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Cooking Fails and Last Minute Saves! It Looked Like a Disaster, But We Saved It!
May 17, 2026
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We're pulling back the curtain on the perfect plate! We're sharing some funny cooking fails as we go behind-the-scenes of some kitchen disasters that luckily we around around...for the post part! Join us for an honest chat about food presentation and the occasional burnt biscuit!
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Kent Rollins
Cowboy Cooking, Cast Iron, Outdoor Cooking, Grilling, Dutch Oven Cooking
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0:00
We thank y'all so much for joining us. I
0:02
know a lot of y'all have watched me on
0:04
TV, watched YouTube videos. You always
0:07
see that perfect presentation of plate,
0:09
the steak so tender you could cut it
0:11
with a butter knife, bread light and
0:14
fluffy that it nearly just floats off
0:16
the plate, beans
0:18
Southwest flavor.
0:20
But guess what? Have you ever been
0:22
behind the scenes where maybe the beans
0:25
were burnt and you didn't know it, or
0:27
the biscuits got burnt top and bottom,
0:30
or we run out of eggs? There's a lot of
0:32
things that go on that people don't ever
0:34
get to see or realize.
0:36
>> Absolutely. And so that is why in this
0:38
episode we are going to go over our
0:40
tragic cooking fails, but more
0:42
importantly, how we fix them, or at
0:46
least how we made them edible.
0:54
>> I've been a cowboy in a chuck wagon cook
0:56
for over 30 years, cooking for ranches
0:59
all across America. You might have seen
1:01
me on the Food Network or alongside my
1:03
beautiful wife Shannon on our YouTube
1:05
show where we share cowboy cooking from
1:07
the trail. But now we're going to take
1:09
you behind the scenes to real campfire
1:12
conversations. Join us as we share
1:14
humor, cowboy wisdom, and stories full
1:16
of history, heart, faith, and of course,
1:19
a little fire. So grab you a cup of
1:21
coffee, pull up a chair, and welcome to
1:24
the podcast.
1:30
>> Kent, I want to start off with a a story
1:32
that I think a lot of you will relate
1:35
to. And you know that feeling when maybe
1:38
you've got like a new job in the
1:40
morning, or you've got something really
1:41
important that you have to wake up for,
1:43
so you set your alarm, and you stress
1:46
that whole time that it's not going to
1:49
ring.
1:50
And we were on a ranch, and this was a
1:54
ranch outside of Seymour, Texas.
1:56
And we had
1:57
>> Been there many times.
1:58
>> We had been there several times, so we
1:59
knew the crew. It was a really
2:01
comfortable setting. And we went to bed
2:03
that night, and Kent, your big thing you
2:06
always said is I have never slept in.
2:09
>> I never have.
2:10
>> And I remember, you know that panicked
2:13
feeling you get when you all of a sudden
2:15
like you you wake up and you I saw the
2:18
glow of light and I knew from the teepee
2:21
and I was like, I know this is bad. And
2:23
I I grab you. I said, Kent, what time is
2:26
it? And it was like what, 6:00 maybe or
2:28
something?
2:28
>> 5:45.
2:30
>> We should have been up at 4:00.
2:31
>> Yeah.
2:32
>> And we had that panic and we thought, oh
2:35
no, we've got to get breakfast on.
2:36
>> Yep.
2:37
>> We scramble out of the teepee and I
2:39
remember my heart sank because you could
2:42
see in the distance the pickup lights
2:44
coming in from the cowboys coming into
2:46
camp. And I thought, oh no, what are we
2:49
going to do? Like we've ruined our
2:50
perfect career.
2:52
>> Yeah, but in our defense, that was the
2:53
night of the big storm, too. We took the
2:56
fly down, everything. Didn't get to bed
2:58
till 2:00 in the morning. But that's the
3:00
first time in my life that I didn't wake
3:04
up and I usually never set an alarm
3:06
clock. If I do it, I'll always get up
3:08
before it goes off.
3:09
>> I know and it's just that is the worst
3:11
like pit in your stomach feeling. And so
3:13
>> Cuz now everybody's waiting on us.
3:15
>> I hate that. And so
3:18
we run into camp. Okay, mind you guys,
3:21
you a lot of you know this. So we don't
3:23
have a typical kitchen. We can't just
3:24
like flip on the light switch, turn on
3:26
the oven, pop in the microwave, pop
3:28
tarts are ready. Um so I think of course
3:31
it we were probably had on the menu like
3:33
biscuits, gravy, eggs.
3:35
>> changed
3:35
>> Scratch that.
3:37
Um what did we end up doing? We ended up
3:39
doing like eight
3:40
>> Burritos.
3:40
>> Burritos. Yeah. Yeah, because
3:43
>> as we could.
3:44
>> Yes. And I remember the guys walk in and
3:46
they could feel the stress.
3:48
And finally I think Rob the man the
3:50
owner come in and he was like, "Did you
3:52
guys oversleep?"
3:54
Like, yep, but
3:56
we we persevered, right?
3:58
>> Oh, yeah. We had them going before it
3:59
got really light, you know, and that was
4:01
their biggest deal. They want to start
4:04
uh while it's still cool in the morning
4:06
and uh
4:07
but that didn't happen no more after
4:09
that.
4:09
>> No, we What do we we now set like two
4:11
alarms.
4:12
>> Oh, yeah. And I can remember one time on
4:13
the Bale Ranch we had a big old full
4:15
moon
4:16
and we getting up at 2:00 every morning.
4:19
We try to go to bed about 8:00 and I
4:21
remember laying in there sleeping. I
4:23
woke up and it was bright as daylight
4:25
and I woke you up. I said, "Come on,
4:27
we've overslept. The sun is up." I got
4:29
all the way to the wagon and had the
4:30
coffee water thing start and I looked at
4:33
my watch and it said 12:05.
4:35
>> Oh, gosh.
4:36
>> You know.
4:36
>> And it was just the moon?
4:37
>> It was just the moonlight.
4:39
>> Yeah, but I mean, I know y'all know that
4:41
feeling.
