Show Faculty of the Month I Instructor Used to Cook for Dudes Eugenia Feature Editor SUMMER after high school high school Leslie and her two friends shipped their horses to Colorado and went to cook for a dude ranch That is how it all started said That is where I met my future husband Clint where he hew w was s wrangling horses Since then cooking became a lifetime activity for She attended at attended attended at- at tended the year two-year Culinary Ins Institute Institute In In- s of America in Hyde Park NY and graduated with honors She then went to work in Taos Taos NM M She became certified through the American culinary federation as asa a working chef decided she liked wo working working work work- ing in a school environment nt so she decided to return to a college as an instructor She began as a cooking instructor in September 1993 While working on a Colorado dude ranch her responsibilities in included included in- in planning the menu purchasing ing supplies and cooking the meal Commercial ranches keep crews according according according ac ac- ac- ac cording to the season Seif said The crew could consist consi t from three to 75 people For the farm crews said a typical meal would be a r roast ast beef potatoes bread or biscuits Sometimes sh she would serve a salad She said that most vegetables es were not the ranch crews crew's favorite item they were big on their meat She did not deviate too much from the basics I If f you did some some kind of gelatin salad that was really getting out-of-bounds out said Typically the average consumer on a ranch in a rural situation is not open to new ideas So you make comfort foods Sometimes meals were taken out to the sites where cows were being branded or where cows gave birth irth lei would go out to the sites build a large fire let it all burn down to the coals She would then dig a hole nearby throw in the coal put a dutch oven filled with meat and potato stew cover the coals and bury it By noon the stew would be tender and ready to eat This kind of cooking dutch oven cooking originated beca because se it lent Jent itself itsel f to do other things b besides sides just cooking i said A Alot lot lotof lotof of the food staged as bein being American cuisine is in fact rural It had its origins in rural cooking not j just western or French also worked for guest ranches where package deals would be offered for the hunters This would include meals and rooms At the ranch ch she worked a aa at ata ata a package deal cost anywhere from to The guests at this ranch were executives she said Sometimes the meal was the focus point for these hunters especially especially especially espe espe- if they did not bag a deer For the hunters at these guest ranches you would take the same kind of meat and take several interesting interesting interesting in- in grains as cracked wheat or rice pilaf fresh herbs and grilled vegetables Make a pounded meat wi with th vegetables and rolled into a design and roast it said But that thatis thatis thatis is what the hunters were accustomed accustomed accustomed tomed to said that since ince food is isa isa isa a focus of social activities there p 1 44 1 I e t d r ti C I JO r j f ti c ct I Ira t ra If J j i photo photo Ed Ed Ue instructs student Don Peterson on food preparation isn't anything people do religious us or otherwise that does not involve it it From the birth of a baby to funerals food is involved said For nearly 10 years and her husband worked at ranches in Utah New Mexico Arizona California Nevada The best part of our lives was working in different states said When comes home she likes to cook I feel very fortunate that I 1 get a lot of pleasure out of cooking |