Our Chuck wagon is full of authentic old west menus and recipes so you can create a real cowboy Christmas in your own home. From forts and fancy hotels to just plain cowboy cooking we have a bit of something for everyone, all served up with a dash of fun thrown in.

As you read through the pages you might find it curious that there are such vast differences in the menu items. Some dined handsomely on lobster while others, less fortunate, had a holiday dinner which consisted of boiled mule and snow.

Trappers, explorers and mountain men came early on in the westward migration. They lived mostly off the land, luck and good relations with the Native Americans. Later as outposts and forts sprung up they were able to trade as well but even then, limiting those provisions to what was easily kept and carried.

Time went on bringing with it a wave of new inhabitants, among those - womenfolk. Women kept their eastern magazine subscriptions which were  full of the current fashionable recipes and latest kitchen wares. The stage coach allowed for the delivery of these mail order treasures from the more civilized eastern life left behind.

The west was growing up.

Then came the train which carried almost anything that could be desired, westward. Even such perishables, as seafood were now easily within reach. All that was required was money and location, location, location. Then, as now, it makes all the difference. Forts and larger towns that were close to the rail lines wanted for little, while those in more rural settings still had the issue of making what might amount to several days journey to town in order to get their food products so time and weather remained a limiting factor.

 

Christmas Dinner in the Wild West

Menu Pages 

Old West Christmas Camp Desolation, Colorado 1848

Christmas Dinner at Four Mile House, Colorado 1883

Old West Mountain Man Christmas Dinner 1842

Old West Christmas Dinner Fort Custer, Montana 1889

Christmas Dinner at the North Pole 1881

Old West Christmas Dinner La Veta Hotel, Colorado 1889

Trappers & Indian Christmas, Utah 1840

 

Recipes

HoofFin It - meat & fish

Sidekicks - side dishes

3-Eyed Jake's - libations

Native American Recipes

Sugar Plum Gang - desserts

Cowboy Cookie Corral

 

The Crusty Cowboy Rib Rub & BBQ Sauce

Double-Spur Rodeo Potato Salad

Cowboy Blueberry Pie

 

Old West Recipe Cooking Weights

 

 


0 Items
TOP