Chuckwagon videos

Here's a YouTube videos series on the history of the chuckwagon. It also includes the basics of Dutch oven cooking at the wagon. The gentleman is well-spoken. He gives interesting detail on Nineteenth Century cattle drives and the chuckwagon, cook and Dutch oven. I believe the videos were filmed at the Oak Grove Cowboy Weekend in Michigan.

Throwback: Dutch oven trailer at 2005 IDOS spring convention

The Dutch oven trailer was the most impressive piece of Dutch oven equipment at the 2005 Dutch Oven convention in Farmington, Utah. Builder Lynn Benson made the trailer for personal use. A trailer dedicated to cooking made sense to him as Lynn was tired of loading and unloading the pickup each time he cooked in Dutch ovens.

Benson manufactured trailers in Sandy, Utah, at the time. When I talked to him at the convention, the plan was to use trailer as the prototype for a line of cooking trailers. He was still in the process of finishing a smaller version of the trailer during the convention. The trailer was to be known as the Dutch wagon.

Though no longer active, Benson hosted a website to market and sell the trailer for a couple years. It doesn't look like the business took off. I suspect that little demand led to low sales numbers for the trailer. With a niche market, it'd be a tough business pursuit.

Benson's trailer is one of the best ideas for a cooking trailer that I've seen. The trailer featured efficient use of space for a cooking trailer. A chuckbox -- appropriately situated on the back end of the trailer -- provided storage for staples, utensils and supplies. Cooking surfaces on either side of the wagon allowed you to cook in cast iron Dutch ovens, over a gas or charcoal grill and on a two-burner propane stove.

While I doubt that I would ever purchase such a trailer, it intrigued me. Enjoy the photographs from the convention.

The larger of the two Dutch wagons at the convention. The right side is set up for Dutch oven cooking, with space for several ovens. Propane is stored under the igloo jug. A traditional chuckbox is situated at the rear of the trailer.

The right side of the larger trailer. The trailer is designed so you can drop your own two-burger stove in place -- no need to purchase a new stove. The gas or charcoal grill is located under the silver and green cover.

Like the chuckwagon of cattle drive days, the Dutch Wagon includes a roomy chuckbox at the rear of the trailer.

Sourdough cinnamon rolls by Kent Rollins

Here's a nice video by cowboy and chef Kent Rollins.


YouTube description: "Kent Rollins shows how to make these glorious lil' pastries."

Scoutmaster Clarke Green's overview of 'humble' chuckbox design

Keyword searches for "chuckbox" and "chuckwagon" bring a significant number of visitors to 'Round the Chuckbox. It's natural when you consider the name of the blog. Articles that address these topics routinely pull in several thousand page views, more than any other topic.

I'll be the first to admit that I don't post many articles on chuckboxes and chuckwagons. As the owner of a beautiful wood chuckbox, I have an affinity for the outdoor kitchen cabinet, especially in view of its humble beginning on the Western range.

While I have no claim to the title "wagon cook," something about my chuckbox, stained in a reddish hue and built to impeccable detail, often draws folks to my camp. Built in 2001 by then International Dutch Oven Society president Kent Mayberry, it has become the signature item in my camp cooking reparatory. And since February 2005, the centerpiece and gathering place to this blog.

To those in the market for a chuckbox, numerous designs and styles boggle the mind. The Rubbermaid Action Packer offers a quick solution to the one who doesn't need an elaborate design. My brother-in-law packs his complete camp in a half dozen Action Packers. Manufacturers like Blue Sky Kitchen and Grub Hub USA sell ready-made mobile kitchens for campers.

Many campers prefer a design built to personal specifications. Complex boxes -- such as Boy Scout "patrol boxes"-- feature numerous cubbies and drawers. Each item has its place. There are drawers for the utensils, a cubby for the two-burner Coleman stove, rollers for paper towels, plastic wrap and aluminum foil, and a special spot for the indispensable coffee boiler. Compact for transport and storage in the garage, it opens into a practical camp kitchen.

Before you purchase or build a chuckbox, take a look at "More Camp Kitchen Permutations" by Scoutmaster Clarke Green at Scoutmastercg. "I find the different solutions folks come up with for setting up a kitchen in a campsite fascinating." Green periodically features one or more chuckbox designs under the "cooking" category.

With little commentary, Green lets you make up your own mind. Numerous photos of chuckboxes give you an idea of the options out there. Links to chuckbox drawings give the do-it-yourself camper the plans needed to build his own. (Note most chuckbox plans must be purchased.) I even saw images of trailer-mounted chuckboxes.

