The Rock-Hard Food Cowboys Smashed Apart With Guns Before Eating (Yum)

Nothing works up a hunger like hitting the dusty trail on horseback or working a long day on the ranch. And when cowboys of yore were tired or needed to fuel up for a little more giddy-up, their go-to snack was hardtack, which they often washed down with booze in the Old West.

Made simply of water and flour (and occasionally, a touch of salt), hardtack was a water cracker of long ago — a distant precursor to the water crackers we see today on cheese platters at fancy soirees. Unlike more recent iterations, however, the aptly named hardtack was known for being especially tough on teeth, even being referred to as "sheet iron cracker," "tooth breaker", and "flour tile" back in the day. It was the melba toast of the old frontier.

Despite the lack of appeal, this cowboy cracker had many advantages for hungry herdsmen. It was easy to make, held up well against both time and the elements, was highly transportable, and required virtually no preparation — unless, of course, it was the preparation involved in making it possible to chew. Cowboys were said to have beaten their hardtack with the butt of their guns until it crumbled to pieces and therefore became less threatening to their teeth. For the sake of palatability, they also put it in a pan with grease or other foods in the morning, or even in their coffee to soften. But on the flip side, mushy hardtack was also much messier when cowboys planned to bring it with them on the trail.

It wasn't just cowboys who subsisted on hardtack. The food may date as far back as 6,000 B.C. and made a meal for many, including soldiers in the Civil War. Unfortunately, the toughness of the provision was the least of its defects. While getting hardtack wet might have made it much less jaw-breaking to munch on, it also allowed mold to grow — yet no mold ever stopped it from being served for lunch. Even worse, bugs liked hardtack, too, and would lay their eggs inside, leaving soldiers to come up with ways to remove contamination and improve taste.

Soaking it in their coffee killed any insects, whether through heat or drowning, as did throwing it on the fire. And, like the cowboys, soldiers would beat it with the bottoms of their guns until it broke apart. They then threw pieces of hardtack into soups or stews, fried it in lard, or, if they were lucky to have access to them, doctored it up with other ingredients to make it more flavorful. Some soldiers were even said to have blackened their hardtack in fire, ground it up, and added water to it to make a coffee-like beverage.

Despite everything, hardtack has long been praised for its longevity and alleged nutritiousness. And even though cowboys may have since branched out to include other staples in their diet, hardtack has never fully gone out of style. You can still buy some from stores and websites, and recipes abound online for homemade hardtack. Or you can whip up these hearty and tasty cowboy-inspired meals for yourself and your buckaroos. Yee-haw!