Betty Crocker
Hey, I’ll bet you didn’t know that Betty Crocker was born in Deer Lodge, MT. Well, not quite, maybe I’m exaggerating the tale a bit but she does have a connection. But, of course, we all know that Betty Crocker really doesn’t exist but there is a real woman or women in back of the image, one of whom was Jeannette Kelly who grew up in Deer Lodge. Legend has it that her first creation was a mud pie with yeast. Falling for the tantalizing smell of the yeast, her friend, Vonnie Lupher bit into it and was picking grit out of her teeth all day.
Jeannette didn’t let this deter her and she went on to graduate from the local high school in 1912 and then to work for a flour company named Washburn Crosby in 1921. At Washburn Crosby the marketing department created an image and a name so they could answer questions from the cooking public. Thus was born Betty Crocker: Betty sounded wholesome and Crocker was the name of one of the managers. (Today, if they were inventing a name, they might use Sophia or Emily.) Then Washburn merged with several other flour companies and became General Mills. According to General Mills, Jeannette planned the first 5 Betty Crocker test kitchens in 1944, wrote the first book on bread baking for General Mills and made the first chocolate cake for Washburn Crosby advertisements. She also directed a department with 50 women developing Betty Crocker cookbooks and recipes, answering advice letters, introducing chiffon cake and creating a lien of prepackaged dessert mixes.
And, there you have it: Betty Crocker in Deer Lodge.
Beans and Rice and Rice and Beans
That’s what Cowboys ate out on the range until the Chuck wagon came in to daily use. You’re a cowboy on a long trail drive, you haven’t seen a homestead for days, there are no convenience stores in sight, you’re hot, dusty, tired, thirsty and hungry. Now what? Well, how about reaching into what was called a ‘greasy sack’ for some food. That’s the bag you’ve been carrying all day on your saddle (in the heat and dust). Doesn’t that sound good? Makes you want to work hard, doesn’t it? Well, that’s the way it was until Charles Goodnight invented the Chuck Wagon. Hallelujah.
A typical trail drive consisted of a trail boss, a cook, a wrangler who managed the extra horses needed on a long drive, 10 - 15 cowboys and a ‘hoodlum’ wagon that carried the bedrolls, etc. In the early days of the drives, a cowboy made due with what he could carry which made for a long hard drive. A shortage of cowboys make Charles Goodnight invent the chuck wagon, a better way to feed your men. He thought that a well-fed cowboy would be a better cowboy and that he if he could feed them better, they might stay with him longer and work harder. (Remember, the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.) Getting the idea from a fold-down desk, he took an old Army surplus wagon, put a box on the rear that could hold lots of cooking supplies, utensils and food with a rear lid that swung down to become a cooking surface. He sent it out with his cowboys on trail drives and soon companies were making actual chuck wagons for sale. And the chuck wagon cook became an icon.
Here’s the Ranger playing the role of the cook, making us some cowboy coffee on the fire. Pretty tasty.
A typical chuck wagon could carry a 30 day’s supply of beans, rice, flour, sourdough starter,salted pork, root vegetables, spices, molasses, salt dried fruit and coffee. Ah, coffee, that mainstay of the cowboy and - something which helped him to stay healthy. Cowboys used to drink the water in the creeks that they passed as they drove the herd along. Funny thing - they got sick. But they never got sick from the cowboy coffee that was boiled with the grounds in it which sank to the bottom before it was served. Those who drank coffee all day did not get sick. Those who drank the water, did. Hmmm.
Now about the coffee: in 1865 the Arbuckle Company found a way to preserve the freshness of roasted beans by coating them in a mixture of egg white and sugar. And, Arbuckle's was the coffee of the west. It was in every chuck wagon and in every store in the west.
And, it was the chuck wagon cook who could make a trail drive. They not only had to drive the wagon and cook 3 meals a day all while dealing with rain, dust, mud, insects, snakes, limited supplies, breakdowns and shortages of wood and water.
Cooking on a ranch was easy, cooking on the trail was much more difficult until the chuck wagon was invented. It carried food, condiments, a large Dutch oven (which trail cooks swore by) wood or cow chips for fires and made a much more ‘homey’ atmosphere on the trail. Some cooks rose to icon status: Mexican Jim made tamales, burritos, stews, etc. Other cooks could make cobblers and pies.
Cooks made some sourdough starter before they left on the trail drive and they cherished it all the way. However, starter needs to be kept warm and often they slept with it or carried it close to their bodies as they drove through colder country. Underneath the chuck wagon was the ‘possum belly’, a loose hide slung loosely under the wagon where cooks kept firewood or cow chips to fuel the next fire.
Remember ‘mystery meat’ from high school lunches? Well, that term originated with the cowboy. Sometimes the cook would add a bit of meat to the rice and beans. whatever he found or killed or caught along the way: Rabbit, rattlesnake, fish. Whatever. The cowboys never knew what it was and it was continually a mystery. But, you know, it was hot and tasted good after a long day on the trail.
In the Steveston, Canada fish canning factory we saw an exhibit about the different historical ways of preserving food from salting to drying to canning to freezing and finally to the point where fresh foods are increasingly available. But, it was really the canning which made the diet of the cowboy much better: canned peaches, canned tomatoes (which provided both food and drink), canned beans. These added so much to the flavor and variety. It wasn’t just beans and rice for lunch and rice and beans for dinner. These still played a big part in their diet but the chuck wagon with its dedicated cook and canning added a lot.
On the Kohrs ranch, if a cowboy wasn’t going to make it back to the ranch for supper, he carried a beef jerky coated with the juice of huckleberries and a bit of salt in a small canvas sack to chew on. Conrad Warren admitted that it tasted fine but that ‘you chewed on it for a good long time.’
Cooks also carried the ‘medicine’ cabinet for anyone who got sick or had any kind of ailment. Most of this consisted of tonics or rubs, not much medicine.
Note the mirror, pan, shaving brush and mug. right on the side of the chuck wagon.
Here’s my question for the day. What food is made from cow hoofs?
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