4:41
>> Yeah, I mean, you every It's going to
4:43
happen.
4:44
>> Oh, yeah.
4:45
>> care how you plan it, you know. Uh your
4:48
body's just telling yourself, "Hey, I
4:50
need a little more rest."
4:52
>> I think what y'all are going to figure
4:53
out throughout this episode is the
4:55
biggest theme here is adapt and
4:57
overcome. Because there are going to be
4:59
tragedies, fails, burnt biscuits and you
5:04
just have to like roll with the punches.
5:06
>> Yeah, I mean, we could have just
5:09
run over there and said, "Hey, y'all
5:11
y'all are going to have to go back
5:11
through town, go to McDonald's and then
5:14
we ain't going to make it."
5:15
>> You know, I think there's a lot of cooks
5:16
that would have just said forget it,
5:18
maybe made coffee, and said, "Well, I'll
5:20
see you for lunch."
5:22
>> But it's you know, that's our job
5:24
to feed and take care of a crew.
5:25
>> Yeah.
5:26
>> And uh
5:27
they got to witness something that never
5:28
happened before in 38 years.
5:31
>> I mean, I guess I guess it was iconic.
5:32
They should have felt felt good about
5:34
it.
5:35
>> But it teaches you a lesson.
5:37
>> Absolutely. Um I you had mentioned a
5:41
funny story about a cooking fail, but
5:44
what was nice is you weren't directly
5:46
involved with the cooking failure. You
5:47
were you were judging this cooking
5:49
failure.
5:50
>> cook-off.
5:50
>> Okay.
5:51
>> And uh it was at the Chisholm Trail
5:53
Museum in uh
5:56
Duncan, Oklahoma.
5:57
>> So, when you say chuck wagon cook-off,
5:59
uh for those of you that you may not
6:00
know, this is actually kind of a a
6:02
flourishing event that happens across
6:04
the United States. Chuck wagons from
6:07
across the country will gather for these
6:09
events.
6:10
They they can be cook-offs where the
6:13
food is judged and awards are given. It
6:16
could just be for
6:18
>> fundraising.
6:18
>> fundraising. Um but everybody comes out,
6:21
cooks on the wagon, no electronics, no
6:24
microwaves. So, it's kind of fun.
6:26
>> It is a and it's a great deal.
6:28
>> when you're judging, what are you
6:29
judging?
6:30
>> Most time judging wagons and camps. You
6:32
know, I have judged food, too, but
6:34
they'd hired me to to judge wagons and
6:37
camp set up, you know,
6:38
>> to make sure they're historically
6:40
accurate.
6:41
>> Uh to the period and the time, you know.
6:43
And I And I've judged a lot of food, and
6:45
I would really rather judge wagons as
6:47
judge food cuz when you get in one of
6:49
them cook-offs and there's 40 wagons and
6:51
you're judging beans, 40 bowls of beans,
6:54
you get tired of looking at beans, you
6:55
know.
6:56
>> Have you Can you mess up a bowl of
6:57
beans? Like have you had some bad beans?
6:59
>> Yes, ma'am. You can I've had beans where
7:01
I didn't think they were beans no more,
7:03
you know. But this particular cook-off,
7:05
there was a a friend of mine
7:07
uh
7:08
that had helped me through the years and
7:10
and God rest his soul, old Mikey was
7:11
good people. Uh You could tell Mikey to
7:14
do a job, he'd get her done. But he let
7:17
really love to stir a 40-gallon pot of
7:20
beans with a boat oar. That was his
7:22
life's calling, I think.
7:23
>> A boat oar?
7:24
>> Yeah, we'd always use one of them cuz
7:26
you could reach the bottom of the pot,
7:27
you know.
7:28
>> Okay.
7:28
>> And uh so it was always good, but I
7:31
judged all the wagons
7:33
and I was just going around visiting
7:34
different people, getting me a cup of
7:35
coffee or something like that.
7:37
And Mikey hollered at me. He said, "Hey,
7:39
Kent, can you come over here? I got a
7:41
problem."
7:42
He said, "I know you're not judging
7:43
food." And he said,
7:45
"I just I just don't know what I'm going
7:47
to do." And he I mean, his whole face
7:48
had turned plum white. You know, he was
7:50
panicked. And I said, "What's going on,
7:52
Mikey?"
7:53
"Well, you know, I'm making chicken
7:55
fried steak and gravy and peach cobbler
7:57
and mashed potatoes." And he said, uh
8:00
"These potatoes
8:01
uh I got busy,
8:03
you know, and uh they're soup."
8:06
>> They're soup?
8:07
>> Yeah.
8:07
When you boil a potato, especially if
8:09
you cut them up too little, you know.
8:11
>> Oh, okay. So, they had just like
8:13
disintegrated?
8:14
>> boiled down to just water, nothing but
8:15
starch water, you know. Mikey said, "I
8:18
can't turn that in, you know, and you
8:20
got to have a full plate."
8:22
And I said, "Well, Mikey,
8:24
I remember at cooking school one time a
8:26
long time ago I told you what to do if
8:28
something like this happened."
8:29
And he said, this was Mikey's first
8:32
thought.
8:33
He said, "I thought about just mixing
8:34
some of that red dirt in there with
8:35
them." And yes, that's what he told me.
8:38
I said, "Mikey, now I think you was
8:40
>> kidding."
8:41
>> He said, "I got to have something
8:42
thicken them up." And I said, "Put put a
8:43
little cornstarch in there, you know."
8:46
Well, I didn't pay it no mind.
8:48
Was visiting another guy and come back
8:49
by and Mikey said, uh "Look at this."
8:52
And he reached in there with that spoon
8:53
and got them potatoes and you could turn
8:55
them over and they wouldn't even fall
8:56
off the spoon.
8:57
>> So, the
8:58
>> I said, "How much cornstarch did you put
9:01
in there, Mikey?" He said, "One of them
9:02
cans like that."
9:04
>> A whole can?
