He said: “Let the wranglers and ranchers, the cast-iron-pot cooks and the cowboys take good things from that corner of the Earth for a heavenly feast, an end-of-July celebration where food makes people smile.”
And so it came to be.
If you missed Saturday’s 13th annual Chuck Wagon Cook-Off, part of Durango’s Fiesta Days celebration, you just might be one of those dudes who still squat with their spurs on.
The step back in time, sponsored by the La Plata-Archuleta Cattleman’s Association, featured eight trail- and Conestoga-style chuck wagons brimming with antiques and collectibles. Stacks of seasoned oak and mesquite slowly disappeared to stoke all-day fires for the sold-out fundraiser that fed more than 500.
Collegial teams of cooking crews punched dough, tenderized Sunnyside’s top-round beef and breaded, fried or grilled their way to coveted wins in five classes: meat, beans, potatoes, bread or biscuits and dessert.
Onlookers interrupted the busy, costumed cooks so their kids could pose with the historic characters for family photos set against refurbished ranch wagons, some pulled by mule teams and all meticulously staged for the all-day event.
Event organizer Barbara Jefferies said it was hard to say how much time and money have gone into the restoration and upkeep of these impressive wagons, but she estimated that some participants may have invested as much as $100,000 in this labor of love which attempts to preserve a bit of Western history.
Most competitors return year after year and either have working ranches or provide chuck wagon food for weddings, reunions or county fairs.
The Poverty Flats entry, built by Bayfield veterinarian Harry Baxstrom, is a replica of an 1886 trail wagon for mountain use, with narrow tires and no possum belly, but he’s made a few design concessions to make it safe and functional by today’s standards.
Just as Baxstrom believes in the historical accuracy of his wagon, his cooking crew of extended family members uses the same ingredients and equipment that a chuck wagon cook might have used in the late 1880s to prepare items such as old-fashioned, sourdough biscuits served with chicken fried steak.
“I can eat sourdough biscuits until I get green in the face,” Baxstrom said.
He enjoys competing in the family event because of the camaraderie between teams and the sense of community shared by all participants, he said.
“This is a great community builder. Everyone gets a real feel for this place when they come here,” whether they are sitting down for dinner or helping create it, he said.
Davin Montoya of Montoya Cattle Co. in Hesperus incorporated modern ingredients and techniques such as marinades to offer a current-century twist on historical menu items and create a crowd-pleasing meal.
“If someone wanted us to cook a meal like we’d eat in the 1800s, well, we wouldn’t need all these tables,” Montoya joked, gesturing to the rows of tables and chairs encircled by the chuck wagons.
His team used a secret recipe that may have included rum or whiskey, along with lemon zest, cinnamon, vanilla and nutmeg to amp up traditional peach cobblers.
The Montoya team took top honors in the all-around food category and third place for the cobbler.
All the wagon cooks offered peach desserts baked over hardwood fires and coals in Dutch ovens.
Durango Cowboy Church’s Precious Peach Pie, made by Sandy Cooper, took second place behind cobbler made by David Wade, head cook at Mountain Trails Chuckwagon, headquartered in Rye.
As the only newcomer in the competition, Wade had beginner’s luck, taking first place in the dessert category.
“I’m not telling my secrets, but there’s a lot of butter,” Wade said before admitting that the cobbler might have had an advantage because of the rum sauce he created on the fly that very day.
“I’d give the event an A-plus” for the “really nice people in this great area,” Wade said. Two years ago, he attended the event as a spectator and was immediately hooked on chuck wagon cooking, he said.
Rocking W Outfit from Cortez stole the show with first prizes for chicken fried steak and San Juan pintos grown locally at Alkalide Gulch Farms.
Eldon Simmons and his cooking partner, Bud Winbourn, chalked up the win to “practice” plus “pounding the meat real good, dredging it in eggs, milk, flour and bread crumbs.”
“I saved the seasoned drippings from the three big skillets and made gravy the old-fashioned way,” Simmons said.
Durango resident Joan Fassett gave a thumbs up to the Canyon Trails Ranch table because she was hankering for the green chili and bacon taters that the team was advertising on its chalkboard menu.
Rodney Carriker’s team from Cortez took first place for potatoes, something that Fassett almost expected, citing memories of the great meals that team member Bill Vicary used to serve at Cortez’s former Homesteader’s Restaurant.
Joining Sunnyside Meats as wagon sponsors were Basin Co-op, LaPlata Electric Association, Coca-Cola Bottling Co., Vectra Bank, Bank of Colorado, First Southwest Bank and First National Bank.
A dozen student volunteers – recipients of the La Plata-Archuleta Cattleman’s Association’s $1,000 scholarships awarded annually to deserving agriculture students – poured refreshments, sold tickets and assisted members of the 66-year-old association whose mission is to protect agriculture while promoting beef, local products and the protection of property rights.
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