{"id":65664,"date":"2019-07-23T16:50:40","date_gmt":"2019-07-23T22:50:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/chuck-wagon-cook-off-preserves-tradition-through-camp-style-cooking\/"},"modified":"2019-07-23T22:50:40","modified_gmt":"2019-07-23T22:50:40","slug":"chuck-wagon-cook-off-preserves-tradition-through-camp-style-cooking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/chuck-wagon-cook-off-preserves-tradition-through-camp-style-cooking\/","title":{"rendered":"Chuck wagon cook-off preserves tradition through camp-style cooking"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Rodney
Rodney Carriker, holding the reins, and Bill Vicary with Canyon Trails Ranch of Cortez pull a chuck wagon up Main Avenue in downtown Durango before the 2017 La Plata-Archuleta Cattlemen\u2019s Association Chuck Wagon Cook-Off. The team will be returning for this year\u2019s cook-off.<\/span>Shane Benjamin\/Durango Herald file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Beef, pinto beans, potatoes, dessert, biscuits and tradition. Those are the basic ingredients that will go into the meals cooked up as part of the La Plata-Archuleta Cattlemen\u2019s Association Chuck Wagon Cook-off this Saturday.<\/p>\n

The annual event, now in its 16th year and held in conjunction with Fiesta Days, has a three-fold mission, said Larry Zauberis, chairman of the Chuck Wagon Cook-off committee. The cook-off supports local food production, featuring beef from Sunnyside Meats and beans from Dove Creek; it helps fund a scholarship program that helps send agriculturally-inclined kids to college and trade school; and it preserves Western history.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re preserving a Western tradition \u2013 demonstrating a Western tradition to the public,\u201d Zauberis said.<\/p>\n

The wagons of the six teams will arrive Friday and set up camp at the La Plata County Fairgrounds. That evening, they will receive the ingredients that need to cook overnight. The next day, they will cook all day to prepare a total of about 360 meals to be served at 5 p.m., he said.<\/p>\n

\"Bacon
Bacon and potatoes sizzle in a skillet for Green Chili Bacon Taters, prepared by the Canyon Trails Ranch team for the 2017 cook-off.<\/span>Durango Herald file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cAs they cook, once they get the meat, they do anything they want to with it. Some of them make chicken fried steak. Some of them go for stews, others come up with some kind of tips,\u201d organizer Barbara Jefferies said. \u201cIt\u2019s just interesting to see what they come up with because each one uses their own recipe.\u201d<\/p>\n

The same goes for the potatoes, dessert (which typically involves a fruit) and whatnot.<\/p>\n

As attendees enjoy their meals, the food will also be brought as different courses to judges in the Exhibit Hall, who will decide what the best item of each category is. Monetary prizes will be awarded for first, second and third places.<\/p>\n

In addition, the teams\u2019 wagons will be judged earlier in the day for authenticity based on factors such as their appearance, costumes, and presence of all the items that they would need on a 19th century wagon ride.<\/p>\n

\"Sherry
Sherry Hobson with the Montoya Cattle Company slices potatoes for a dish of Dutch Oven Potatoes during the 2017 cook-off. The Montoya team will be returning this year.<\/span>Durango Herald file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cWe try to make this a competition and we want them to make the food as closely as you can to what you would get on an 1880s trail ride or cattle drive,\u201d Zauberis said. \u201cNo boxed ingredients or mixes \u2013 everything made from scratch on site.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even though the dinner isn\u2019t served until 5 p.m., Zauberis recommends people drop by the event earlier in the day to watch the wagon teams cook.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s quite a thing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

ngonzales@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Plata-Archuleta Cattleman\u2019s Association event in 16th year<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":65665,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[364,568,28,3270],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-65664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-community","tag-events","tag-headlines","tag-organic-foods"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65664\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65664"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=65664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}