9:05
>> Yeah. And I said,
9:07
"They're a little thick now." "Yeah, but
9:09
he said that's that's not near bad a
9:11
problem having them too thin. He said, I
9:13
can thin them down right before turning
9:14
them in to be judged." And uh
9:17
he said,
9:18
"I might have burnt them biscuits just a
9:20
little, but he said,
9:22
I remember you told me one time you just
9:24
take a knife and scrape the burn off."
9:26
>> Yeah.
9:26
>> And I said, "It helps, Mikey." I said,
9:28
"It's time to turn them plates in,
9:30
though. You better get after it, you
9:31
know." And
9:32
I didn't I was visiting with some people
9:34
that had come up and I went to the
9:37
scoring part after everybody to eat, you
9:39
know, they have the big big gathering.
9:43
Mikey win first potatoes.
9:45
>> You're kidding me.
9:47
>> He was smiling from ear to ear and he
9:50
said, "I've never won first in potatoes
9:53
in my life." Kenny said, "I'm going to
9:54
make cornstarch potatoes from now on."
9:57
So, there is a way to get around any
9:59
situation in life, I think, unless you
10:01
just burn it as black as this microphone
10:03
plug three.
10:04
>> Well, when you were speaking about the
10:06
the boiled soup or when Mikey's like
10:09
near-death experience with the mashed
10:11
potatoes,
10:12
you also had a personal experience with
10:15
potatoes. Man, they're just making
10:18
wreaking havoc in camp.
10:19
>> This was a a winter camp
10:22
in the Picket Dirt Canyon.
10:24
And it got so cold I was having to keep
10:25
potatoes in an ice chest to keep them
10:28
from freezing cuz they'll turn black if
10:29
you just leave them out there in the
10:30
sack, they'll freeze.
10:31
>> How long were you out on this ranch?
10:33
>> About 4 weeks.
10:35
>> So, it's 4 weeks, it's the dead of
10:37
winter. Like what what kind of What
10:39
timeline are we looking
10:40
>> in after whatever Thanksgiving and if
10:42
you're lucky you get home for Christmas.
10:44
And uh
10:45
it could be 50° one day and -10 the
10:48
next.
10:49
>> I'm interested with when you're saying
10:51
it's so cold, you're keeping the
10:52
potatoes in ice chest, when it's that
10:54
cold, how does your food storage change?
10:58
>> Well, anything that you think don't need
10:59
to be frozen,
11:01
I keep an empty ice chest at all times
11:03
for warming conditions or store cake in,
11:06
something like that. But I'd preheat ice
11:09
chest with warm water.
11:11
Uh dump it out. Then I could put
11:14
any fresh vegetables that I had, which
11:16
were mostly potatoes, onions, stuff like
11:19
that, in there and no matter how cold it
11:21
got, they weren't going to freeze, you
11:23
know. I used to just leave them in the
11:25
pickup in the fall. You didn't have to
11:26
worry about it. You could just go out
11:27
there and grab some. But this is one of
11:29
them old cold cold days and uh I was
11:32
going to have mashed potatoes and
11:35
hamburger steak with gravy, you know.
11:38
And making me hungry it is. And I
11:41
I put cuts of potatoes up, chunked them
11:43
all the same size cuz if you keep the
11:45
same size have more regular cook time,
11:47
you know. So, I got them all got them to
11:49
boiling there and was
11:51
making them hamburger patties.
11:54
And there was an old cow that had come
11:57
out there and I was watching him, you
11:58
know, and it's like 10:00. I'm not in a
12:00
big rush.
12:01
They told me they'd be there about 12:30
12:03
that day.
12:04
And uh
12:05
I keep watching this cow and he's just
12:07
he's sneaking. And I'm thinking, "Wonder
12:10
what he's sneaking up on. There ain't no
12:11
baby calves down here in this pasture,
12:13
you know."
12:14
So, I get over to the pickup. I got an
12:17
old 30-30 and I'm walking around out
12:19
there and I'm thinking,
12:21
"I'm going to see what he's after. He
12:23
might not need this, you know. This
12:24
might not be what he needs. He don't
12:26
need to be eating some
12:28
little old baby calf if there is one out
12:30
here by accident, you know." So, I
12:32
followed him around there.
12:34
You know, the wind had sort of quit
12:35
blowing. It's probably 20°. Wasn't too
12:38
bad. And it was sort of nice to get out
12:40
of camp. I'd been in there 3 weeks, you
12:42
know.
12:43
And I was just wandering around.
12:44
>> Like, how far off of camp are you?
12:46
>> I might have gone half a mile.
12:47
>> Oh, okay. So, you're making a little
12:49
good little trek.
12:49
>> And seeing sights, you know.
12:53
And I get to thinking, "You know, it's
12:54
probably time to cook." Well, I forgot
12:56
that I'd slid that pan of them taters in
12:58
that water over there on the Bertha and
12:59
just where I left them.
13:01
You know.
13:02
And uh
13:03
it had
13:04
boiled the water down pretty low,
13:07
but there was maybe one potato in there
13:09
that was big around as a half dollar,
13:11
and the rest of it was just mush,
13:14
you know.
13:14
>> The potato strikes again.
13:17
>> Yes. But, at that time I'd still been
13:20
catering a lot, too.
13:21
And I
13:23
had always take them with me most of the
13:25
time, especially in the winter.
13:26
I had a sack of
13:28
dried instant potatoes.
13:31
>> Oh.
13:32
>> Okay. So, I'm thinking, I'll just add
13:35
them, you know.
13:36
So, I just pour them in there, bring it
13:38
back to a boil, stir them. It's a little
13:40
thicker, but it's not like I want. So,
13:42
out comes the cornstarch again.
13:44
But, if you can always
13:47
and you've said this to me a lot,
13:50
when you're on a ranch cooking,
13:52
you have most of the time got a plan.
13:55
A, B, C.
13:58
>> No, on a ranch, you have to plan X, Y,
14:00
Z.
14:01
>> And then you look for another
14:02
dictionary.
14:02
>> Yes, because something always happens,
14:05
and it's usually
14:07
it's usually mother nature, but time
14:09
also, you know, can be
14:11
>> was having a good time, and I did get
14:13
them fed. The potatoes wasn't exactly
14:15
like that I'd like them to be, but they
14:17
weren't watery soup.
