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Colorado celebrated its 149th year as a state at the beginning of August. But even before then, the pioneers who settled or moved along the territory took to open-fire cooking of rationed beans, stews and cornbread to gather strength and carry on in their journeys.

To this day, some restaurants in the state honor that early sustenance with their own hearty dishes. Here are a couple of recipes from The Fort, plus more Western-inspired dishes that should satisfy even the hungriest cowboy.

The Fort抖阴ap Hot Sausage Bean Dip

Now in its sixth decade, the Fort in Morrison has staked (no pun intended) its claim to the frontier food game, publishing its restaurant recipes in a long-running cookbook. The most recent edition, “The Fort Restaurant Cookbook,” by Holly Arnold Kinney, was published by TwoDot in 2021.

INGREDIENTS

2 pounds refried beans (two 16-ounce cans)

8 ounces dark beer

戮 pound buffalo sausage

戮 cup finely chopped white onion

3-5 serrano chiles, seeded and finely minced

1陆-2 cups grated cheddar cheese

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat the beans and beer in a double boiler to prevent burning.
2. Meanwhile, in a large saute pan, brown sausage and onion over medium heat. Stir to crumble the sausage as it cooks.
3. Pour off any fat and add the chiles. Saute a few minutes longer, then combine with the bean and beer mixture.
4. At the last minute, stir in the cheese, which will melt nicely into the warm dip. Serve with fresh, warm corn tortillas.

The Fort抖阴ap Roasted Buffalo Bone Marrow

Known by some as 鈥減rairie butter,鈥� the Fort抖阴ap beginner plate uses buffalo or beef femur bones. “The Fort Restaurant Cookbook” recipe recommends using a fork or small spoon to scoop out and eat the marrow.聽

INGREDIENTS

4 to 6 buffalo or beef femur bones

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1 baguette

1 tablespoon olive oil

Hawaiian red clay sea salt or other coarse sea salt

Cilantro sprigs or Italian parsley, for garnish

Tabasco Green Pepper Sauce, optional

DIRECTIONS

1. Saw the femur bones in half lengthwise or cut them into 1陆-inch thick discs. You might want to ask the butcher to do this for you.
2. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Arrange the marrow bones on a jelly-roll pan or baking sheet with sides and roast on the middle shelf of the oven for about 14 minutes. Watch the marrow as it cooks, as you want it cooked, but still gelatinous in the center. If overcooked, the marrow will liquefy.
3. While the bones are roasting, thinly slice the bread, brush lightly with olive oil, and arrange on a separate baking sheet. Place in the oven for about 5 minutes, until lightly toasted.
4. Arrange the marrow bones on oval serving plates. A sprinkling of Hawaiian red clay sea salt around the plate is very tasty and represents the Hawaiian fur traders hired by the American Fur Trade Company in the 1820s. Garnish with sprigs of cilantro or parsley.
5. Remove the marrow from the bones with marrow spoons or butter knives. Spread the marrow on the toasted French bread. If desired, top with a dash of green pepper sauce.

Cowboy Caviar

Depending on where you鈥檙e from, this simple dip is known as cowboy caviar or Texas caviar, and it抖阴ap a favorite at tailgates and potlucks all over the South. Its creator, Helen Corbitt, a dietitian from New York, had never heard of black-eyed peas when she moved to Texas in 1931. The exact details are fuzzy, but at some point in her 40 years working in restaurants there, she combined black-eyed peas with a simple vinaigrette, and it was a big hit. The recipe has evolved over the years, and you can find a number of variations online. Some contain corn and black beans (as this one does), and others avocado. Some call for bottled Italian salad dressing, others homemade. No matter how you tweak it, it抖阴ap always good with a pile of tortilla chips.聽

Yield: 8 cups. Source: Margaux Laskey, The New York Times.

