Chow Time!

Twide a day, the wagon trains stops - for afternoon lunch and evening's supper.
All of our meals are cooked over an open campfire - with buffalo chips, sagebrush or weeds were used for fuel.

The staple food on the trail is bacon, bread, and coffee. Whatever we find in route is added for a balanced diet for a pioneer.

Game was hunted depended on location including - fresh buffalo meat, rabbit, sage hen, badger, prairie dog and rattlesnack.

Here is our nightly meal cooked up by both men and women in the group:

Buffalo Steak
Render some fat in a hot skillet. Add sirloin of buffalo steak and sear on both sides. At lower heat, cook meat until tender. For gravy, add a tablespoon of flour to the pan drippings and cook until brown. Stirring constantly add a cup of milk or water and bring to boil. Salt to taste.

Fried Cakes
Combine 1 1/2 cups of flour with 1 cup of water. Mix well with a fork. Using plenty of flour on hands, roll out dough to about 1/4 inch thick. Cut into 2 inch squares. Render beef fat in a skillet and add squares of dough. Brown slowly on both sides. Sprinkle with salt to taste. Makes 20 cakes.

Dried Apple Pie
Soak 2 cups of dried apples in water overnight. Drain off the water and mix apples with 1/2 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon each of allspice and cinnanom. Line 8 inch pie pan with a crust and add the apple mixture, dot with 3 tablespoon of butter and cover with a second crust. Make a few slashes in the top for ventilation and bake over moderate heat for 1 hour until crust is golden brown.

Butter was available on the wagon trains because the women put the cream from the cows milk in the pail that hung under the wagon. Along the rough trail, the pail rewarded us with butter for meals.

As one of my fellow travelers put it "our appetites are good, our digestion strong, and our sleep sweet".

Next time - night time entertainment.