Vail Ranch meals included beef, beans, avocados and sausage

It is no surprise that The Vail Cattle Company served beef to their cowboys. Every cookhouse meal featured platters of steak, beans and tortillas with full-bodied coffee and pie on the side.

People said if you had business with the Vails, plan to arrive just before lunch so you would be invited to join them. Good food was a perk for working for the Vails. Cowhands had a comfortable place to sleep and enough food to fuel their exertions.

Vail cooks prepared carne seca, beef jerky, for men to carry in their saddlebags. A hunk of uncooked beef roast was pounded thin, seasoned with salt, pepper an...