Cowboy Cooking

Y'all, today my new friend Grady Spears is coming by to show me some cowboy cooking

I love a sweaty cowboy. Yum! First, I'm making him my rich and hearty rodeo chili with a side of the creamiest grits

My lowest grits. And I'm fixing him my corn on the cob smothered in a yummy herb butter

It looks really, really good. And Grady's cooking me up a pot of his hearty Lone Star baked beans

You bad little cowboy. Oh, yeah. And y'all, you don't want to miss the surprise he's got for me

Ta-da! Oh, my God! No! Great time of day, y'all

Now, what girl doesn't want a good-looking cowboy to come visit her

Coming! I'm coming! I'm coming. Great. Grady. Oh, my gosh

You know, he's a good chef. And real easy on the eye. Can I come in

I say yes. Yes, you can let me in. Perfect. Grady. Yes, ma'am

I got some goodies for you here. Oh, no. Oh, yeah. Oh, come on in

All right, all right. Come in, Grady. Am I going the right way

Oh, yeah. I'm sorry. I was distracted a second. What are we going to cook

What do you want to cook? Hey, I'm yours. Will you tell me? Oh, yay

Well, I thought... Let me lay down this little bag of goodies real quick. Yes

This is for later. What's in your sack, baby? I can't tell you. Got a little surprise coming up

Oh, yay! Well, while I was waiting on you to get here

I thought, now, I got this big old cowboy coming in here

and I've got to make something in your honor in that beautiful state that you came from, Texas

So I'm going to make you rodeo chili. I'm going to put you to work

Okay. I've got onions, I've got poblanos, I've got green and red jalapenos

Would you dice that for me, please? Sure, you want me to de-seat them, too? Please

Okay. I think we're pretty much cut from the same cloth. You know, he loves good old honest home cooking, and I do too

Oh, oh, I got you a beer too. Ah, that's what I was missing

I know you cowboys love you some beer. And I got me a little coffee

Now, I'm going to put just a little olive oil in here so my meat won't stick

Now, I'm just going to season my meat with a little salt and pepper. I'm using beef roast gravy, and I diced it up for you

So this is going to be a hearty chili. And with all these peppers in it, pretty hot chili, too

You know, it is going to be hot. Well, these won't be too hot, you know, by taking the seeds and the veins out

This will really take the heat out. Yeah. So I want to hear all about you

We've never met, but I have heard about you. And I heard that you started kind of like me

You had a bumpy start. I still have bumpy days. And by bumpy start, I mean, you pulled yourself up

no pun intended, by your bootstraps. Didn't really have a choice. And worked your way to where you are now

Well, you know, I wanted to be a cowboy my whole life. You wanted to be a cowboy

I did, growing up. What part of Texas did you come from? In Central Texas, near Fort Worth

Fort Worth. But we moved out to this farm when I was in grade school

I didn't do too well in school. I didn't either. I mean, it was a chore just to get through the day

All righty. Now, there's already two things we got in common there. So once I got out of school, it was no college for me

I went straight to work. Yeah, doing what? Cowboying, working at the feedlot

All right, so a feedlot. Are you talking about a ranch? Yes, ma'am

By the time I was 16, I was running the processing crews, and that entitled working cattle, branding cattle

I was around quite a few. I had a cattle every day. I was having a hard time making a living

You know, cowboys didn't make a whole lot of money, and they still don't. And so I ended up taking a job out in West Texas

at this little bitty hotel called The Gage Hotel, in the middle of nowhere. And two weeks after I got there

the chef walked out on me, with like 80 people waiting to eat. And so it was..

No, you do not mean it. What do you do It not like you put an ad in the classifieds you know Yes You got in there and did whatever it took to get the job done That where it all started

Finish chopping that, please. I'm not rushing you, but I'm just rushing you

All right, you got it. Because my meat's fixing to come out in a second

So you just brown the meat. Yeah, I just browned it off. Now we're going to put our onions

Dispatch too? Our peppers, yes. We're going to put it all in there

All right, now I'm going to start adding my seasoning to this

Now what is that, chili powder? This is chili powder. A couple of tablespoons of chili powder

A tablespoon of ground anchovies. Just a dried pabuano. Mm-hmm. One tablespoon of cumin

A teaspoon of garlic powder. Now, if you give that a stir, yes

You've had eight cookbooks, two TV shows. I also do a lot for the Houston Texans, so I'm the chef for the rodeo, the Houston rodeo, and the football team

So that keeps me busy. All right, Grady, I'm adding one 15-ounce can of tomato sauce

One beer. All right, now we're going to put our meat back in there

So if you would add this meat to our pot. You got it

And I'm going to get out our beef broth. And then we're just going to let that simmer, uncovered, Grady, for, you know, a couple of hours

I'm adding eight cups of beef broth rather than water, just to give it a little extra flavor

We're going to let that simmer uncovered. And so we'll lose a lot of our liquid over the next couple of hours

