Cowboy Cookin': Bean Pie

At age 13, Verne Carlson ran away from his home in Connecticut to Utah where he became an assistant to a cowboy range cook.  Later, he spent eight years researching the cowboy life, gathering information and memorabilia, and then wrote a book in 1999 called The Cowboy Cookbook.  Click here to find it on archive.org.

ISBN 0-937844-00-4

It is quite a fun read.  He describes the history and development of the cattle trails, then outlines the design of a chuckwagon.  As someone who has cooked over fire and coals during historical cooking demonstrations, I appreciate the details on the equipment and how to best utilize the fire pit to "build" a meal for many hungry cowboys and have it all come out right.

The measurements chapter is hilarious because it contains the cook's lingo for a teaspoon ("gob"), a tablespoon ("lump"), and 2 rounded cupfuls ("a whole heap") versus one rounded cupful ("a heap"), among other things.  Carlson explains that he was able to get experienced camp cooks to reproduce their recipes but frustrated them by insisting that he get their measurements as they were doing it.  Their response was "Hell-far! A hand 'ud up and starve t'death waitin' for you to get it built!".  But at least we know the recipes are authentic.

The recipes are, as promised, inexpensive and easy to prepare, as was required when cooking on the cattle trail.  Vegetables are few and either boiled or put into stews as salad was considered "rabbit food".  Meat, beans, rice, corn, potatoes, and bread were the main ingredients, and a good cook knew how to do a lot with them.  Not just beefsteaks and stew meat, but all parts of a cow were utilized because the cowboys would slaughter as they needed food while they traveled.  There are recipes that use tripe, liver, and kidneys.

Often the beef fat was used, too, as well as lard and butter, in main dishes and desserts.  Sometimes beef fat was mixed with molasses to make a topping used like butter, called "Charlie Taylor."  Sourdough was a common ingredient, but the cook would use baking soda, too, for variety of bread types.  

I tried the Bean Pie recipe on page 112.

My Notes

Carlson gives many recipes for cooked beans, so I started with canned baked beans.  By the way, the cowboys called canned goods "airtights."

I poured off the liquid that was on top of the beans, but I did not attempt to drain them further.  

The beans (a little more than one can's worth; true to the range cook's credo, I didn't really measure but estimated) went into a bowl, then I used a potato masher to get them to a paste.  As you can see below, I didn't get them smooth, but they were definitely smoother.

They spread easily into the pan, then I gently poured the vinegar over the top, forming a pool.  I measured the brown sugar into a bowl then used my fingers to sprinkle it around the top of the beans.  The bacon made a pretty pattern, too.

Beans in the pan.  The amount of space above them is important.

Vinegar as a pool on top.

Brown sugar sprinkled all over.

Ready for the oven!

I baked it for 20 minutes at 450 degrees F.  I noticed there was a lot of bubbling and the volume increased enough that it almost overflowed the pan.  The amount of beans was just right to avoid the overflow.  Don't be tempted to fill the pie pan more.

Hot out of the oven.

The Verdict

I served the bean pie with buttered sourdough bread and rabbit food.  I let it cool for about five minutes in hope the beans would firm up -- they looked very liquid right out of the oven, not at all what I expected for a pie.  They stayed liquidy, so I took scissors and cut the bacon into spoonable chunks before serving.  

Yummy rabbit food, too!

The flavor was, not surprisingly, of baked beans, but the vinegar and brown sugar added a lovely sweet-and-sour support - sometimes the vinegar made my mouth water - and the bacon was meaty and chewy.  We loved it.  My guest taster had several servings, and enjoyed spreading it on his bread.  Success, despite it not being a slice of pie.

I wonder if I should have drained more of the liquid off the beans before mashing them. The recipe says the paste should be poured into the pan, so I was unclear as to how much liquid they should have.  If I did this again, I would spend more time draining the beans through a sieve.

I imagine this technique as adaptable for say, mashed pumpkin or sweet potatoes in place of the beans.  Adding vinegar, brown sugar, and bacon would be gilding the lily.  Well worth the try.

Liebre enchilada -- Hare enchilada, a Pinedo recipe

The Pinedo recipe I chose for this post is on page 148, "Liebre enchilada", or "Hare enchilada."  When I think about Mexican food, the word "enchilada" conjures up visions of rolled tortillas filled with shredded meat or cheese or vegetables, drenched in a red or green chile sauce, and sprinkled liberally with shredded cheese after being baked in the oven. 

While she does have recipes that meet my vision, the only part of that description this recipe matches is the chile sauce.  It is really a stew, so the word "enchilada" means "to season with chiles."

