Cowboy Beans

Before we get to the Beans the subject of
Bacon has to be part of the conversation.

Definitions:
Cured: preserved meat or fish by means of smoking, drying, salting, or pickling until cooked without using fire directly applied to the meats or fish.

Back Meat: the sides and back of the pig.
     
Bacon: 1) From Boucan; A part of the frame used in smoking and/or drying meat/fish.
             2) Back meat salted and smoked until cured

Remuda: A small herd of horses that are saddle ready and from which cowboys choose the horse they will use that day. From the Spanish "to change horses."

The word bacon became the more widely used term thanks to shipwrecked sailors who made their way to various Caribbean islands and since live pigs were carried on ships for food, they too made it shore. Ultimately the pigs were slaughtered, then smoked and cured and traded to passing ships for the things needed for further survival.

The phrase "back meat" was the common usage for most Europeans and of course those men and women who settled in America.

However, it is easy to see why the word bacon became the more popular name if you just imagine yourself in Texas in the post Civil War years and you walk into a Café and order back meat and eggs over easy; no telling what you might be served.

The Beans: Cowboy Beans were usually Pinto beans but red beans and navy beans were also in use during those early days of the Western Frontier.

There were two ways the cowboy had his beans:

If you were a loner and just drifting, you would stop near a creek (if you were from East of the Mississippi) or crick (if you were raised West of the Mississippi). The loner would wash a double handful of beans in the crick and toss them into a pot of boiling water and when tender he would drain most of the water, add the drippings from the bacon he'd already fried and let that cook a bit more then add the now bacon flavored beans to the pan of bacon and eat his dinner. Sometimes he even had some fresh biscuits cooked in a dutch oven or fried bread if not.

The trail drive beans were prepared a little differently: At the beginning of the drive the chuck wagon cook would put about ten pounds or so of beans into a sealable pot or jar and let it soak for the day. When the drive would stop for the night those beans were removed after draining out the water into another pot.(Water was never wasted on these drives but given to the Remuda horses during dry times. Since there were often 5000 head of cattle in the drive it was impossible to water them so if water was within ten miles of the drive after one of these dry camps, the cattle would pick up the smell and stampede toward that water ). Then fresh water was poured over the pot of soaked beans, and added to the pot were wild onions and sometimes dried chili peppers and tomatoes.

A portable iron tripod was then erected over the fire pit and the pot of beans hung over the fire and boiled until tender and most of the water boiled away leaving a nice, slightly thickened, sauce with beans. While the cowboys were eating, the cook would then get the sealable pot readied with fresh beans and water and put aside to be used at the next days stop.

This routine never varied but was sometimes delayed by Indian or Outlaw attacks, Stampedes, or lack of water and dry camp was necessary. More about that in a future Post entitled "The Chuck Wagon."
Dad