Popularity of Dutch Oven Cooking Continues at Fair

Cowboys Liked their Sweets

Back for their second year, five teams of volunteer Dutch Oven cookers prepared a ground beef dinner for free sampling this past Thursday, August 9^th at Elmer’s Garden at the Prowers County Fairgrounds.

Organizer Chad Hart said the rules remained the same as last year. All the teams are given their ingredients and select their menu which includes the main meat course, breads, potatoes and some vegetables and a fruit cobbler dessert.  Five Rivers Feedyard donated the meat and the Lamar Farmer’s Country Market donated the remainder of the ingredients include potato, flour, butter, spices and vegetables such as beans, onions and peppers.

DeLancey Handles a Mean Spud

From that, the teams came up with several meatloaf dishes, including a stroganoff and a chili casserole, various forms of Dutch oven-baked ‘Cowboy or Shephard’ breads and cobblers, with an especially tasty one using a secret sauce that offered a little ’fire’ in it.

This Cook Can ‘Cook’

Cooking got underway at 2pm and by 5pm, the meals were prepared and, the same as last year,were offered free to the public. An informal contest for bragging rights for the best meal was conducted using coffee beans in a cup at each table as a form of ballot.

Hart said there were over 100 people who sampled the meals the first year and he hoped at least that many would be back for a second year. This year’s teams consisted of Cheryl Hart, Roger Stagner, Aaron Leiker and Tom Grasmick; Dane Wade from Rye, CO, Bob DeLancey and Ron Cook; Pat Palmer, Angie Higbee and Mark Carrigan; Kent Anderson from Holly, Jose and Son from KVAY and Marie from Kansas, plus Orrie Matthews, Lloyd Brown and Rick Robbins.

By Russ Baldwin