My Translation

Hare enchilada.

                   Cut the hare into small pieces. Put to fry in fresh and hot butter with pieces of lardon.

         The hare will be fried over a live fire, and when it begins to brown, add enough chopped onion, garlic, and salt.

         Everything will fry well, stirring the casserole without stopping, immediately adding tomatoes, olives, chopped mushrooms, one or two tablespoons of dry flour and oregano powder.

         Cover the hare well with a chile sauce, letting it cook, covered, in the casserole over a moderate heat.

My Redaction

3 1/4 pound rabbit

2 - 3 tablespoons butter

1 - 2 tablespoons vegetable shortening (or equivalent in lardo or bacon)

1 large onion, chopped

2 heaping teaspoons crushed garlic

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon dried oregano leaves, ground in a mortar until powdered

6 ounces sliced crimini mushrooms

4 Roma tomatoes, chopped

20 black olives, halved longwise

2 tablespoons flour

28 ounce can red enchilada sauce

Have the oregano ground, the mushrooms cleaned and sliced, the tomatoes and onion chopped, and the olives sliced before starting the cooking process.

Rinse and pat dry the rabbit, then cut into serving-size pieces (they will still have bones).

Heat the butter and shortening (or lardo or bacon) in a large Dutch oven over medium heat until melted and hot.

Add the pieces of rabbit.  Turn them as they sizzle to brown them on all sides.  It took about 15 minutes.

Add onion, garlic, and salt, stirring them in well.  Stir often (but I did stop at times) until the onions are translucent, about 5 minutes.

Add the tomatoes, olives, mushrooms, flour, and oregano.  Stir well and let cook a minute or two.

Add the enchilada sauce.  Stir well.  

Reduce heat to medium low, making the sauce simmer.  Cover the Dutch oven.

Cook until the meat is tender and cooked through, about half an hour.

My Notes

I understand that Ms. Pinedo, by specifying hare, was probably envisioning meat with a more wild taste than the farmed rabbit I used here.  Even if she substituted in rabbit, it was probably also wild, which I would expect to have more flavor than a farmed rabbit.  But we have to work with what we can get, and I could get a rabbit.

It is important to have all the ingredients prepared before starting the cooking process because the timing is short between steps.  

I used canned enchilada sauce, which is made from red chiles, water, vinegar, and salt.  I have made red chile sauce from dried chiles, but on pages 248-9, Miss Pinedo gives us a recipe for a "Red chile picante sauce", which is made by soaking and pureeing dried chiles, then flavoring them with green onions, oregano, olives, salt, vinegar, and olive oil.  She then states that for enchilada sauce, we should not use the olive oil and vinegar.  I decided not to worry about the vinegar.

The steps:

In the midst of browning the meat.

With garlic, onions, and salt.

With everything but the sauce.

Everything!

The Verdict

I served a simple dinner of the stew and warmed corn tortillas on the side.  I made sure every bowlful had at least one meaty piece of rabbit in it.  I also put a bowl on the table to take the bones once the meat was cut or bitten off them.

We enjoyed it very much!  The flavor was spicy from the chile sauce (I used a medium heat sauce, which I think was very brave of me - ha!).  The oregano was a light side flavor, enough to make it interesting and not too strong.  The salt level was just right.

We loved the chunks of onion, olives, and tomato.  Sometimes a spoonful (or forkful) did not include meat, so having those chunks of flavor kept the sauce from just being a sauce.  

The only challenge was getting the meat off the bones.  We each had a fork, knife, and spoon; the strategy was to use the fork and knife to cut the meat off the bone, and then use the fork or spoon to eat the meat with sauce and maybe chunks.  We both worried about splashing sauce on our clothing.  At one point, I held the meat with my fingers and nibbled the meat off the bones.  In other words, our cloth napkins were well-used by the end of the meal!

Sometimes I put a spoonful of meat/sauce/chunks onto a corn tortilla.  I then folded the tortilla over the stew and ate it that way.  That was good, too.  I also enjoyed dunking pieces of tortilla into the sauce.

Success!  If I were to do this again, I would debone the meat.  The rabbit was super expensive, so I would probably use chunks of pork or deboned chicken thighs instead.  

The leftovers were, I think, even better the next day.  The flavors seemed more blended.  I was out of corn tortillas, so I served it with sourdough bread.  The sour of the bread was a good compliment to the spicy of the sauce.  

For all Pinedo recipes, see my blog "The Spanish Cook Without Equal" at pinedo1898.blogspot.com