John Wayne Casserole

We have a guest room that faces movie star legend, John Wayne’s historic 26 Bar (Herefords) Ranch. We live in a community that values its John Wayne connection. His picture is hanging in several local businesses. When I saw an article about John Wayne’s Casserole, I thought, “Really? Did he inspire a casserole?”

Searching for John Wayne’s Casserole Recipe

After doing several internet searches, I initially found out via various recipe websites that the history of John Wayne’s Casserole popularity dates back to 1979 (the same year he died from cancer) when he supposedly contributed a recipe to a cancer fundraising cookbook titled “Cooking with Love from Cara and Her Friends.”

Did the recipe’s popularity start with a 10 year old girl?

Back in the late 70’s a cookbook was created by a 10 year-old girl named Cara and her mother, that was aimed to raise funds for the American Cancer Society after losing relatives to cancer. Their goal was to create a cookbook that featured different celebrities favorite recipes. Cara and her mother wrote letters to over 1,400 famous people asking them if they would contribute their favorite dish recipe for her cookbook.

Cara’s celebrity-inspired cookbook featured contributions from Alan Alda (whole wheat bread), Captain Kangaroo (pork chops with sauerkraut and apple), Ed Asner (noodle pudding), Golda Meir (chicken soup), Senator Hubert H. Humphrey (beef soup), President Jimmy Carter (5 recipes including strawberry cake and peanut brittle), John Wayne (egg and cheese casserole), Robert Redford (whole wheat bread), President Ronald Reagan (sweet-and-sour salad dressing, and veal scaloppine), and Walter Cronkite (meat loaf). Some of those who responded didn’t have a recipe to give her, but replied with greetings instead. George Burns sent in a tip “if there’s ketchup on the table, then I know the food is good”, and Pope John Paul II sent in a prayer. The book also included notes from David Bowie, the singer, and Mario Andretti, the sports car racer.

John Wayne’s Recipe?

Without having a copy of the original cookbook, I concluded that John Wayne’s original recipe contribution to Cara’s book was an egg and cheese casserole. I also determined the original cookbook is a rare find today (out of print), and I could not find a copy via eBook.

I did find several (unverified) versions of the “original” John Wayne Casserole recipe. I even searched my 80+ year old mother’s and my grandmother’s old cookbooks and recipes. My family did not have a copy of the recipe, despite the fact that we watched most of John Wayne’s movies.

1973 or 1979?

I happened to find a blog post with a picture of “John Wayne’s Cheese Casserole” recipe on a vintage McCall’s Great American Recipe Card with a 1973 copyright printed on the card. (I actually remember seeing some of these recipe cards back in the early 70’s!) Honestly, the picture of the casserole did NOT appeal to me at all. In other words, I would not have cooked this recipe back then. I found it interesting that the copyright date on the McCall’s recipe card preceded Cara’s cookbook date, making me wonder if it was Cara or McCall’s (or both) that contributed to the popularity of John Wayne’s Casserole.

The Original Recipe?

Below are three John Wayne Casserole recipe variations that are relatively similar to what I believe was the original recipe.

# One:

John Wayne Casserole
1 can (4 ½ ounces) chopped green chilies
1 pound Monterey Jack cheese, grated
1 pound sharp Cheddar cheese, grated
4 eggs, separated
⅔ cup evaporated milk or heavy cream
1 tablespoon flour
½ teaspoon salt
Cayenne pepper to taste
2 ripe tomatoes, sliced thick

Butter a 2-quart, oven-proof casserole dish. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Toss the chilies with the cheeses and place into dish. Combine the egg yolks, evaporated milk, flour and salt and cayenne, and beat thoroughly. Whip the egg whites until stiff and fold into the yolk mixture. Pour over cheese mixture in dish and pierce with fork to allow liquid to absorb into cheese. Bake 40 minutes. Place tomato slices in a layer on top and bake an additional 10 minutes. Serves 8 to 10.

Reference: https://www.cooksinfo.com/john-wayne-casserole


# Two:

This recipe is closest to the McCalls’s 1973 recipe card.

