Cowboy diet and lifestyle took inspiration from the peoples that had been working the land long before Americans started moving west. Living in a time before refrigeration, cowboys relied on ingredients that could last for months — or even years — without spoiling, and consequently borrowed many Native American food preservation methods. While foraging along the trail for herbs, berries, and even bird eggs was common practice, there were many staples cowboys packed with them. If they werent elegant, meals on the trail were certainly hearty, since they had to keep herding crews going for long, arduous, dusty days full of exertion.
Cowboys also took cultural and culinary inspiration from Mexican vaqueros. Experts at herding cattle long before settlers ventured west, vaqueros developed many of the tools necessary for the trade, like chaps and lassos, and in the early days of the west, trained many cowboys-to-be. Having herded cattle for hundreds of years, these skilled horsemen were veterans of living and cooking on the move. Recipes for their wholesome fare were another of the many things cowboys adopted directly from the vaquero lifestyle.
As for what cowboys actually did eat, Dr. Richard W. Slatta, professor emeritus of history at North Carolina State University, recounts one concise summary of Old West fare as described by Oklahoma cowboy Puny Martin, “Beef, beans, taters. Thats what you had to have.” Some cowboys were lucky to have a little more variety than that while on cattle drives, but options were still fairly limited.
They were most likely pinto or possibly red beans. Think southwest cuisine. They may have had tomatoes cooked with them, along with onions, garlic and chile peppers. Cooked beans spoil or sour quickly, so cowhands wouldn’t have eaten beans on the trail unless they were traveling with the chuck wagon.
Common breads were sourdough and hardtack
Sourdough was the bread of preference for trail outfits equipped with a chuckwagon and cook willing to rise early with the sourdough starter. Bread and Basil states that starter, made from a mixture of water and flour left to ferment, generates lactic acid bacteria and wild yeast, forming a natural yeast culture which has versatile potential as a leavening agent for various breads. Once ready, the starter gets combined with the proper water and flour proportions to form dough. Though a bit meticulous since the starter required regular tending, this was a portable way to bake bread on the trail. Sourdough was also used to make biscuits and flapjacks in dutch ovens and skillets, giving an array of cowboy baked goods a tantalizing sour tint.
Though much less appetizing, hardtack was another prevalent bread source in cowboys diets, but many would probably debate its edibility. Also called “hot rocks,” these biscuits were a simple, utilitarian concoction of flour, water, and salt. Cooked until no moisture remained, these biscuits had a long shelf life, remaining digestible for months, if not years. But hardtack was so hard that eating it was difficult without the aid of milk, water, or coffee to soften the bread. Though this concept of shelf stable biscuits dates back to legions of soldiers and crews of sailors that predate the American West, cowboy cooks found a new use for hardtack as a stew thickener, which was probably its most palatable form.
Coffee was taken strong and barefooted
Coffee was a daily necessity in the West, but because green coffee beans kept best, whipping up a simple brew on the trail wasnt exactly simple. Beans had to be roasted and ground first — that is, until two enterprising upstarts started supplying roasted and even pre-ground coffee. While James A. Folger dominated the market of gold miners along the west coast, John Arbuckle Jr. invented the brand that fueled the frontier. Arbuckles innovation for preserving coffee beans included a trick that gave them superior flavor too. HistoryNet explains that while roasting the beans, he coated them with a mixture of sugar, eggs, and Irish moss, making Arbuckles blend so popular his name became interchangeable with coffee itself.
Coffee was an obligatory tool in the cowboys arsenal, an essential pick-me-up for a job that necessitated early mornings, long days, and frequent all-nighters. Before chuckwagons, many cowboys often carried a coffee pot in their saddlebags, but once cooks joined on the cattle trail, coffee was boiling constantly in five-gallon pots.
True West Magazine reports cowboys took their coffee strong enough to “float a horseshoe,” and whether for convenience or preference, usually drank it barefooted (black). To ensure coffee was as strong as possible, cooks added new grounds to old grounds until the coffee pot had reached capacity. “The men half lived on coffee,” mentions of one cook, Oliver Nelsons, writings. Coffee was the only thing that kept cowboys awake and vigilant through night shifts and bad weather.
What Did Cowboys Really Eat In The Old West?
FAQ
What are cowboy beans made of?
What did cowboys actually eat?
What is the slang cowboy beans?
How did cowboys prepare beans on the trail?
Why did Cowboys eat beans?
Filling, versatile, fibrous, and full of protein, they were an all-encompassing source of nutrients for the cowboy diet that were included into many dishes. Beans could easily be cooked overnight in a dutch oven, and made a hearty addition to soups and stews.
What type of beans should one eat?
The most healthy beans are chickpeas, lentils, peas, kidney beans, black beans, soybeans, pinto beans, and navy beans. They contain a lot of fiber and proteins.
What did Cowboys eat?
Cowboys enjoyed pork often in the form of salt pork (sometimes called sowbelly) and bacon. According to the Tar Heel Junior Historian (via NCpedia ), pork was a staple food from the days of the early settlers through the mid-1900s, as it was easy to produce in large quantities. So, what is the difference between bacon and pork belly?
Do Cowboys eat dried beans?
Lightweight dried beans are highly portable and could soak all day in the wagon, making prepping them fairly simple in the evenings once the crew had settled down for the night. Additionally, dried beans keep for a long time and are an excellent source of protein, making an incredibly filling meal for cowboys out on the range.