Never cross the cook on the open range

Enjoy the opening sequence to the 1968 Western Classic Will Penny. Slim Pickens played the chuckwagon cook. All I have to say is never steal biscuits from the cook!

"Chuck! Come on you cow nurses," hollers the wagon cook, played by Pickens. "Come and get it or I'll throw it out. Chuck's on!"


Video description: "Will Penny -- (Movie Clip) Open, Git Along
"Elongated opening sequence featuring star Charlton Heston and Slim Pickens as the crusty cook, in writer-director Tom Gries' Western Will Penny, 1968, photographed by Lucien Ballard."

Kent Rollin's 1876 Studebaker chuckwagon

Have you ever wondered what goes into a well-designed and well-stocked chuckwagon?

"This was our kitchen cupboard, our kitchen table, our kitchen counter. Everything was done right here on this old chuckbox," explains cowboy chef Kent Rollins from the working end of the chuckwagon. He frequently caters with his wife Shannon out of the back of his 1876 Studebaker chuckwagon.

Kent answers these questions in this video by Western Horseman. Remove the tailgate, fit in a chuckbox and "any wagon" could be converted into a chuckwagon. Kent explains the setup of the chuckbox and table, boot, coffee grinder, side table and water barrel.

He also introduces the topic of cowboy etiquette. "It was always law. It was always in the code of ethics (for) cowboys and cooks that this was sacred ground. Between this chuckbox lid and my fire no cowboy would ever enter," explains Kent in the video. Cowboys respected the cook. They wouldn't come under the tent fly without asking permission.

Enjoy ...


YouTube description: "Kent Rollins shows the key features of his 1876 Studebaker chuckwagon."

Reliving the chuckwagon tradition on the Bell Ranch, part 2

Here's the second video from Kent Rollins. He spent most of the month of June the "pulling" the the chuckwagon on the massive Bell Ranch in northeastern New Mexico. Along with his wife Shannon, the two fed a crew of cowboys from the ranch chuckwagon. As the crew finished work at one pasture, Kent and Shannon drove the team of horses to the next pasture, where they set up camp and worked early mornings to the setting of the sun.

The message of this video shifts from cooking to the life of the cowboy on a traditional Western ranch. Several Bell Ranch hands explain what the cowboy life means, including the values and the traditions they hold.


You Tube description for the first video: "Not since 1958, has The Bell Ranch pulled a traditional chuck wagon. This two part mini-documentary follows the crew of The Bell and Kent Rollins, as the chuck wagon "cookie," as they revive the tradition of pulling a chuck wagon with a team for the four week spring gathering."

Reliving the chuckwagon tradition on the Bell Ranch

Chuckwagon cook Kent Rollins spent most of the month of June the "pulling" the the chuckwagon on the massive Bell Ranch in northeastern New Mexico. Along with his wife Shannon, the two fed a crew of cowboys from the ranch chuckwagon. As the crew finished work at one pasture, Kent and Shannon drove the team of horses to the next pasture, where they set up camp and worked early mornings to the setting of the sun.

Enjoy the video. In it, you'll see the chuckwagon in action and view a map of the 290,100-acre ranch. Kent also explains how to prepare Upside Down Pizza. "Them boys eat it up faster than we can put it down on the table," said Kent in the video.


You Tube description: "Not since 1958, has The Bell Ranch pulled a traditional chuck wagon. This two part mini-documentary follows the crew of The Bell and Kent Rollins, as the chuck wagon "cookie," as they revive the tradition of pulling a chuck wagon with a team for the four week spring gathering."

Guest article on Kent Rollin's Chuck Wagon Cooking School

Last month I asked Lesley Kershaw Tennessen of McHenry, Ill., to write a guest blog on her experience at Kent Rollin's Chuck Wagon Cooking School. She attended the course last spring. My request couldn't have come at a better time as Kent released a new video on the school. While Lesley isn't shown in this video (it features the October 2011 class), it gives a more detailed view of the school. My first two articles on the school are posted here and here.

Here's Lesley's report:

Way back when, a few years ago, I'd heard about going to a chuckwagon school. The thought intrigued me, more and more as time when on. The more I became involved in Dutch oven cooking and of course, teaching about Dutch oven, the more the idea surfaced in my thoughts.

So, round about fall 2010, I took the plunge. I'd met some gals while teaching at a local Women In the Outdoors event and became friends. One of the gals is a go-getter, never leave life behind type of person! When I told her about this opportunity, it was a 'heck yes!' type of response. So we signed up. That was early in December. Counted the days. Looked online, dreamed of getting there.