INGREDIENTS

For the dressing:

鈪� cup olive oil

录 cup red wine vinegar

3 to 4 garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon granulated sugar

Kosher salt and black pepper

For the salad:

3 plum tomatoes, cored, seeded if desired, and diced

陆 red onion, finely diced (about 戮 cup)

1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed

1 (15-ounce) can black-eyed peas, rinsed

1陆 cups fresh corn kernels (from about 2 to 4 cobs) or thawed, drained frozen sweet corn (about 8 ounces)

1 red, green or yellow bell pepper, seeded and finely diced

1 jalape帽o, seeded and finely diced

陆 cup chopped cilantro leaves and tender stems, plus more for garnish, if desired

1 scallion, white and green parts, chopped, for garnish (optional)

Tortilla chips, for serving

DIRECTIONS

1. Make the dressing: In a medium bowl, whisk the olive oil, vinegar, garlic, sugar, 陆 teaspoon salt and 陆 teaspoon pepper to combine.
2. Add the tomatoes, red onion, black beans, black-eyed peas, corn, bell pepper, jalape帽o and cilantro. Toss to combine and season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours before serving.
3. To serve, toss well and season to taste. Sprinkle with scallions and serve with tortilla chips.

Brown Butter Skillet Cornbread

This lightly sweet cornbread has a crunchy, buttery crust, which comes from baking it in a hot skillet. If you have a cast-iron pan, this is the time to use it. The heavy, heat-retaining material will give you the darkest color (which equals the most flavor). But any large ovenproof skillet will work. And if you don鈥檛 have a skillet big enough to hold all the batter, you can either halve the recipe or bake the cornbread in a 9-by-13-inch pan. (Brown the butter first in a saucepan.) Your bread won鈥檛 have the same dark crust, but the moist crumb flavored with brown butter and maple syrup is ample recompense.

Yield: 12 servings. Start to finish: 1 hour. Source: Melissa Clark, The New York Times.

INGREDIENTS

12 tablespoons (1陆 sticks)/170 grams unsalted butter

陆 cup/120 ml maple syrup

2录 cups/530 ml buttermilk

3 large eggs

1陆 cups/180 grams yellow cornmeal, fine or medium-coarse grind

陆 cup/65 grams whole wheat flour

陆 cup/60 grams all-purpose flour

1陆 tablespoons/18 grams baking powder

1陆 teaspoons/9 grams kosher salt

陆 teaspoon/5 grams baking soda

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. On the stovetop, in a 11- or 12-inch skillet (ovenproof and preferably cast-iron), melt the butter over medium heat. Cook, swirling pan to lightly coat sides and bottom, until the foam subsides and the butter turns a deep nut brown. (Watch carefully to see that it does not burn.)
2. Pour brown butter into a large bowl. (Do not wipe out the pan.) Whisk the maple syrup into the butter, then whisk in buttermilk. The mixture should be cool to the touch; if not, let cool before whisking in the eggs. Then whisk in the cornmeal, flours, baking powder, salt and baking soda.
3. If the skillet is no longer hot (cast iron retains heat longer than other metals), reheat it briefly on the stove for a few minutes. Scrape batter back into it. Bake until the top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into it emerges clean, 30 to 40 minutes.
4. Cool in the skillet for 10 minutes before slicing.

Cowboy Stew

Bored of casseroles? Cowboy stew is every bit as filling and comforting but far easier.

Servings: 8. Active time: 1 hour 10 minutes. Source: Catherine Jessee, Southern Living.