Let it cook down, baby. Coming up next, I'm making a side of creamy grits to go along with our chili

You are not gonna do some grits. Yes, I am. And I'm fixing corn on the cob smothered in a delicious herb butter

And later, I get one heck of a surprise, y'all. No! Okay, so how does our rodeo chili look to you

It looks really, really good. Starting to get red and dark, and how simple is that

Yes. So simple, so hearty. We've got one more ingredient to add to it, and that's the masa harana, which is a fancy name for cornmeal

Yes, thank you. Three tablespoons, please, darling. Just a tablespoon? And listen, this is going to act as a thickening for our chili

You mentioned the grits to me earlier, so I'm going to throw in

You are not going to do some grits. Yes, I am. I'm going to just show you the way I cook grits

Oh, unbelievable. I am going to show you my version. All right

It's like getting a master's degree or something. You don't get to see the..

All right, so you got water? It's definitely in the kitchen with greeny today. Yeah, so I started up with about four cups of water

Now, the thing to good grits is you have to salt that water

Can you use chicken stock or you have to use water? You can use chicken stock. It depends on what, how I'm serving the grits

If I'm making them for breakfast or brunch, I usually just go with the water

Now here, I've got some corn. So if you would come over here and make us a quick compound butter

All right, we need about a fourth of a cup of cilantro. Okay. And we are going to use this butter that we have at room temperature. Sure

We keep these on hand all the time. So why try? Well, compound butters

Oh, yeah. All kinds of flavors. I love giving compound butters for Christmas

You can put them in baked potatoes. You can put them in rice. Anything. They really are versatile

I'm actually going to cut our chili off. All right, trash can's right there

You just passed it. Trash can right here. Uh-uh. Dishwasher. Well, I don't know anything about that

Trash can. There we go. All right, so we've got our corn right here

So when you get our butter mixed up, if you would just double wrap it

Yes. Take each ear of corn and slather that with your compound butter

All right. All right. So now I'm going to add my grits to my boiling water

Now here's one of the secrets to good grits. You cannot put them in your pot and walk away

You got to dedicate a couple of minutes to actually stir those ribs

Get that water working through. Yes, getting that water working through, because if you just drop them in and turn around and walk away

you're going to come back and you're going to have big old golf balls. That wouldn't work

No, that does not work. So here we go. All right, I'm going to put a little over a half a stick of butter in there

And you put the butter in actually while it's cooking. Well, it'll actually get some butter kind of two or three times

It going to keep those grits from clumping Now I going to pour a little milk in Will heavy cream work too

Oh yes, heavy cream will work. Is that what you use in yours

You bad little cowboy. Oh yeah. Alrighty. So these are starting to look pretty and they're so, so creamy looking

All right. Now, while I'm tinkering with these, there is a grater in this drawer

If you would grate us some cheese, please. What kind of cheese

This cheddar right down here. Okay. And I am fixing to fix us up a bowl of rodeo chili over hot buttered grits

Oh, how can you go wrong? You cannot go wrong. Buttery, cheesy grits

Yes. All right, I'm going to just accidentally drop a little cream cheese over in my grits

Just enough to cream it up really good. Just enough to finish creaming it

Now, the cheese will help thicken the grits, too. Yes. I thought you said one. You just added two

Just two little pieces. I wound up using about three ounces of that eight-ounce stick

All right. In goes the rest of my butter. So that's like one stick of butter

I don't want a good whiff. No. There is nothing that doesn't go good with grits

No, really. Make boot leather taste good, actually. I'm telling you. And look, I mean, they're really getting tight now

So let's serve them up. Oh. Got some green onions down there

So if you would just chop them. Okay. And we're going to put those on top

Gosh, it looks really good. It doesn't look really good. And it tastes really good, too

Good. You like it. Now, low as grit. And that meat got really tender pretty quick, didn't it

Chuck, there's nothing like it. Mm-mm. All right. We now have two surprises

So. For me? For you. Listen, I've been around a long time

You can't surprise this old girl. Oh, yes I can. Where are we going? We're going to go out front

We are? Take what you want. Okay. Everything turned off. That's all you need

Coming up, Grady's cooking me up some cowboy baked beans Those beans look incredible

Do they look good? And I finally get that surprise that Grady promised me

God, no! I would be lying to y'all if I said I wasn't a little concerned over this surprise

because I kind of know what follows a cowboy. I've watched Roy Rogers in The Lone Ranger

I'm ready for my surprise. Ta-da! Oh, my God! No! Come on. No

We gotta have some transportation. No, I'm scared to death of horses

Don't be scared. My friends from the Rockingham Ranch, these really, really calm horses

you're gonna be just fine. I'm so scared. Now give me that bowl. I'm scared to death of horses, y'all

To know this animal could use his strength to take off and do all kind of crazy things

just frightens me to death. Look the way he's standing like that, like he could kick