What did I want to learn? Mesquite cooking like Kent teaches. More about rustic Dutch oven cooking. Meeting new friends. Returning to Texas! Even though I am a tent camper, sleeping in a teepee is not usually how I camp! So that was new. Enjoyable.

What did I find out? I found that cooking with mesquite is like cooking in nucleator! LOL. Really hot wood compared to northern hardwood. And I found that cooking in Kent's kitchen with Ole Bertha keeps you really warm!

I loved learning about sourdough. It's about all I use now for biscuits. I learned cooking with trivets on the ground. I usually use a table and mostly off ground. And best of all, living outdoors in the Texas sun for a few days in late March feels really good.

Cooking in Kent's Chuckwagon School teaches you about yourself and how to adapt to old time ways and simpler things. And it's about having fun while working hard! I'll do this again and not soon enough!


YouTube video description (posted October 31, 2011): Each spring and fall, Kent holds his Dutch oven cooking camp. Students come from all over to experience the old cowboy way of life and to cook from Kent's 1876 Studebaker chuck wagon."

Kent Rollin's Chuck Wagon Cooking School

Kent Rollin's Chuck Wagon Cooking School is one of those vacations that I wish would come sooner than later. Instead I have to wait six months. The anticipation grows each day as I look forward to the course.

I learned of the school two weeks ago during a routine Google search. I had located a vintage Griswold Dutch oven at a local antique dealer. The right combination of search words reacquainted me with Kent's website at kentrollins.com.

Once I viewed the website I realized that I had quoted the chuckwagon cook and cowboy poet in the past. The topic in May 2009 was camp coffee. "Cookie’s first thing on the fire, and the last thing off; was for sure - 'The coffee'; and some say - the most important part of a camp meal!" explained Kent in the October 29, 2003 issue of the Chef2Chef Recipe Club weekly email.

Although I've never spent much time on or near cattle ranches, there's something about the chuckwagon that appeals to me. I could easily adapted my lifestyle to that of a nineteenth-century wagon cook. Kent's Chuck Wagon Cooking Scool may give me the opportunity to get learn from the master.

My wife and I are already making plans to attend the school from March 28 to April 1, 2012. And I'll finally have the opportunity to meet Kent and work behind his 1876 Studebaker Chuckwagon.

Enjoy the video. I'll have more to say in the coming week about the school.


YouTube video description (posted August 26, 2009): Every spring and fall, Kent Rollins, cowboy poet, humorist and chuck wagon cook, teaches students how to cook in a Dutch oven. To learn more visit kentrollins.com.

Seasoning blend by Texas chuckwagon cook

As you watch this piece from the Texas Country Reporter, enjoy the view of an authentic operating chuckwagon.


Now you can cook just like a champion chuckwagon cook! Real-life cowboy Jerry Baird of Snyder, Texas, bottles his own blend of spices and seasonings for all to enjoy. (#1001, 11/4/06)

Fire box for camp fire cooking

Here's an article that will interest most camp cooks. Over at the Roger Edison's Cowboys and Chuckwagon Cooking blog, the crew posted detailed instructions to fabricate and build a self-contained fire box for camp cooking. It's similar in design to WagonCook's fire box. I'll locate pictures of his set-up and post one or two in a couple days.

The chuckwagon fire box gives the camp cook a dry container to burn a cook fire. To use the fire box, the cook simply sets it up on the ground and lights the fire. The fire box eliminates the need to dig a fire pit or build a keyhole campfire ring.

Here's Roger's description of the fire box:

The fire box provides a four sided structure to hold wood inside with out the need to dig a hole or trench in the ground. It also allows the spit to be hung over the box to hang cookware for heating and grill bars along the top to place skillets, pot or griddles to cook from. Modern day, the fire box allows to set up on any surface, be it the great outdoors or in a parking lot.

Click over to Rogers's article, "Building a Fire Box for Camp Cooking," to view instructions, photographs and diagrams. It includes a complete materials list with a list of tools for the project.

This isn't a project for the faint-of-heart! It requires the use of heavy-duty metal fabrication tools like a welder and metal saw.

Have you built or purchased a similar fire box? If so, please email me with a description of the outfit and photographs. I'll post them in an article on 'Round the Chuckbox.

Chuckwagon for sale

Kent Rollins, cowboy humorist, poet and chuckwagon cook, shared this information with me today. A friend is selling his chuckwagon.

"Anyway saw the post, my friend is selling his wagon," said Kent. "Let me know if you're interested. Keep the wood dry and don't burn the bread!"

Unfortunately, I'm not in the market for a chuckwagon. Please contact Rockin O Ranch if interested.