INGREDIENTS

1 pound ground beef (85/15)

1 pound kielbasa sausage, sliced into 1/2-inch rounds

1 medium (10 ounces) yellow onion, chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)

3 medium garlic cloves, finely chopped (about 1 tablespoon)

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

4 cups beef stock

4 medium (20 ounces total) Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (about 3 cups)

2 (15.5-ounces) can dark kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 (28-ounces) can diced tomatoes

1 (15-ounces) can corn, drained

1 (14.5-ounces) can re-roasted diced tomatoes

2 teaspoons hot sauce

4 ounces sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded (1 cup)

1 chopped or sliced carrot (optional)

Sliced scallions, for serving

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high. Add ground beef and cook, stirring occasionally to break up beef into smaller pieces, until browned, about 4 to 6 minutes.
2. Add kielbasa, onion, garlic, chili powder, salt, cumin and pepper; cook, stirring often, until onion is tender and kielbasa is browned, about 6 minutes.
3. Stir in beef stock, potatoes, kidney beans, diced tomatoes, corn, re-roasted diced tomatoes and hot sauce. Bring to a boil over medium-high; reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until avors meld and potatoes are tender, about 45 to 50 minutes.
4. Divide among serving bowls; top with scallions and cheese before serving.

Cowboy Beans

These beans are sweet, smoky and tangy.聽

Yield: 6-8 servings. Total time: 1 hour 20 minutes. Source:聽 Leah Perez, The Pioneer Woman

INGREDIENTS

1/2 pound thick-cut bacon, chopped

2 green bell peppers, chopped

1 sweet onion, diced

1 pound lean ground beef

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon ground chili powder

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon ground paprika

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 (15-ounce) can pinto beans

1 (15-ounce) can cannellini beans

1 (15-ounce) can kidney beans

1 (15-ounce) can black beans

3/4 cup ketchup

1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

3 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

2 tablespoon yellow mustard

2 teaspoon hot sauce

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 350. In a large Dutch oven over medium heat, cook the bacon until crisp, 7 to 9 minutes. Remove from the pot with a slotted spoon, leaving the bacon drippings. Add the bell peppers and onion to the bacon drippings and saute them until tender and lightly golden, 7 to 9 minutes.
2. Add the ground beef and garlic, and crumble the beef until it is no longer pink. Stir in the chili powder, salt, paprika, and ground black pepper.
3. Drain and rinse the pinto, cannellini, kidney and black beans. Stir the beans, ketchup, 3/4 cup water, brown sugar, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, yellow mustard, hot
   sauce, and cooked bacon into the ground beef mixture.
4. Cover and bake the beans in the oven until the liquid has thickened, about 45 minutes. Serve hot.

Tip: Swap a green bell pepper with a poblano or jalapeno for a spicier kick!

Spicy Dried Fruit Dessert Sauce

Hound’s ears with whirlup sauce (fried dough and a sauce made from water, sugar and dried fruit) were popular desserts on the range, but today, we can do better than that.

This recipe is entirely flexible; feel free to add orange zest, walnuts, apricots or whatever you like. The sauce will be equally good on pumpkin or sweet potato pie, ice cream or baked apples. Or even over hound’s ears.

Yield: 2 cups. Total time: 1 day or more. Source: Julia Moskin, The New York Times.

INGREDIENTS

For the minced dried fruit:

1 tart apple, peeled and cored

4 ounces golden raisins

3 ounces dark brown sugar

2 ounces prunes or dried figs, coarsely chopped

2 ounces walnut or pecan halves

1 ounces dried cherries

1 ounce cold butter, cut into pieces

陆 ounce crystallized ginger, coarsely chopped

录 cup brandy, like Cognac or Calvados

1 lemon, zested and juiced

陆 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

录 teaspoon freshly ground allspice

录 teaspoon freshly ground clove

To finish the sauce:

Dark rum, apple cider or orange juice

Black pepper to taste

1 to 2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Combine all ingredients except those to finish the sauce in a food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped; do not pur茅e. Transfer to an airtight container and let rest at least 1 day, or up to 4 weeks.
2. When ready to serve, transfer to a saucepan and add enough rum or other liquid to loosen. Heat until warm and bubbly. If desired, add black pepper to make the mixture more spicy. To make a richer sauce, whisk in cold butter 1 tablespoon at a time, to taste.
3. Serve warm over ice cream, pumpkin pie or baked apples.