Real Cowboys Love Their Pintos (Beans)

Cowboys and beans. In this article we visit a cookbook featuring real and legendary cowboys, drop in at the famed King Ranch, chow down on a TexMex chili-gravy bean recipe and … believe it or not … rustle up a chuck-wagon pinto bean pie.

Yes, I am from an era when John Wayne was boss in America, a nation that still honored the spirit of the hard-working, hard living, good hearted cowboy. Maybe that image is somewhat just an imaginary legend? So what, many societies are guided by myth that suits their character. 

   But we are here to talk about food, and when you talk about cowboy food you are
talking about beans.

   Good ol’ beans – cheap, easy to store and nutritious, who could ask more of a vegetable?

                      The American Cowboy Cookbook

   The All American Cowboy Cookbook is a real bonanza for those who have regard for the legends and realities of the west, not to mention the great food. It features many genuine western recipes for sure but also boasts favorites from country and western singing legends plus the great screen and television stars like Gene Autry and Roy Rogers, around 300 recipes in all. 

   There are a good 200 classic photographs.

   It is a cookbook but also full of old-time pictures plus quizzes, historical trivia and other tidbits. There’s even a directory of dude ranches and one for western museums.

   I know, I’m supposed to be talking beans, but I am really enthusiastic about this great book and want to recommend it if you love the Old West. There were quite a batch available on Amazon from around a dollar up, plus shipping.

   There is a bean recipe I wanted to pass on but unfortunately the publisher's permissions process to quote the recipe isn’t worth the hassle.

   So here’s an excellently illustrated baked bean recipe in consolation, maybe a little elaborate for the cowboy camp but I’m sure it will be a popular event in a “cowboy lunch” get-together. As is often the case, store bought pork and beans are favored over those you soak yourself. 

                      The King Ranch Cookbook

   The legendary 825,000-acre King Ranch is home to a cuisine featuring a Texas interpretation of Mexican cooking, or TexMex, and outdoor “cowboy camp” cooking. 

   The book is a treasure house of great recipes, particularly if you are fond of beef. One section is simply called “King Ranch Beef.” 

   The wild game section is an education. And, it is peppered with anecdotes from life and times on and around the King Ranch.

   I was surprised to find the book priced at a steep $20 and up on Amazon when it appears to be still available new from King Ranch at $12. 

   I wrote to King Ranch for permission to quote a bean recipe but haven’t heard back, so here is another, for Texas ranch beans. It is basically pinto beans in chili gravy, sets my stomach to growling for some. This recipe doesn’t mention cilantro, which is fine with me.

                      The Original Bean Recipe

   I found a neat little promotional booklet put out by Randall Beans. This was interesting to me: They give a production date on the product but no “sell by” or other date. That is because. as long as the jar’s seal is not broken, Randall beans are microbe-free, and hence have an indefinite shelf life.  

   Randall's says the flavor degrades somewhat over time, but their beans are always safe to eat.  So Randall – in the bean business since 1876 -- beans last virtually forever.

   This is their TexMex “Texas Pinto Beans” recipe. Of course there is no law saying you have to use Randall’s, or that you have to follow the recipe with military precision. Seems to me that a jar of Randall beans would be about the same as three cans of Bush’s, for example. This is for 8 to 10 servings, according to Randall.

                      Ingredients

8 oz bacon diced

3tablespoons vegetable oil

½ cup chopped onion

3 large minced garlic cloves

1 tablespoon cumin

2 tablespoon chili powder

2 seeded minced jalepeno peppers or as you like

1 48-oz jar Randall Pinto beans, drained, rinsed

1 one lb can plum tomatoes drained chopped

salt to suit

Brown and crisp the bacon in a skillet, remove, drain bacon fat, add oil to skillet, stir in onoion, garlic, cumin and chili powder at medium heat five minutes. Stir in the jalepenos and cook two minutes longer. Add beans and tomatoes, simmer ten minutes. Correct taste as desired.

   

   Makes me want to whup up a pan of cornbread on the side.

   Like I said, this recipe appeared in a little promotional booklet, “The Original Bean,” that has some other neat bean ideas. I couldn’t find a single copy on line but there was one in a batch of booklets on eBay, going at less than #10 at the time.

   Randall’s hasa site that appears to have about 60 pages of recipes on it, I couldn’t find a search gadget so I guess you just have to browse. 

                             And Just for Kicks

   I found this one – a bean pie! -- on a great site called “The Chuck Wagon.” There you’ll find a grand celebration and exhibition of that portable cowboy kitchen -- the chuck wagon -- compiled by the Chronicle of the Old West. Overall, the Chronicle features a wealth of western lore. But let’s get on with the pie:

Red Bean Pie

1-cup cooked and mashed pinto beans.

1-cup sugar.

3-beaten egg yokes.

1-teaspoon vanilla.

1-teaspoon nutmeg.

Place combined ingredients in an uncooked piecrust.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  Make a meringue with the leftover egg whites.  Spread over baked pie and return to oven to brown.

So that’s enough about cowboy beans for a while, though -- if you want more -- a ton of related info will turn up if you search for it. But for our part, seems a good time to hop up on to our blazing saddle and ride off into the sunset…