Oh, he doesn't kick. You swear. I promise. Put this leg in here. Do my children know you're doing this to me

They do. They help plant it. Now, put this leg in here

Okay, there you go. That horse is already not. You're going to do it all at one time. You're going to go up and throw that leg over

Uh-huh, easy for you to say. Do you know how old I am? No, I've seen Rory Rogers' show before

Here we go. One, two, three. Okay, there you go. You got it. Atta girl

Yes, okay. I'm so scared. I think you're doing really, really good. Don't you let your horse run, because I know that they'll do what the other one does

You look at somebody sitting on a horse, and you think, well, it's not that high

It feels like 100 feet. Ready? Give him a little nudge. I ain't nudging this horse

Come on, you ready? Come on, baby. I'm too heavy for it

We're going to be fine. Where are we going? I don't want no more surprises

Okay, here we go, Precious. This should be the last big surprise. Here we go, Precious

I'm a real natural. I got up on that horse, and I tried to look relaxed and natural

Look at me. I got one hand You look like a natural I do I feel like whoa sugar I ready to get off my horse All right But I don think I pulled it off

I was just so glad when we got to where we were going. You know, he kind of made up for it, y'all

because he built a beautiful campfire right there in my backyard. So, you ready to cook

Uh. Should I tie him up? You might want to get your horses. I'll get the horses if you'll start pulling the ingredients out

Okay. That's your next surprise. I would just feel better if the horses were tied up

All right. I figured you would, so. All right, well, I'm finally going through your bag

Salt. You think he thought I didn't have salt? Vegetable oil? He had every ingredient in that saddle bag

Oh, my God, that feels like bacon. I thought, wow, Grady, you must have not thought I kept any kind of groceries here

Beans, beans, musical weight. Okay, so I was going to cook a little cowboy beans

Cowboy beans. In a Dutch oven. Go hand me one of those bell peppers. I'll cut it. Okay

All right. How about your garlic? Yep, we better get it out, too

You know what? Your horses are eating my grass, Grady. Oh, they're just going to keep it trimmed up for you

If you can hand me the onion, I'll go ahead and cut the onion. onion. Okay. You know what else I need is that bacon. While that bacon's cooking, I'll

cut the vegetables. You want me to go ahead and throw it in the pan or you're going to cut it? Let me cut it, but if you could put some oil in that Dutch oven. How much bacon

you want? All of it. You want all of it? Sure I do. Okay. You could put some oil in that

Dutch oven. Just enough to wet the bottom. Yeah, just so the bacon doesn't stick. Okay

Okay. Do you need for me to mop your brow? I could use that, actually

Oh, I have to keep you around. I love a sweaty cowboy yum

Now, give this a stir. Now I'm going to add some bell peppers

Okay. And we're going to let these cook down until they start to get soft and the bacon starts to cook through

Okay. Ah, there you go. Okay. Mmm, the smell, the onions and the bacon

So good. Okay, now I'm going to add the beans. Okay. There's some pintos, and these have already been cooked

Uh-huh. A little bit of barbecue sauce. May I taste your barbecue sauce

Ooh. It's pretty good. And you add bacon? It's tart and sweet

You said you like savory and sweet. I do. and about a half a cup of brown sugar, a little molasses

Did you put some jalapenos in that? Why don't you throw a couple of whole ones in there

and we'll let them get soft, almost pickle them in there. I'm kidding, okay. Okay, so now I'm going to take..

Those beans look so good. I'm going to add a little salt, and then I'm going to add the last ingredient

which is the secret ingredient. Oh, I think I know what it is

A little beer from Texas. I was wondering where you were going to get your liquid from

Right there. And the vinegar. Remember the barbecue sauce has got liquid, too

So, now we're going to put the lid on this. Okay, you're not going to stir it

Oh, okay. Oh, yeah. So, we'll let that simmer for, what, 30 minutes, probably? I can't wait to try those beans, Grady

Coming up. Okay. Look at those beans. Look at those beans. How incredible

Oh, look at that bacon. Oh, look at those beans. Oh, look at those beans

How incredible. Oh, my goodness. Okay. Those beans look incredible. Do they look good

Actually, beans are pretty good. Oh, my gosh, gravy. And beans go with everything

Mmm. I was sitting in my own backyard with my very own cowboy

Now, come on, girls. You know, y'all, there's some of y'all out there that were jealous

Corn is so good. Georgia meets Texas. They got Pan-Asian, Pan-Fusion, this and that

What have we got? Pa Grady. I like it already. That's for Paula and Grady

Or Gray Pa. I had a ball with Grady today, y'all. What girl doesn't dream of cowboys

And he fed me. You gotta promise me that you'll come back

or when I'm in Texas, I can come out and see you. For sure

On your territory. I really appreciate the hospitality, and like I said, you're a legend in Texas

and I'm glad to finally get to meet you. This girl, put her boots under your campfire, baby

Yum, yum