John Wayne Casserole Vs Cowboy Casserole: The Difference Between The Comfort Meals

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Certain foods were staples of the Old West, including preserved meats like salt pork and jerky and long-lasting dry goods like beans, which could be converted into hearty dishes like chuckwagon beans and son-of-a-gun stew over a campfire. Sturdy beverages like cowboy coffee also made the must-have list of provisions out on the trail.

Movies have glamorized this time period and its inhabitants for over a century. While famous Hollywood cowboys like John Wayne got their meals from caterers on film sets, not from chuckwagons, they nonetheless inspired recipes just as iconic as that rustic prairie fare. A delicious example is a beefy, cheesy casserole named for The Duke, aka John Wayne casserole.

This dish isn't to be confused with a distinctly different recipe called cowboy casserole. The two are sometimes spoken of interchangeably, but this is inaccurate. In fact, The Duke's casserole, in its original form, wasn't a casserole at all but a soufflé. Versions of the dish that emerged later come a bit closer to the components of cowboy casserole, but even then, the two recipes have key variances that make it easy to distinguish them.

The main differentiator is that cowboy casserole has a layer of potatoes on top (often frozen tater tots), while the modernized versions of John Wayne casserole have a layer of biscuits on the bottom (often canned, refrigerated biscuits). Whichever creation gets served to you — the original John Wayne soufflé (literally just cheese, eggs, chiles, and tomatoes), a modern interpretation of the dish with the biscuit foundation, or a heaping helping of cowboy casserole — the good news is you're in for a tasty slathering of cheesy, filling comfort food either way.

We have the dish known as John Wayne casserole thanks to — at least in part — some old recipe books. One was compiled by a 10-year-old named Cara Connery in the 1970s. She had lost relatives to cancer and decided to undertake a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society. The child wrote letters to over 1,400 celebrities, asking for their favorite recipes to include in a cookbook that would be sold to benefit the charity. John Wayne was among the celebs who responded, and the recipe he contributed was christened John Wayne Casserole (whether the actor called it that himself or it was an innovation of Cara and her co-compiler, her mother, we don't know).

Only 10,000 copies of Cara's book were published, and no transcripts of the book or the original John Wayne recipe appear to exist online. But another publication steers us toward the recipe the actor most likely contributed. Wayne's third wife, Pilar Wayne, wrote "Pilar Wayne's Favorite and Fabulous Recipes," in which she identified two of her famous husband's favorite dishes — one of which she called "Duke's Soufflé." John Wayne habitually carried a copy of the recipe with him and even cooked it for others when filming on location. Since Duke's Soufflé was his favorite dish, it was almost certainly this recipe he would have sent to Cara Connery.

John Wayne Casserole, aka Duke's Soufflé, consists of simple ingredients that combine into a light but incredibly rich dish. Later adaptations add in things like ground beef, taco seasoning, sour cream, mayonnaise, and veggies like bell peppers and corn, along with the aforementioned base of biscuits.

Cowboy casserole is markedly different from either version of John Wayne casserole. It's something of an "anything goes" dish — sort of the mulligan stew of casseroles, as the recipe is very adaptable. Some suggest cooking it when you need to clean out your pantry, as you can toss in virtually any type of canned vegetables you have on hand.

Along with the topping of sliced or chopped potatoes, or even tots, variations of the dish often create a sauce using cream of mushroom soup, cream of chicken, or a combination of the two, along with dairy like milk and sour cream. Because there is flexibility in the soup you use, you can experiment with things like a nice cream of celery or cheddar cheese soup — they would probably be delicious.

Veggies might make an appearance, including corn, spinach, bell peppers, and tomatoes (okay, technically that's a botanical fruit). In the protein department, ground beef is popular, but others prefer meat like bacon or sirloin in addition to (or in place of) the ground beef, and others use ground chicken or turkey. Some recipes call for beans, while others don't.

While Duke's Soufflé doesn't add any spices (not even salt and pepper), many cowboy casseroles pile them on, adding chili powder, cumin, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, premade taco seasoning, oregano, and even brown sugar. Some also add flavoring components like Worcestershire sauce. Most call for salt and pepper at the very least.