Dry Rub, Western Style

About As Good As It Gets

I’ve got an old back-issue of American Cowboy in a magazine rack at home. I keep it around because every time I look at it I’m reminded of an interview inside with Charlie Daniels titled, “Taste of the West: Who’s Cookin’?”. Like you really care, I think it’s probably one of the funniest culinary interviews I’ve ever read. Observe:

Who does most of the cooking at your house?
“[Laughs] My wife [Hazel]... I can’t boil water.”

How would you describe your experience with Western food?
“Well, I love Western food. My favorite Western food I’ve ever had has been when I’ve gone out and worked with the cowboys… when they’re branding… I mean that kind of food… the real sure’ nough Dutch oven is kind of hard to come by anymore. I’m glad that I was able to eat it while there was still somebody around that could cook it.”

When you think of Western or cowboy food, what comes to mind? How would you define it?
“Just kind of plain – I think about beans and taters, steak, meat, and that kind of thing, just plain, ordinary food. I think about something you can cook in a Dutch oven… after having experienced that. That’s kind of what I equate with as being Western food.”

[…]

What’s your favorite recipe, and how did it come to be your favorite?
“Oh gosh, that’s hard for me to answer, being such a food enthusiast. I lean more toward – I’m kind of a beans and taters man. I’m really into like just the plain stuff... Sometimes we’ll [he and Hazel] go home, and she’ll just cook up a pan of fried potatoes. That’s what we’ll make a meal off of, more of the plain, ordinary sort of stuff.”

What is your family’s most honored food-related tradition that we might think of as Western?
“I couldn’t actually say it was totally Western, but… the only time I do any cooking is during Christmas. I make the turkey dressing… That’s a tradition at our house.”

If you had to give up every food item in your house but one, what would you keep and why?
“I think I’d hang onto the beans… I could live off beans for a while… I put a little bacon in them or something… Ain’t nothing like that, [and with cornbread], that’s about as good as it gets, ain’t it?”

Well, that was funny. Goodnight.