Kent Rollins is a true blue cowboy hailing from Oklahoma.  Growing up rustling cattle, Kent had an opportunity to work alongside his family.  Both riding range, and staging a pop-up kitchen, he has seen it all.  His culinary education was chopping wood, fueling fires, and making grub to make feed hungry cowboys.

Kent and Nick open up chatting about Kent’s experience competing on the t.v. show Chopped.  Kent participated in the Grill Masters edition where he went head to head with trained chefs using grills, smokers, and live fire.  Watching that series shows where experience pays off.  Not knowing what some of the ingredients even are, Kent was able to dissect taste and texture and work it into the dish.  Like he said, “I’ve had to cook for 15 or so people who had to eat, and no matter the conditions, I’ll get food for ' em, no matter what”.

Nick showed Kent a photo of his camp chuck box.  Nick has kitted it out himself to work well family camping and for deer camp.  Kent runs a whole chuck wagon, fitted to feed an army.  Kent explains having enough storage is key to having all the elements that you need.  Having it in one compact, easy to use system, makes getting something to eat easier, after a long day in the stand, on a stalk, or casting lines.  In addition Kent goes into some of the misconceptions on cast iron.  If you have a nice seasoned pot or pan, boiling water and strewing acid foods is ok.  Both of those tasks will leach out some of the oil and be hard on the seasoning.  As long as you are continuing to add to your seasoning (rinse, dry, heat, oil) your piece will go unaffected.

In true form, Kent was a great guest, and full of information about cooking on range.  I feel as if we only scratched the surface.  If there is a tidbit about Kent that is a true take away from this episode, that is experience will pay off in the long run.  The more times you cook, the better you will get.  The times that we screw up, we gotta remember those.  And when you're not sure, improvise, and use your gut.

“It's just like bull riding, 90 percent mental, 10 percent physical”

~Kent Rollins

Kent Rollins YouTube Channel:

https://www.youtube.com/user/krollins57

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