14:19
>> Here Here's a little tip, guys.
14:21
Gravy or a sauce can fix nearly
14:24
anything.
14:24
>> That's right.
14:25
>> Right?
14:25
>> Yes.
14:26
>> Um and so, when you pour gravy over
14:29
something, it gives it another element.
14:30
So, we're not so worried about that
14:32
about the potatoes.
14:33
>> No, no. I mean, they was pretty good. I
14:35
Cuz we were going to have potato soup
14:36
that day, cuz it'd been so cold.
14:38
>> Yeah.
14:38
>> You know, and and a ham and hamburger
14:41
steak, but when it
14:43
weren't no more potato soup, it become
14:45
mashed potatoes with
14:48
hamburger steak that already had a
14:50
little gravy to it, you know, and then
14:52
you get to worrying about what you going
14:53
to fix for dessert.
14:55
This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp.
14:58
>> Ken, did you know that um May is Mental
15:00
Health Awareness Month?
15:02
>> I did not know that.
15:03
>> And so, we have talked about these guys
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it's a great way because especially us
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routine.
15:38
>> When you call these folks, do they match
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you up with somebody or they say, "Hi,
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this is your personal"? Can you pick and
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choose?
15:43
>> That's what's great. You fill out a
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little questionnaire and this will match
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you to the perfect therapist. Now, you
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can also switch therapists and I did
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that because you want to make sure you
15:54
really connect with somebody, especially
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if you if you want to, you know, really
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have a connection, really get out your
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feelings, and find solutions. And so I
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had one, she was great,
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but it just wasn't driving like how I
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wanted. I switched and found Susan and
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she's wonderful.
16:10
>> I mean, you're always wanting an
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opinion, sometimes you want a second
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opinion, but you always want the best
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believe that's BetterHelp cuz I've seen
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>> Mhm.
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I think a lot of people get caught up in
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the word therapy and it's weird and I
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think it's generational where we don't
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need therapy. We just, you know, you
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just need to suck it up and go through.
16:33
Yeah, and I was kind of that way, too.
16:36
But you do get to a situation where
16:38
maybe you just need an outside opinion.
16:40
Maybe you just need a little help,
16:42
whether it's with your family, your
16:43
friends. I've used it for like business
16:46
help.
16:47
And I think if we could just reach out,
16:51
just give it a chance, I think you'll
16:53
feel better about your situation and
16:57
what it could look like on the other
16:58
side.
16:59
>> That's right.
17:00
>> You don't have to be on this journey
17:01
alone. Find support and have someone
17:03
with you in therapy. Sign up and get 10%
17:07
off betterhelp.com/cowboy.
17:10
That's better h e l p dot com slash
17:14
cowboy.
17:19
>> How do you not panic though? I think
17:20
that's I think a lot of people would
17:22
agree with me here because I
17:24
that's kind of what I do. I've gotten
17:25
better now cooking around you so much.
17:27
But if if plan A isn't working, my gosh,
17:30
I'm going to panic and I'm going to lose
17:32
it and we're not having dinner, we're
17:34
ordering pizza. So, how do you any and
17:37
this goes back to and we've done
17:38
episodes on this about your your cooking
17:41
competitions on TV when it's very
17:43
stressful.
17:44
So, you've got cooking competitions or
17:47
you've got a dinner party, there's 10
17:50
people coming over to your house,
17:52
something's burnt, you're missing an
17:53
ingredient, plan A didn't work, how do
17:56
you not panic?
17:57
>> First of all, if you panic, it's over.
18:00
>> Oh.
18:00
>> Because you're not thinking clearly or
18:03
straight at the time.
18:05
That's when you're going to make more
18:06
mistakes when you get in a hurry
18:08
uh because you're not really
18:10
following through all the motions.
18:12
You're like, "Well, I'm going to cut
18:13
this out and do this and then I can do
18:14
this."
18:15
Something gets left out.
18:17
Something falls out your back pocket.
18:19
Something might arise its ugly head and
18:21
want to ruin your dinner party, your
18:22
picnic, whether it's you forgot
18:25
something that you were supposed to have
18:26
in it where Mother Nature decides she'd
18:28
give you a thunderstorm at 6:00 and
18:30
you're eating at 5:50, you know? So,
18:33
don't panic first of all. And second of
18:36
all,
18:37
think about
18:38
how can I save this? I am not going to
18:40
serve something I'm not proud of to
18:42
people.
18:43
>> Mhm.
18:43
>> You know, because that is a reflection
18:46
on us and the way we cook, but also on
18:48
y'all too, you know, you you're got a
18:50
party, you're doing something. You made
18:52
a cake, the cake failed. Oh my gosh,
18:54
look at it, it's it's got a big old sway
18:57
in the middle of it. I can't put that
18:58
out there on the table.
19:00
You can.
19:01
Icing.
19:03
>> Frosting.
19:03
>> Wrap that hole with frosting. People
19:06
never And who don't like frosting on a
19:08
cake?
19:08
>> Yeah.
19:09
>> You know? You burn a biscuit, you can
19:10
fix it.
19:11
>> You tell me your your best
19:14
burnt biscuit tip.
19:15
>> Well, can I take you back to a story to
19:17
tell you the whole deal?
19:18
>> Please do.
19:19
>> Okay.
19:20
In about 1990
19:22
4 or 5,
19:23
they hired us hired me to be in charge
19:26
of feeding 550 to 600 people. I had a
19:30
celebrity team roping in Albuquerque,
19:32
New Mexico.
19:34
And I didn't know but one of these
19:36
wagons was only people I know I don't I
19:38
don't know where they got these people
19:39
or they come from or anything, you know.
19:41
And we have a meeting the night before
19:43
and we're doing chicken fried steak,
19:44
mashed potatoes, gravy, beans, bread,
19:48
and cobblers. Doing an apple cobbler and
19:51
a peach cobbler.
19:52
So,
19:54
I I just asked right off the bat,
19:56
"Who wants to cook the meat?"