John Wayne Casserole
2 (4-ounce) cans green chilies, drained
1 pound Monterey Jack cheese, coarsely grated
1 pound Cheddar cheese, coarsely grated
4 eggs, separated (whites & yolks)
⅔ cup canned evaporated milk, undiluted
1 tablespoon flour
½ teaspoon salt
⅛ teaspoon pepper
2 medium tomatoes sliced

Heat oven to 325 degrees.

Remove seeds from chilies and dice (the) peppers. In a large bowl combine grated cheeses and green chilies. Turn into a well-buttered, shallow 2-quart, 12-by-8-by-2- inch, casserole (dish). In a large bowl with electric mixer at high speed, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form when beater is slowly raised. In a small bowl combine egg yolks, milk, flour, salt and pepper. Mix until well-blended.

Using a rubber spatula, gently fold beaten whites into egg yolk mixture. Pour this mixture over cheese in casserole and, using a fork, help it “ooze” through the cheese. Bake 30 minutes and remove from oven and arrange sliced tomatoes, overlapping around the edge of casserole.

Bake 30 minutes longer or until a silver knife inserted in center comes out clean. Garnish with a sprinkling of chopped green chilies if desired. Makes six to eight servings.

Reference: https://www.cooksinfo.com/john-wayne-casserole


# Three:

The shortest and simplest version of the recipe, probably written for an experienced cook.

JOHN WAYNE, Actor
CHEESE CASSEROLE
2 cans diced green chilies
1 lb. Jack cheese, coarsely grated
1 Ib. cheddar cheese, coarsely grated
4 eggs, separated
1 small can evaporated milk
1 TBSP flour

Beat evaporated milk and flour with egg yolks. Season with salt and pepper. Add stiffly beaten egg whites, folding them in gently. In a deep dish casserole, well buttered, mix shredded cheese with chiles; pour egg mixture over cheese and ”ooze” it through with a fork. Bake casserole 30 mins in a preheated 325º oven. Remove and top with slices of fresh tomato. Return to oven and bake 30 mins more.

Is it still John Wayne’s Casserole recipe today?

It is obvious the recipe has morphed over the years. If you do a Pinterest search today for John Wayne Casserole recipes you will often find a different version of a casserole supposedly made popular by the University of Mississippi Medical Center Cafeteria.

The Mississippi version is more of a Southwest Tex-Mex version (IMO) based on the ingredients. They added a biscuit based crust, ground beef and taco seasoning; they left out the eggs and use less cheese. The changes lead to my question, “Is it still John Wayne’s Casserole recipe just because of they use his name?” The university recipe version was nicknamed “The Duke.” I was unable to verify if this version is still served at the medical center, though several recipe websites report it is.

One thing is for sure, the history connected to the movie icon, John Wayne, lives on today despite time.

We aren’t just a market, we are Rustic Country Market Living.

Inspiring Home Life ♥️,

THE RELENTLESS REDECORATOR

Backyard Wood Fired (Pizza) Oven

We love pizza!!! Especially NY style pizza. In fact, we took our grandsons on a Pizza Tasting Adventure a few years ago. We visited 4 build your own pizza restaurants. We watched them build and cook our pizza, which created an inspiration in us to do it at home.

We decided we wanted a wood fired outdoor brick oven, so we started to research how to build one. There’s a lot of oven options out there. Gas, wood, metal, brick, premade, or build. We decided to buy a DIY wood fired pizza oven kit from The Fire Brick Co.. The company is located in Australia. We purchased their D105 Oven Kit. Their attention to detail and support was phenomenal.

The process of building your own pizza oven is time consuming. If you prefer instant gratification, you may want to purchase a ready made metal one. We wanted one that looked authentic and we could use over and over again. We wanted to be able to see into the oven from our hot tub we installed in fall of 2022, creating a resort like atmosphere in our backyard.

July, 2023: Foundation & Base

We started to build the oven in our backyard in July, 2023. After we decided on which company to buy from, the next decision was yard location. We wanted it located near our back patio. We had to prep the ground before the kit arrived. The process of building it required a lot of concrete and rebar.

