Cooking in the West

 

February 7, 2020



As the poets and pickers headed home from the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko Nevada this past week, I was sent a poem perfectly timed to the upcoming calving season. Trent Nelson is a cowboy poet who was born and raised in northeastern Colorado in the agricultural community of Yuma. He has worked in farming and ranching his whole life from the Rocky Mountains to the sand hills of Nebraska. He currently resides outside his hometown where he works on a large farm/yearling grazing operation. This poem puts cows and calving season in cowboy perspective and ends with a humble cowboy prayer. Thanks, Trent!

The Cows I’ve Known

--by Trent Nelson

The cows I’ve known have been too numerous to count,

But through the years a few old gals have done their best to stand out.

Whether for glaringly weak instincts or trying to kill me while I tag their calves,

This minority of mothers has taught me nearly every trick in the bag.

Something you might think simple as gettin’ the ol’ rip through the gate or convincing a heifer to take her calf,

Without those cows I have known, the knowledge I have today would easily be less by half.

A cowboy’s skill set, green and unrefined,

Has this bovine brigade to thank for allowing me to hone it in over time.

They’ve taught me patience, a practice I’d never known.

They’ve taught me how to really laugh, and holler till my face is red as a roan.

There’s been Angus and Hereford, horned short and long,

Salers and Charolais, each singing her own unique song.

I see their faces in my eyelids and their bawling echoes in my heart,

Yes I know this is a love sonnet to cows, but no one’s ever told me I was smart.

But I do know my purpose, and why God put me here on this earth,

And it’s reinforced in my soul every time a mama cow gives birth.

Life begins anew as the next generation will take over for the last,

They’ll become my future, as I remember their past.

Yeah, the cows I’ve known have been good to me even through hardship along the way,

That’s why when I bow my head at night, this is how I pray. . .

“Dear Lord, please help me tend this herd, give me the strength and ability to never do them harm,

May the post holes dig easy, and may my life be full of cows and never lose its charm. Amen!”

My featured cook this week is my friend and former ranch vacation guest, Louise Lester of Raymond, Maine. Louise wrote, "Your trail recipes got me to thinking about a possible camp dessert. My daughter loves my steamed chocolate pudding and asks me to make it every Christmas. It is like a heavy cake and can be served warm or cold, but I think warm is better. The topping for it is also from that cookbook and is a creamy vanilla topping. It has to be cooked in a tight lidded can but I’ve done it in a coffee can with tin foil over the top tied around with string. It has to sit in boiling water for about 1.5 hours with the water to about 1/3 to 1/2 up the side of the can. I’ll bet this could be done in a campfire. The recipe comes from my ancient "Fanny Farmers Cookbook" which I got for a wedding present in 1966." Thanks, Louise!

Steamed Chocolate Pudding

Melt over hot water:

1.5 oz. unsweetened chocolate

3 T. butter

Stir together and beat until smooth:

1/2 C. sugar

1 egg

Add:

1/3 C. milk

1/2 t. vanilla

Sift together:

1 C. flour

1 1/2 t. baking powder

1 t. salt

Stir chocolate and butter into sugar and egg; then add milk and vanilla and then the flour, baking powder and salt. Pour into a can greased with butter greased and cover tightly with lid or aluminum foil tied down with string around the can. Place in pan of boiling water that comes 1/3 to 1/2 way up the side of the pudding container with a knife or wrinkled foil under the pudding container to keep it from burning. Cook for 1 ½ hours or until a straw comes out of the pudding clean.

Yellow Sauce for Steamed Pudding

Beat 2 eggs whites until stiff. Gradually beat in 1/2 C. confectioner’s sugar. Without washing the beater, beat 2 egg yolks and 1/4 C. confectioner’s sugar until thick. Combine both mixtures and flavor with 1 t. vanilla or 1/2 t. vanilla and 1/2 t. brandy flavoring

Waldorf Icing

5 T. flour

1 C. milk

2 sticks softened margarine

1 C. confectioners’ sugar

1 t. vanilla

Cook the flour and milk until thickened and cool completely until cold. Beat margarine, confectioners' sugar, and vanilla. Beat mixtures together at high speed in mixer until thick and smooth. (This beating will seem to take forever. The mixture will look like sour milk for quite a while until it suddenly starts to look like icing. The flavor tastes like whipped cream.)

Louise notes, "There is a story to this recipe. My mother ate it at the Waldorf Hotel in New York and asked if she could have the recipe which they did directly from the chef’s hand. Shortly after she arrived back home she got a bill from the chef for $600. It seems that if you ask for a recipe it’s assumed that you have bought it. She paid the bill but said that she would give the recipe to anyone who wanted it to make up for the expense. It’s definitely worth the effort to make it!"

Boston Baked Beans

2 lbs peas or kidney beans

2 qts water

1/2 lb. salt pork or bacon

2 t. salt

1 C. molasses

1 t. dry mustard

2 T. sugar – brown or white

Wash, discarding imperfect beans, cover with water, and bring to boil for 2 minutes. Let soak 1 hour or more without draining water. Cook slowly until the skins burst when you take a few on the tip of a spoon and blow on them. Drain, reserving the cooking water. Then cover salt pork or slab bacon with boiling water. Let stand 2 minutes, drain, and cut 1” gashes every 1/2 inch without cutting into rind.

Put beans in bean pot. Push meat down into the beans until all but the rind is covered. Mix other ingredients and add 1 C. reserved water and bring to a boil. Pour over the beans and add enough water to cover the beans. Cover the pot and bake for 6 to 8 hours at 250 degrees. Add water as needed to keep the beans moist. Uncover the last hour of baking so the rind will be brown and crisp. (For variation you can add a sliced onion to the beans.)

 

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