In our fast-paced culture of fast food and microwave meals, you’d be hard-pressed to run into a chuckwagon cook. While the lack of cattle drives has just about eliminated them, there are a few across the United States. The most popular chuckwagon cook, without a doubt, is Cowboy Kent Rollins. He has become not only an internet sensation but a celebrity cook, too!

Cowboy Kent Rollins and the Original Meals on Wheels

Meet Cowboy Kent Rollins, a cowboy and chuck wagon cook for over 30 years. Rollins of Hollis, Oklahoma, was born on a ranch near the banks of the Red River. “We didn’t have much to get by on, but we never went hungry. There’s more to a table than the legs that hold it up. It’s the family that binds it together,” said Rollins. His mother ensured he and all his siblings knew how to clean, cook, and sew. “She said we would need it someday. I got to where I’d switch off, and I would cook a meal. My mother would cook a meal, and I got to the point where I kind of enjoyed it,” said Rollins.

Rollins’ first cooking job was in the Gila Wilderness in New Mexico. He cooked for an outfitter for elk hunters in what Rollins calls some of the most remote conditions you will find. He’s cooked in weather from 120 degrees in the Texas heat to -20 degrees during a cattle drive. A chuckwagon cook’s day starts at 3:30 a.m. Rollins does his cooking on a wood-fired, cast iron stove that weighs 385 lbs. He affectionally calls her “Bertha.” A 16-inch Dutch oven weighs about 44 pounds empty, and a bit more if full of food. “If you carry one around all day, it will help your attitude,” claims Rollins.

Cooking Led to Teaching Others

Rollins began working on cattle drives in the early 1990s. Soon afterward, he began catering and ran a cooking school teaching folks how to cook cowboy style. Many of Rollins’ meals are cooked on his 1876 Studebaker chuckwagon, the original ‘Meals on Wheels.’ Rollins says many of the old timers didn’t take a lot of pride in what they cooked. Mostly, it was just a meal, so you’d get back to work. Rollins vowed that if he ever became a cook, he would cook something better.

Rollins doesn’t just cook; he entertains. With more than 3.2 million subscribers on YouTube, he has become a household name through his many celebrity chef experiences. His chicken fried steak and gravy beat Bobby Flay on the show “Throwdown with Bobby Flay.” His prowess in the open range kitchen has won him “Chopped Grill Masters, Chopped Redemption and Cutthroat Kitchen” champion. And also, he won NBC’s “Food Fighters” where he holds an undefeated record, and most recently, Netflix’s “Barbeque Showdown.” He’s cooked with “Huckabee” and countless YouTube chefs.

More Than a Cook

Rollins begins every meal by leading the cowboys in a blessing. His faith in God and his love for his country never wavered. He is a patriot and proudly displays the American flag in all his YouTube videos. For many years, Rollins has participated in the Wagons for Warriors, a chuckwagon rendezvous that helps raise money for local wounded warriors. Rollins is also a dog lover. Nearly all his videos feature one or more of his four-legged co-stars. Rollins’ accolades include the Academy of Western Artists (AWA) Chuckwagon of the Year. He has also been awarded Best Cowboy Humorist and Storyteller of the Year by the AWA. Rollins has been the official chuckwagon of Oklahoma since 1996. Rollins claims he and his wife Shannon travel 20,000 miles each year to various events across the country. These days, the Studebaker is trailered and brought to events rather than pulled by horses.

Accidental Success

One of Rollins’ most unusual and famous dishes was completely accidental. Rollins was running short of supplies in a rare Texas blizzard. They had bags of potatoes but no oil to cook them in. Rollins spotted a bottle of Sprite. He knew he would not be able to fry the potatoes in the soda, but he decided to bake the potatoes with Sprite. It has become one of Rollins’s signature dishes. As a result, Sparkling Taters was born and now is a staple at all Rollins events.

While most celebrity cooks use meat from the store, Rollins doesn’t back away from a challenge. He makes dishes ranging from fried rattlesnake or rabbit to elk or venison chili. Anyone who has done much cooking knows not every dish is a winner. If Rollins ever made a bad dish, he’s not saying, but he has used some ingredients he is still unsure of, like tofu or clams. “We don’t have enough water in Oklahoma to grow a clam,” shares Rollins.

Cowboy Kent Rollins

Rollins’ favorite western movie is The Cowboys. I’m sure it has much to do with the scene where Will Anderson (John Wayne) interviews his new chuck wagon cook, Jebediah Nightlinger (Roscoe Lee Browne). Jebediah states, “Well, if you should get flooded out, stampeded out, frozen out or scalped by wild red Indians there’ll always be substantial food on the plate and coffee on the boil.” Rollins is much the same way; you never need to worry about going hungry while on the range as long as he is around.

For more information, visit:http://www.kentrollins.com