IMG00010-20100816-1005
Originally uploaded by sgk82

Rockin O Ranch
Authentic Cowboy Cooking, LLC

Contact: Tony at rockinoranch01@gmail.com or 318-245-9774

Chuckwagon for sale

Authentic chuckwagon: comes with tongue, single trees, brakes, chuck-box with copper covered work table top. Two flies (14' x 18') with opening for stove pipe and 12' x 10' steel stove with three eyes and removable grate for grilling. Also includes: stove pipe, cedar poles, ropes and tie downs, shovels, coal rake, ax, sledge hammer and pry bar. Wagon is completely stocked and ready to cook from!

Inventory to be included with chuckwagon:

• Cast iron Dutch ovens:
  4-16"
  3-14” shallow
  1-14” deep
  3-12”
  1-8”
  


• Cast iron skillets:
  2-14” with lids
  1-20”
  


• Cast iron roasting pans:
  1-oval with lid
  


• Coffee Pots:
  2-1 1/2 gallon
  1-2 gallon
  


• Bean pots: 4- large with lids
  


• Enamelware: Numerous pieces of varied sizes
  


• Crocks:
  1-large
  1-Small
  


• Tables: 2- 8’ with folding legs
  


• Other Items:
  Water bath warming table with two large openings
  and two small openings. Comes with pans and lids
  to fit. Runs off butane.
  


• Steel fire pit set.
  


• 2 Butane lanterns
  


• 15 gallon wooden water can with spigot

It's only fitting that the following photographs were taken at a railroad museum.

VISA spoken here ...

Although I've never spent much time on or near cattle ranches, there's something about the chuckwagon that appeals to me. I could've easily adapted my lifestyle to that of a nineteenth century wagon cook.

Cash is the one thing that has stopped me. Instead, I've settled for a twenty-first century re-creation of chuckbox and modest collect of iron.

As I'm Randy can attest, it's be an expensive hobby. In addition to the wagon, Randy bought a large, two-axle covered trailer to haul the chuckwagon from place to place. That means upgrading his truck to a F350.

Remember, before you venture out and buy an authentic nineteenth century chuckwagon, you must have a VISA card. Otherwise, you'll be singing, "Stuck in Lodi again ...."

Chuckwagon and Dutch ovens at the IDOS Region II DOG

I took my family to the 3rd annual International Dutch Oven Society Dutch Oven Gathering for Region II on the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. The event was held Saturday at the Stockton Delta KOA campground in Terminous, California, between Rio Vista and Lodi.

According to organizer Gary House, about 100 Dutch oven enthusiasts registered for the three-day event. Many camped in RVs and tents in a section of the campground reserved for the event. Others, like myself, came for the day and cooked for the Dutch oven gathering (known as a DOG) at 6 p.m.

The high point of the day for me was the opportunity to walk around Randy Brown's nineteenth century chuckwagon. The chuckwagon is the original American mobile kitchen.

I didn't get many details from Randy, so you'll have to settle for photos of the chuckwagon.

Randy Brown stands behind Colleen Sloan as she teaches a class. The long canopy could stretch from the chuckbox to the fire pit if necessary. It shaded the cook on long, hot cattle drives on the mid-western prairie and protected the grub from the elements.

The kitchen was located in the back-end of the wagon, where the wagon cook worked. Basic staples, like dried beans, flour and dried apples were stored in the chuckbox in its shelves and drawers. Utensils and some pots and pans were stored in other cubbies. The cook transported larger pots in the boot below the chuckbox.

Every mobile kitchen needs a supply of fresh water. Each time the wagon crossed a creek or river, the cook ladled water into the barrel. I would imagine it helped to scoop water out of the creek long before the cattle crossed.

Roadside chuckwagon plans on eBay

Here's an interesting set of plans for a family chuckwagon-trailer. The optical appeared in the May 1965 issue of Popular Mechanics.

If you don't want to purchase the plans on eBay, Google Books has published the entire May issue of the magazine. It ran on pages 132 to 137 and was continued on page 200.

The link will take you to page 200. You can find the begining of the article from there.

Here's the eBay description:

Up for bid is an ORIGINAL seven page plan from a vintage magazine. This article details the building of an awesome carry all trailer designed ultimately for cooking when camping, vacationing and on fishing trips.

This Chuck Wagon has it all even a speaker system. This is a complete kitchen with hot stove, pull out table, drawers, storage, compartments for clothes and food and even an iceboxbox for perishables.

This trailer contains everything you could need and want for any camping trip, hike and even tailgating at a game. You receive the original plan not a copy.