19:59
Well, nobody raised their hand, you
20:00
know.
20:01
So, I said, "I guess that's me cooking
20:03
the meat. Who wants to cook the bread?"
20:05
And this one guy, boy, he jumped up
20:07
there and he said, "I'll cook the bread.
20:08
I ain't never burnt a biscuit in my
20:09
life." That was my first clue that maybe
20:12
so I had to worry about this guy.
20:14
He'd either not cook long enough or he
20:16
hadn't cooked at all because you're
20:18
going to burn a biscuit.
20:20
>> I We have been a lot around a lot of
20:22
Dutch oven cooks and that is a big sign
20:25
when they say, "I've never burnt
20:27
anything."
20:27
>> Yeah.
20:28
>> That's a lie because we still burn stuff
20:30
and we cook all the time in a Dutch
20:32
oven. There's just so many different
20:34
variables to Dutch oven cooking which
20:36
makes it fun, but you're going to burn
20:39
stuff. It's just It's a given.
20:41
>> Yeah, and my name's on this poster that
20:42
they put out. Benefit
20:45
chuck wagon dinner.
20:47
All the proceeds was going to something
20:49
and then it had Kent Rollins and crew.
20:52
And all these other six wagons were my
20:54
crew.
20:57
Well, told that guy I said, "Don't burn
20:59
the bread."
21:00
And uh
21:01
I said, "What kind of bread you going to
21:02
make?"
21:03
Well, I'm just cooking dining out so
21:05
I'll going to to make it.
21:07
And I said
21:08
tell you what and I looked around at
21:10
everybody and I said everybody make
21:13
1/16 inch oven full of bread and I said
21:17
you make three.
21:19
So
21:20
9/16 of bread sitting out there, okay?
21:25
And uh
21:27
people were making dessert.
21:29
People were making beans.
21:31
I had two guys helping me and we were
21:32
just deep frying chicken fried steak.
21:34
>> So how big was everybody involved? How
21:35
many people?
21:36
>> Uh it's probably 18 or 19 cuz each each
21:39
one of them had two at least one of them
21:41
had three.
21:42
>> Okay.
21:42
>> But uh
21:44
the wind was in my favor and my wagon
21:46
sort of sitting in the middle and the
21:47
rest of them were sort of around, you
21:49
know.
21:50
And the
21:52
two guys that I did know, they were
21:54
helping me cook meat because I'd known
21:56
them a long time ago.
21:58
Uh they were
22:00
uh from I think it's Middleton, Texas
22:02
was the name of their little home.
22:05
But as it got closer, I said we're going
22:07
to eat at 6:00. I want everything except
22:11
the bread and the meat on the table at
22:14
5:45.
22:16
At 5:50, we'll start toting everything
22:18
else.
22:20
Well, go to holler and I said okay, we
22:22
got the beans, we got the gravy, we got
22:24
the meat, we got the dessert. Where's
22:26
the bread? And about that time, I seen
22:28
this guy take a lid off and the wind was
22:29
in my favor.
22:31
>> And you got a whiff?
22:32
>> And I got a whiff cuz I can smell burnt
22:34
bread for a long way off.
22:36
And I'm thinking I ain't never burnt
22:37
none, have you?
22:39
So I go over there.
22:40
He the wind was blowing a little, but he
22:42
had way too many coals. That's a common
22:44
mistake that everybody makes. You put
22:46
way too many coals underneath start out
22:48
with and and they's furnishing wood and
22:50
it was pretty good oak. He panicked
22:52
right then.
22:54
>> When he lifted it off, that's all?
22:56
>> And I'm thinking well
22:57
when I told him to fix 9/16, you know
23:01
we got enough bread. I fixed two more
23:03
over there. We was cooking chicken
23:05
fried, so 11
23:08
We got plenty. So, I'm thinking maybe
23:10
rest some. I said, "Go to taking them
23:12
off the bottom heat. Lift them lids off
23:13
for Let's get them biscuits in a basket.
23:15
Get them on that table."
23:18
I'd say out of the 40 biscuits that was
23:20
in her Dutch oven,
23:22
at least 20 of them had a black bottom.
23:25
And he
23:25
>> And that's what's tricky about biscuits
23:26
is like you can't see the bottom while
23:28
they're cooking.
23:29
>> But, you know, cast iron will tell you
23:30
when something's done on the bottom. You
23:31
get that separation to where on the
23:33
inside bread begins to pull a little,
23:36
you know? But, uh you can add heat to
23:39
something.
23:40
Don't start off with too much that
23:41
you're going to burn it cuz when they're
23:43
black, you ain't got but one trick left.
23:46
Keith and them had two 20-in skillets. I
23:48
had two 20-in skillets. I said, "Fire
23:50
them up, boys. Bring all the burnt
23:52
biscuits over here." And I said, "You
23:53
two, get your pocketknife out. Get a
23:55
bread knife. Cut it as thin as you can
23:58
to cut the black off. Put a stick of
24:00
butter in each one of them 20-in
24:02
skillets. Lay that bread in there. Give
24:04
it a little toastin' on the bottom.
24:06
We'll serve them toasted side up."
24:10
Nobody ever said a word. We were about 5
24:13
minutes to 10 late with all that going
24:16
on because when we get a batch ready,
24:17
we'd take them, get a batch ready, get
24:19
to take them,
24:20
you know? So, I I always told myself,
24:22
and old-timers taught me this trick,
24:24
too.
24:25
Them people that come to you and say,
24:27
"I done this. I done this. Or I ain't
24:29
done this. Or I ain't going to do this,
24:31
but I can do it better."
24:33
You always have to remember,
24:35
even what old Tom told us that time,
24:38
out here,
24:40
we don't tell people what we can do. We
24:42
show them what we can do.
24:44
And it goes a long way in life. You can
24:46
You can tell people what you are,
24:48
or you can show them what you are.
24:50
>> Yeah.
24:50
>> And show them that you're true. Don't be
24:52
counterfeit. Let them see Jesus in your
24:55
heart, and you're good to go.