Point # 1: We recommend you have construction skills (or a friend with construction skills) to built a DIY wood fired pizza oven.

August, 2023: The Dome

It’s been over 1 month into this project. It took 2 weeks to complete the brick dome. Then we had to build a cover over it to protect it from the elements so it would not crack. That took 1 day.

Once the cover was done, the next steps were putting the insulation over the dome, finishing the front edge, and attaching the chimney so we could test the oven. That took 12 days.

September, 2023: First Fire

A little over 2 months into this project we were able to build 4 major firings in our oven AFTER allowing proper curing time as per the instructions.

October, 2023: Final Touches

All that was left was painting the dome (had to pick out the perfect paint color) and adding side walls to the covering. Total project time was a little over 3 months.

Not just a Pizza Oven!

The key to good pizza is the crust, the sauce and the CHEESE! We needed to find a good recipe for pizza dough/crust and sauce. The sauce was easy, but finding a perfect dough/crust we like was trial and error. We finally settled on a quick, thin crust recipe. You can view some of our pizza crust ideas on Pinterest board named: Roll it and pat it, and mark it with a P. (For Pizza Dough & ME!)

In addition to making pizza in our oven, we’ve grilled steaks, baked meatloaf, baked lasagna in an iron baking dish, smoked peppers & tomatoes for our homemade salsa. The oven stays warm over night, so we can easily use it the following day.

I gotta ask: “What would you cook in a wood fired oven?”

The Relentless Redecorator

We love our wood fired oven. I kinda wish we had one inside our house! And yes, we have to stock up on the proper wood to cook with. Our #1 choice: Oak.

We aren’t just a market, we are Rustic Country Market Living.

Inspiring Home Life ♥️,

THE RELENTLESS REDECORATOR

Do you Pinterest?

Are you following Rustic Country Market on Pinterest?

Since we retired we no longer use meal kits for our meals. As convenient as they were, they no longer fit our lifestyle. Instead, we compost, we garden, we can and freeze a lot of our own food; plus we have chickens for eggs, and we buy meat from local farmers/ranchers.

That said, we now collect recipes on Pinterest to cook most of our meals. We have a variety of boards related to different types of food.

We also “Pin” craft ideas on Pinterest.

If it inspires us, we “Pin” it!

If it inspires you, “Pin” it!

We aren’t just a market, we are Rustic Country Market Living.

Inspiring Home Life ♥️,

THE RELENTLESS REDECORATOR

Factor 75…

It was after 5:30 PM and our Factor 75 box had not arrived at our house. OnTrac showed our box was still out for delivery. I ended up calling OnTrac to get a status on our delivery because it was going to get dark outside soon. I had to turn the porch light on so they could find us. Our first box of Factor 75 meals was finally delivered by OnTrac at 7:11 PM.

Package Arrived

The contents were well insulated. Factor 75 packed the food with 3 ice packs. The gel in the ice packs are nontoxic, but not biodegradable.

Unlike other meal services we’ve tried, each Factor 75 meal is cooked from scratch by their chefs. Our first order included 2 – Smoked Pulled Pork, 2- Lemon Rosemary Chicken Breasts and 2- Spicy Turkey Poblano Bowls.

The Smoked Pulled Pork was extremely tasty. The meat was lean. It included Carnitas Style Pork, Chili Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Corn.

My husband really enjoyed the Spicy Turkey Poblano Bowl included Spicy Turkey, Green Beans and Sour Cream.

The Lemon Rosemary Chicken was very flavorful. It included Chicken, Cauliflower Rice and Carrots. There were no leftovers, but the portion size was filling.

One might compare Factor 75 to frozen box food, but it is fresh, not frozen. The meals taste like a home cooked meal and/or high quality restaurant food.

Every meal is free of gluten, soy, hormones, antibiotics, and preservatives. All meats are pasture-raised and grass-fed and their produce is organic.

Source: Factor 75 WebsitE FAQs

Until next time…

Inspiring Home Life,

We aren’t just a market, we are Rustic Country Market Living.

Inspiring Home Life ♥️,

THE RELENTLESS REDECORATOR