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Ranch-Made Tools for the Camp Cook

© Steven C. Karoly

A camp cook like Leonard Sanders brings a lot to the art. Experience, a sense of history and a knack for wrestling Dutch ovens all contribute to his success. But it's Sanders' 30 years of tending boilers, changing tires and herding cattle that have led him to improve on cookies' iron cookware.

Sanders' innovations make catering Western events around the Northern Sacramento Valley much easier. An asphalt parking lot at the Red Bluff Bull and Gelding Sale doesn't hinder him from hanging cast iron pots over the cook fire. Instead of digging up the pavement, Sanders places an iron trough that's set on fire bricks.

Just like Sanders' camp fare, his innovations are simple. But they get the job done in unlikely spots. Ranchers feast on smoked beef brisket, seasoned pinto beans and scalloped potatoes like their ancestors. Like chuckwagon cooks of old, Sanders blends basic ingredients in rudimentary cast iron cookware.

Fire irons

Instead of driving iron rods into the earth and running a pole between them, Sanders suspends seven-foot sections of inch-and-a-quarter iron water pipe between "A" frames. He hangs coffee pots and Dutch ovens over the glowing coals of the cook fire.

Sanders constructed his irons in 7-foot sections so that he can tailor the length to the event. For the 2001 Historic Sonora Pass Wagon Train, he used one or two sections each night. At other events, like the SubmarineSailor.com's Bash at the Ranch last June, Sanders used all three sections to feed 120 Navy veterans.

And with eight hooks to each section, Sanders suspends up to 17 pots from the irons. He uses hooks that completely circle the cross-piece. He says the problem with "S" hooks is that they easily come off and fall into the fire.

Dutch oven shovel

Any Dutch oven cook who uses hot coals from the campfire knows that clouds of gray ash billow skyward as the hot coals fall onto the oven. Ash settles everywhere -- on the oven and in the food.

Sanders solves this problem with a Dutch oven shovel. This is one of those innovations that should have been created long ago. The premise behind it is more utilitarian than decorative.

He built a shallow box from expanded metal. The shovel measures 10-1/2 inches long by 8 inches wide. The three sides are 2 inches high. The front end of the box is open in order to accept the hot coals. The box is attached to the shovel handle.

Fire irons in camp

Dutch oven shovel

Plow disk turned camp wok

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