24:56
>> And you can fix a burnt biscuit unless
24:58
they're burnt top and bottom and in the
25:00
middle.
25:01
>> Well, that but that that would take a
25:03
lot of cooking cuz to burn it completely
25:06
>> it happen to me.
25:06
>> But that is a great trick to just give
25:08
it a little sizzle
25:09
>> you fan as you can.
25:10
>> Yeah.
25:11
>> Yeah.
25:12
>> Got through with Albuquerque, which was
25:13
a Friday, Saturday, drive home Sunday.
25:16
Had to be on the ranch Monday down by
25:18
Stamford, Texas.
25:19
>> And let me just say like that's a lot of
25:21
stress because you're you're cooking.
25:24
It's a lot of people. Obviously, you
25:26
have kind of a situation where people
25:27
don't know what's going on, and then you
25:29
have to be on for the crowd, too. So,
25:32
you're probably already wiped.
25:34
>> Yeah. And then time you load it,
25:36
get everything back on the trailer,
25:39
drive 6 hours home,
25:41
restock everything,
25:42
>> That's a lot.
25:43
>> get up the next morning at 3:00 and go
25:45
again.
25:46
And uh
25:48
this was a deal where you showed up on a
25:50
Sunday, I mean a Monday, and they
25:52
started Tuesday. So,
25:55
that's the reason I left 3:00 in the
25:56
morning to get down to this ranch to get
25:58
there in time to where maybe I could
26:00
just set the wagon up, get in the TV,
26:04
and go to bed.
26:04
>> Just have a night off.
26:05
>> Yeah.
26:06
But
26:07
a blowout on the trailer
26:09
>> Oh, no.
26:10
>> didn't help none.
26:11
You know, and having to wait for this
26:13
guy to fix it in this little old bitty
26:14
town that down there by Aspermont
26:16
forever.
26:18
But
26:19
I got to realizing there wasn't going to
26:20
be no nap.
26:21
>> Mhm.
26:22
>> You know, it's just going to be one of
26:23
them deals when you get there, set the
26:25
wagon up, get everything done.
26:27
It's going to be nearly dark, then we
26:29
start over in the morning. And as I lay
26:31
there that night, I'm thinking, you can
26:33
only go so far before you have to
26:35
recharge.
26:36
>> Mhm.
26:36
>> You know. And um
26:39
at the time
26:40
I'd had a little A-fib back and forth.
26:43
>> Which is your heart flutter.
26:45
>> Yeah. Atrial fibrillation.
26:47
>> Yep.
26:47
>> You know. My mother had it, and she
26:49
passed it down to me cuz she wanted to
26:50
share.
26:51
>> Oh.
26:51
>> And uh
26:53
the something that always brought it on
26:55
was stress
26:57
and fatigue.
26:57
>> Yep.
26:59
>> And it used to always if it come in the
27:01
night, it would wake me up cuz I could
27:03
feel it, you know.
27:04
And it just makes you feel like you're
27:05
running a marathon all the time.
27:07
And it also can cause a stroke.
27:10
>> Oh.
27:11
>> And uh I had medicine for it.
27:14
But even when you were that tired,
27:16
seemed like it always reared its ugly
27:18
head.
27:19
And I remember about 1:00 that night
27:21
thinking, "No, God, don't let this
27:23
happen now.
27:24
I don't I ain't got time, you know."
27:27
Um
27:29
and I sit there and prayed about it and
27:31
prayed about it.
27:33
And I remember uh
27:36
a heart doctor he told me he said
27:38
"Take a deeper breath as you can
27:41
and hold it for 10 seconds.
27:43
Then let it out in 10 seconds, not all
27:46
at once. It'll help calm your heart.
27:49
And drink cold water very slowly."
27:52
>> Oh.
27:52
>> It cools off your aorta.
27:56
None of them things worked.
27:58
You know, I'm
27:58
>> You were deep in stress.
28:00
>> Yeah.
28:01
And I'm thinking
28:02
I don't There's 10 on the crew.
28:05
I'm going to fix it fast as I can.
28:08
Get them gone. And the best thing I can
28:10
do is just lay down, you know.
28:13
And after breakfast, I got the dishes
28:16
washed and it was still out of whack,
28:18
probably 130, 40 beats a minute that you
28:20
know if you could count them.
28:21
>> And that in itself just wipes you out.
28:24
>> It is not good.
28:26
You know, go back over to the TP and I
28:28
lay down.
28:31
And then I fear of going to sleep so
28:33
hard that
28:35
there ain't going to be no lunch, you
28:37
know.
28:37
>> Oh.
28:38
>> So I had one of them wind-up alarm
28:40
clocks.
28:40
>> Yeah.
28:42
>> And then my old ones
28:44
>> Oh gosh.
28:46
>> You know, and I'd sit there and I'd
28:47
listen to that and I'm thinking
28:49
I can't have that in here with me.
28:52
And uh
28:53
And I got to listening to it and
28:55
listening to it and listening to it.
28:58
And finally
28:59
I couldn't hear it. And I'm thinking,
29:01
was I hearing that or my heart?
29:03
>> Oh.
29:04
>> Because at that time, at 10:00 that
29:06
morning
29:07
it went back in rhythm.
29:10
And I don't know if it was me
29:11
concentrating on that clock just hearing
29:13
it tick
29:14
tick and trying to slow down.
29:17
But I really think it was just God's
29:19
answering my prayers.
29:20
But
29:22
there was a time in there to where I'm
29:23
thinking I'm going to have to tell this
29:25
guy I can't cook.
29:27
I can't make it, you know.
29:30
And uh
29:31
it was
29:32
through faith in God and strength
29:35
that I said, "You hired on here. You
29:37
can't quit.
29:39
This is This is not what you do."
29:42
And
29:43
A fear of always showed back up
29:46
for me for a long time, but it always
29:48
made me think back
29:50
you work hard all your life.
29:52
You You try to get everything done you
29:54
can in one day.
29:56
But folks, if you've got stress in your
29:58
life
29:59
you need to try to get rid of it.
30:01
>> But like easier said than done.
30:03
>> Yeah.
