; for lunch and dinner, beef, canned tomatoes or corn, rice pudding, prunes, pie, bread, butter, jam, coffee and tea.” One of the cooks said his job “was to keep the belly wrinkles out of the crew.”

In more modern times, the menu might vary some, but the objective remains the same. Brad McCarthy, ranch wrangler and cook at Homeplace Ranch west of Millarville a few years ago shared his Shepherd’s Pie recipe in Cooking the Cowboy Way, a cookbook written by Grady Spears

By: Lee Hart

Shepard’s Pie Recipe

Ingredients:

2 tsp vegetable oil 1 lb ground sirloin 1 medium yellow onion, diced 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 cup green or yellow beans, trimmed and cut into 1-inch lengths 2 cups peeled, sliced carrots 3 ears corn, shucked and kernels removed Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 3 tsp dried thyme 3 tsp dried rosemary 3 cups mashed potatoes

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F. Heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet, over medium heat and add the meat and onion. Cook until the meat browns and the onion is translucent, about five minutes. Add the garlic, green beans, carrots and corn; cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are just tender, five to seven minutes. Season with salt, pepper, and herbs and stir. Remove from heat and scoop the mixture into a six by nine inch buttered casserole dish. Cover with the mashed potatoes and bake until browned at the edges - about 30 minutes. Serve with brown gravy, if desired.