Treats of the Trail

On the banks of the Llano River on an April day, I stroll among cooks in late-19th-century ranch attire. They tend to cast-iron skillets and Dutch ovens over crackling fires alongside their vintage chuckwagons. What looks like a living history exhibit at a museum is actually the Llano Chuckwagon Cook-off, an annual event that typically draws 1,000-plus attendees.

The competitors prepare feasts of meat, potatoes, gravy, bread, beans, and fruit cobbler the same way “cookies” did during cattle drives, which took place from the mid-1800s to the early 1900s. Cookies managed the chuckwagons—covered wagons created to store and transport food