30:03
>> So how like
30:05
how do you de-stress? Because you are
30:07
typically not a stressful person. Um you
30:10
don't You have a very good balance, I
30:12
think, of taking on stress and adapting,
30:16
like we've talked about even with
30:17
cooking. So how do you de-stress?
30:21
>> Try to find me the quietest, most
30:23
peaceful place I can find and just sit
30:25
there.
30:27
Uh
30:28
I think you might call it meditation.
30:31
Me, I call it just trying to
30:33
fix myself on something that's out
30:35
there.
30:37
And at this ranch there's so many of
30:40
them big old mesquite trees down there
30:41
in Texas, which were bigger than what we
30:43
had. But a lot of them big old prickly
30:45
pear cactus that stood
30:47
5 6 ft tall look like.
30:49
And they had pears on them
30:52
at the top
30:54
which were in full color, red.
30:57
And them little prickly pear fruit is
30:59
really good if you'll pay attention on
31:00
how to get the meat out of them without
31:02
getting all them stickers.
31:04
But I'd just sit there
31:06
with a a glass of cold iced tea
31:09
and I'd just look. And I'm thinking
31:11
a lot of people
31:14
aren't going to look at this cactus
31:17
and see something that's beauty because
31:19
they think of a cactus is just thorns.
31:22
It's just something that's going to
31:24
stick you, poke you.
31:27
But the sun was hitting that thing just
31:29
right and I remember it had them three
31:31
big old palm leaves that sort of stuck
31:33
up like hands, you know, right up there
31:35
at the top.
31:36
And they was just covered with them
31:37
little red pears that them prickly pears
31:39
had.
31:41
And I'd just sit there and looked at it
31:42
and thinking
31:44
God wanted me to see something today
31:47
that give me peace.
31:49
That give me calm.
31:51
It didn't have to be like a giant
31:53
rainbow coming out of the sky, which
31:55
would have been nice.
31:57
But there's little things in beauty
31:59
to where you can find peace that helps
32:01
you with stress.
32:03
And it can be in a roadside park.
32:06
It can be sitting on the front porch
32:08
looking at something. There's peace out
32:10
there and a lot of times we just don't
32:12
want to take the time to see it or to
32:14
find it.
32:15
>> I think that is the biggest takeaway is
32:17
just the time. Take a beat. Take a
32:19
breath. Sometimes that's all you need.
32:22
Um when that guy pulled the biscuits and
32:24
saw them burnt, if he would have just
32:26
taken a breath stepped away for a
32:28
minute, that minute will save you
32:32
a lifetime.
32:33
>> Of misery sometimes.
32:34
>> Of stress.
32:35
>> Yeah. And so
32:37
>> It's
32:38
Peace is
32:39
it's easy to
32:41
to think about it.
32:42
And it's not that hard to find. Some
32:44
people, you know, they say, "Well, I
32:46
can't find no peace in the world. You
32:48
know, I live on a busy street. There's
32:49
traffic or I live by the interstate."
32:52
You can get in that car
32:54
and you can go to a park.
32:56
>> Mhm.
32:57
>> You know, you can find somewhere I
32:58
always used to tell people, go somewhere
33:00
where it's dark, where there ain't a
33:02
light.
33:02
>> Mhm.
33:03
>> Look up at the heavens at night. Tell me
33:05
what you see.
33:06
You know, find that peace because
33:09
peace and tranquility is going to give
33:11
you a better life every day. I remember
33:14
one time we was living down there in
33:16
North Wichita Falls
33:18
and we'd been on a on a catering deal.
33:21
Uh
33:22
drove 7-800 miles, got back in late on a
33:25
Sunday evening. First thing you always
33:27
do is after them deals, you always
33:29
hunted the shower cuz they probably
33:31
wasn't one where we was at. And I said,
33:33
"I'll cook something."
33:35
Because I love this woman with my heart
33:37
and soul.
33:38
And I've always tried to treat her
33:40
better than I think she ever deserved,
33:43
which is
33:44
Phew. This folks, this woman is a very
33:47
gifted, talented person and I love her
33:49
dearly. So, if I can cook for her three
33:51
meals a day, I do. So, she's in there in
33:53
the shower and we was poor as church
33:56
mouse.
33:56
>> And you were hunting the the cabinets
33:58
and
33:59
>> Yeah, I was looking for something
34:00
looking in the wagon and out of the
34:01
pickup thinking there might be some beef
34:03
jerky.
34:04
>> It was looking like mustard soup.
34:06
>> And I we'd been to Sam's
34:09
and we'd buy them big old boxes, you
34:10
know, 42 packs of ramen noodles.
34:14
>> Uh-huh.
34:14
>> It's like and when you buy them like
34:16
that, they're like 10 cents a pack long
34:17
time ago, you know.
34:19
And I'm thinking, make me a stir fry
34:21
with these.
34:22
I'll cook them, put a little butter in
34:24
there, you know. And I'm thinking
34:26
>> let's go put some bacon in there.
34:28
Open icebox door.
34:29
>> No bacon.
34:30
>> No bacon? No ground beef? No sausage?
34:33
>> No veggies?
34:34
>> No veggies.
34:36
The only thing in there
34:38
was the cheapest brand of hot dogs that
34:40
was ever made, and they were the
34:42
Beagles. That's what we
34:43
>> kept them for the dogs.
34:44
>> 13 cents package.
34:45
>> Yeah.
34:45
>> You put them in a cast iron skillet with
34:47
a little bacon grease, fry them things
34:50
up, cut them up just right,
34:52
they'll be good.
34:53
When she got out of the shower, she's
34:55
all clean,
34:56
she's sitting on the couch, and we got
34:58
this little coffee table here on to
35:00
present my gourmet
35:01
>> You even had it like in a nice bowl, and
35:03
presented it. And I'm like
35:04
>> And I give it to you.
35:06
>> I didn't know we had carrots. And you're
35:08
like
35:09
not carrots.
35:11
And I tasted it, and I will have to say
35:13
that was the one meal we could not eat.
35:16
>> Yeah, the Beagle didn't even eat it.
