Ron's Cowboy Beans

When Ron Reed of Clark, Wyoming isn't serving as the chuckwagon cook for round-ups or wrangling, you will see him cooking up Dutch oven biscuits, cowboy beans and cowboy coffee and giving samples to the dudes who wander by his chuckwagon outside the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, Wyoming.

All of this is typical on-the-range fare for cowboys, now and in the past. The biscuits - they'd been sitting off the fire for a few hours - were on the dry side but perfect for sopping up the last bit of the delicious cowboy beans.

Here's the recipe for your favorite range riders.

Ron's Cowboy Beans

 6 cups pinto beans

              1 cup crisp bacon, crumbled

                 softball sized onion, chopped

2 TBS chili powder

Soak the beans overnight. Rinse. Put beans in a heavy pot - cast iron if you have it - and cover with water. Toss in all other ingredients and cook over medium to low heat for 2-3 hours, stirring and adding water as needed.

Season to taste and serve with your own corn bread or biscuits.