Everybody needs a good meal, and not just for nutrition but for the sheer joy of eating. Cowboys working the range and branding cattle need a cook who can provide a quality that’ll stick to their bones. Chuck wagon cooks are a dying breed, and of the few, arguably Kent Rollins is the most famous and recognizable. With his smile, sense of humor, and charm, he has been on numerous television shows and competitions allowing him to reach millions of people around the globe. In addition, Kent’s storytelling has earned him the Best Cowboy Humorist and Storyteller of the Year by the Academy of Western Artists.

I was thrilled to have the opportunity to sit down with the cook, author, and storyteller himself so that I could learn more about him and hear his story. Hope you enjoy it! 

Rob: So how did you ultimately get into cowboy cooking? 

Kent: My mother taught me how to cook when I was nine or ten years old. There were a lot of days where it was a whole lot warmer in the kitchen than it was on horseback. So I was always glad to help her in the kitchen, and we cooked together forever. I rode bulls for a long, long time. The good Lord took care of me and I never did get hurt too bad and was able to make a good living at it. My mother had a brother who was a hunting guide and an outfitter, so I worked about four seasons out there with him. I remember the first time we ever got into camp he threw out two Dutch ovens and he said, “I know your mama taught you how to cook, so you be the cook.” So that’s where I started with Dutch oven cooking. 

I started cooking on my first few ranches in the spring of ‘92 and word got around the cowboys circle pretty quick. So we were in pretty high demand for a long time. There was an admiration that cowboys had for me because they knew I’d been on the branding side, standing right by that fire, doing the job they were doing. 

Rob: You’ve got a lot of stories to tell, do you write them down somewhere?

Kent: We have three cookbooks out and there’s a lot of stories in each cookbook. We wanted them to be more than just cookbooks for our readers.

Rob: When you look back, is this the life that you thought you’d be living? 

Kent: I never take it for granted. When I think about what I get to do and the people I get to meet, we’re so blessed.

Rob: Cowboys are some of the smartest, hardest working people in our country. What do you think of when it comes to a cowboy’s place in society?

Kent: True ranch cowboys that have made a living at it. They are also some of the most sincere, polite, and religious people I’ve ever met. They’re true stewards of the land because they know it comes from God, to begin with, and they’re going to take care of it to help feed families.  

Rob: What’s keeping you busy these days?

Kent: Well, we have nearly 3 million subscribers on YouTube, and that keeps us pretty busy. Shannon does all the filming and editing. People always ask, how many people are on our crew? I said me, Shannon, and five dogs. And the dogs have very limited responsibility. People will see you standing in front of a camera but they don’t know all the prep time and work that goes into the raw footage. Then you cut it down to where it’s a finished product of anywhere from 12 to 18 minutes. It takes a long time. You work on a recipe, maybe once or twice a week, then you shoot a video two or three times a week. But we have fans from everywhere and it’s more than a cooking show. We keep it very clean, and very wholesome. And I think that’s really what the country needs right now is entertainment like that.

Rob: I think that idea of people sitting down and enjoying viewing something as a family is very lost. What do you hope people come away with after watching your videos?

Kent: Well, I have the easy part of it and Shannon has the hard part. She used to try to edit everything to where it was really clean but we realized that people want simple, they want to see you mess up, and they want to see the bloopers. We get emails all the time that say “This is what our kids watch at night before we go to bed” or “You got me through chemo.” And those emails just touch our hearts. For us, it’s something that as long as the good Lord continues to give us, we’ll continue to do it.

Rob: between the hard work you guys put in and the sense of humor you both have, you and Shannon are role models. What do you think about that?

Kent: We get that quite a bit. People will say, “Well, I guess you think you’re pretty famous.” and “You’re a celebrity now.” And I always say, well, if I’m a celebrity to my wife, and God knows who I am, then I guess I’m pretty famous. We do have a lot of fan interaction wherever we go but it’s something we never take for granted because you never know who you might reach that day, or who you might help with just a simple handshake, a smile, a hello, or opening the door for someone. We should all be working to be a better neighbor every day. 

Kent’s Closing Thoughts

“I have a good time every day and work with the person that I love the most. God has blessed us more than we ever deserved. I can still remember being nine or ten years old, and all the old timers that I got to see always said, they weren’t working for the money, they were working because a neighbor should always help their neighbor. 

If you liked this interview and want to spend more time with Kent & Shannon visit kentrollins.com and on YouTube at youtube.com/cowboykentrollins.