35:18
>> That was a cooking fail, sorry to say.
35:19
There was no recovering from that one.
35:21
>> No.
35:22
>> But it was inventive.
35:24
>> Yeah, and I was trying.
35:25
>> Sometimes you just got to take that.
35:27
>> Yeah.
35:28
>> But it was a it was a good effort.
35:29
>> That's one thing I think that you should
35:31
really worry me on ranches more than
35:32
anything else. Did I forget something
35:34
that was on the list, you know?
35:37
And
35:38
when you get right down to it, and
35:39
you're pulling stuff out that day cuz
35:41
you you'd have a menu, you know, and
35:43
we'd lay stuff out on one side, check
35:45
box, put it on the table, you know,
35:46
here's the dessert stuff, here's what
35:48
we're having for lunch, this is going to
35:50
go towards supper, you know?
35:52
And uh you were telling me you were
35:54
going to I think it was a cake
35:57
that you were going to cook this
35:59
chocolate cake that night.
36:01
And we'd go when we was on ranches six,
36:03
seven weeks, we'd stay quite a long
36:05
time.
36:06
But we'd go back to headquarters for
36:08
groceries.
36:09
>> Mhm.
36:09
>> But
36:10
seeing as old Kent wasn't paying real
36:12
good attention that day, he didn't bring
36:13
all the groceries back.
36:15
And what happened to you?
36:17
>> I don't remember this.
36:18
>> You don't remember when we didn't
36:20
>> to When I tried to make the cake with no
36:21
eggs?
36:22
>> Yeah.
36:22
>> Oh, okay. So, yes. And this is when we
36:25
found out there are some really great
36:28
substitutions for main ingredients
36:32
to use because I remember we had luckily
36:35
had service at this cell phone service
36:38
at this camp. So, I'm on Google like
36:40
what can you substitute for eggs? And
36:42
now we use this trick a lot.
36:44
Mayonnaise.
36:45
>> Well, I thought you were going to say
36:46
bird nest.
36:47
>> A bird nest?
36:48
>> Yeah, well, you got in the wild fast
36:49
food bird eggs.
36:50
>> No, we didn't even have those either.
36:52
So, what I found out and then I got to
36:53
looking. So, guys write this down. 3
36:56
Tbsp of mayonnaise will equal one egg.
36:59
Also, a fourth of a cup of mashed banana
37:01
or a fourth of a cup of apple sauce. So,
37:04
we do this a lot. We do the old
37:07
switcheroo and especially the biggest
37:09
one a lot of recipes will call for
37:11
buttermilk. Well, who keeps buttermilk
37:14
around? That's so hard and it'll go bad
37:16
before you ever use it again. And so, my
37:18
favorite switch is one cup of milk and
37:22
you add either one Tbsp of vinegar or
37:24
one Tbsp of lemon juice. Let it set for
37:27
a few minutes. You've got buttermilk.
37:29
>> Yeah.
37:30
>> So, but there's always there's always
37:32
something.
37:32
>> You can't fry mayonnaise for bread.
37:34
>> No, this is just for baking, but
37:36
>> uh
37:37
it's good to always have a backup.
37:39
>> Yeah.
37:40
>> Good to know that this might not be what
37:42
it started out to going to be, but I'm
37:44
still going to make it pretty good. I'm
37:46
just going to change it a little.
37:47
>> Yep.
37:48
>> Sometimes in life when you walking down
37:50
the trail
37:51
there's going to be ingredients or
37:53
things that you had on your list in your
37:54
mind that ain't there no more.
37:57
And you can either turn around and panic
37:59
and run backwards or you can think
38:01
I know what I can do.
38:03
I'll just go down this other trail and
38:05
see if it'll get me there. And I might
38:06
even learn something while I'm going
38:08
down there.
38:08
>> Hey folks, it is perfectly okay to have
38:11
a plan XYZ as long as you adapt and
38:14
overcome.
38:15
>> Yeah. We we talked in an episode one
38:16
time about
38:18
people being afraid to to do something.
38:21
You know, when you talk about Dutch oven
38:22
cooking, it can be a little
38:23
overwhelming. Some people might have a
38:25
fear of it. But sometimes, you know,
38:27
fear is a good thing in some ways. You
38:29
got to be afraid of some things.
38:31
But
38:33
you got to realize, too, that if you
38:35
stay at the back of the line all your
38:37
life,
38:38
you'll never get finished
38:40
cuz you just keep getting replaced. So,
38:43
whether you're out of eggs or you're out
38:45
of stamina,
38:47
don't ruin the recipe.
38:49
Just keep cooking. Keep stepping out
38:51
there. You'll find it. You'll make it.
38:54
It might even be better than what you
38:55
started with.
38:56
>> Winston Churchill once said, "If you're
38:59
going through hell, just keep going."
39:01
>> That's right.
39:02
>> Just keep cooking.
39:03
>> It's been good to talk about this in
39:05
life, you know. Sometimes
39:05
>> It's therapy.
39:08
>> God, we didn't have to pay for it. You
39:10
know, it's free.
39:11
But we thank y'all so much. Don't be
39:12
afraid to challenge yourself.
39:14
>> Mhm.
39:15
>> But remember what I said about finding
39:16
peace and keeping it simple. Y'all got
39:18
to have it. We got to all have something
39:20
to de-stress in life. Um
39:23
whether it's
39:24
what you got beside you, where I have
39:25
this beautiful lady, or this sleeping
39:27
schnauzer down here with us. I'm going
39:29
to find me some peace, comfort, and
39:31
simplicity. And we thank you for tuning
39:33
in. But it is with pride, honor, and
39:36
great privilege that I tip my hats all
39:37
our service men and women and all the
39:39
veterans that have kept that old flag
39:41
a-flying over camp. No matter where we
39:43
at, we commend you all and lift you up
39:45
in prayer daily. Thanks again for
39:47
joining us, folks. We hope you enjoyed
39:49
this we did. God bless you each and
39:52
every one, and I'll see you down the
39:53
podcast trail.
40:03
>> Pioneer.
#People & Society