Modern cuckwagon for sale on eBay

A modern chuckwagon was posted to eBay last Friday. "This is a camp kitchen or chuckwagon. It sits 8-10 people comfortably with LOTS of work area. It is built on a 4x8 flatbed trailer .... The overall dimensions are 4x8x3 high. The tongue adds another 3 feet," says the on-line auction. The opening bid is $400. The trailer in located in Camp Verde, Arizona.

According to the seller, the trailer is "easy to pull with a small car." He figures that it weights about "400 pounds empty." Its 18-inch wheels give you "about 8 inches of road clearance." The trailer uses a 1-7/8-inch ball hitch.

"There is lots of room for all of your camping gear and a 55-gallon water tank. There is a sink with a hand pump that works well. There is a gravity fed hose faucet on the front for other water needs."

"The front storage is 4-feet by 3.5-feet. The back storage is 4-feet by 2-feet. The sides fold up for easy cargo access and nice eating counters. They are 32 inches high when unfolded. There is a propane tank in the rear storage with a post to connect the stove. A lantern sits on top of the post, about 32 inches above the top. There is a built-in 104-gallon cooler that also lifts out for cleaning."

The unit looks interesting. It may fit for a tent camper that would like to own a rolling kitchen like the old chuckwagons. It is built like my chuckbox, only on a larger scale.

If you bid and win, you'll have to drive down to Camp Verde and pick up the trailer.

PS--I'm not the seller, nor do I have any connection to him.

Morning Business

By Lee Henry

Rattlin' of pans in the pre-dawn light
Signals the end of a cold bitter night.

Jawin' and gratin' of the coffee grinders song
Says get up cowboy its near breakin' dawn.

A grouchy ole figure with pot hook in hand
Reflects a lifetime of cookin' with his wrinkles and tan.

His breakfast from memory is simple to fix
It's salt pork, coffee, sourdough and lick.

His kitchen of canvas, chuckwagon and Hanes
Prances and dances in the flickerin' flames.

From inside the chuckbox the Cookie removes
A large sack of flour and a bottle of booze.

With his back to the bedrolls from the bottle he takes
A nip of "White Lightnin'" to ward off the snakes.

The tools of his trade, a bowl he has kept
Thru thunder and lightin’ and rustlers he’s met.

Washed in the streams and scrubbed by the sands
His large wooden bowl he carved with his hands.

Blendin' the lard in the fixins so neat
From the crock pours the sourdough, it's sour but sweet.

The biscuits are cut and then to the Dutch
Are crowded together by the master’s touch.

The coals from the fire on the lid with a lip
Are hot as a Colt drawn from the hip.

The golden brown sourdoughs from his Dutch oven pan
Has filled the craw of many-a-man.

With his back to the cowboys ridin' over the crest
A nip he will take before attackin’ the mess.

With bottle in hand, and the marks from a quirt
As he Toasts, "Thanks Cookie" Cut in the Dirt.

Reprinted with permission.

American Chuckwagon Association

http://www.chuckwagon.org/ -- the website for the American Chuckwagon association. The ultimate website for anyone who need information on competitions, cookbooks and membership.

More on Chuckwagons

John "Wishbone" Willems, of Kansas City, email me last week with some advise for those who're interested in purchasing a chuckwagon. He believes the chuckwagon offered on eBay last week is "not worth what they are asking for it." The auction ended this afternoon at $3,150. The wagon didn't sell as the reserve price wasn't met. The seller hasn't re-listed the wagon as of this writing.

A good wagon can be found under $10,000, said John. These wagons come complete with "more cooking equipment and three times as many (Dutch ovens)" as the wagon on eBay last week.

Where does the serious chuckwagon buyer turn? Rope Burns Magazine, recommends John. The magazine "comes out every other month (and) has wagons posted in it every now and then."

John says that you can buy wagons for around $1,500 to $3,000 stripped bare of cooking equipment. They will be road worthy, emphasizes John. He recommends searching the horse drawn equipment category on eBay.

Today, John emailed with a recommended website. Guidelines for a Trail Wagon, says: "The wagons should be historically correct, authentically restored or authentic replicas, drivable, with wagon bed at least two sideboards high, painted or unpainted, with or without Dutch oven boot or possum belly; no iron wheeled farm wagons; no rubber-tired wagons." View the website for a complete list of "must haves" for an authentic chuckwagon of the 1860s to 1890s.

John is looking to buy a wagon in the next five years. In the mean time, you'll find this accomplished Dutch oven cook working the host chuckwagon Saturday, May 6, 2006 at a local competition.