Skip to main content

The Cowboy Cauldron Lets You Cook Like a Rancher (No Ranch Needed)

We’ve made it through much of the crappy cold weather. Spring is just over the horizon and beyond that, the beautiful warm summer months. That means it’s time to start planning for grilling season. How you ask? Saving up for a new grill, that’s how. What better way to get excited about late spring and early summer than unveiling a brand new grill.

There are tons of grills out there, many are beautiful, many are super functional, but only one is going to make you feel like Clint G-D Eastwood: the Cowboy Cauldron. (If you just heard an Ennio Morricone song playing in your head, then you definitely need one of these.)

cowboy cauldron grilling
Cowboy Cauldron Co./Facebook

Unlike a grill, a Cowboy Cauldron adds a rustic talking piece to your outdoor entertainment space, carrying a timeless aesthetic that will match any patio furniture whether traditional or modern. Case in point: Award-winning chef Michael Chiarello loves his cauldron so much that he featured the fire pits on the cover of his NapaStyle Catalog. Cowboy Cauldrons are catching fire at boutique hotels, restaurants, ski lodges, dude ranches, and even business offices; users loving the design for its functional yet sculptural uniqueness.

Recommended Videos

The man behind Cowboy Cauldron Company, Mike Bertelsen, says, “We’re seeing a lot of interest in the culinary and celeb chef universe, with a bunch of chefs requesting them … plus older hipsters, 35- to 45-year-old guys who like being outside and like to entertain.”

Apart from its aesthetic sizzle, Bertelsen remarks that cauldrons have an almost magic ability to connect family and friends. “Almost every day I get a picture on email or Facebook showing a customer with their cauldron and what they’re doing with it and how much they love it,” Bertelsen says. Which, for him, is his biggest success yet. That’s because, before Bertelsen was an iron-cookin’ cowboy, he worked as a high-power lobbyist for the mutual funds industry. He made the drastic career switch to create a better family lifestyle, and now that intent is spreading like wildfire thanks to a simple cooking pit.

cowboy cauldron
Cowboy Cauldron

In the process of fitting the right cauldron to each family, Cowboy Cauldron walks its buyers through a fit process that helps recommend the right cauldron for the desires space — depending primarily on the amount of space available and the number of people being entertained. Their full range runs from 24 to 42 inches in diameter.

Cauldron cooking pro tip: Make sure you’re wearing pants that cover your legs and workman gloves when you’re setting up or touching the cauldron. They get pretty darn hot.

So the real question is: Are you an urban cowboy or big-time ranch boss? Each cauldron unit comes complete with tripod frame, suspension chain/hook/pin assembly, cauldron basin, two-piece, removable fire grate, and a double-hinged cooking grill. Prices range from $1,420 to $3,825.

The company offers other utensils and accessories to build out your collection, including pot tongs, pigtails, trammels, cauldron covers, and hand-wrought chains that are crafted by a blacksmith who works for the company full-time. “He’s pounding out these awesome pieces of art that will be around for hundreds of years. We’re keeping that craft alive. I’m pushing him hard to produce new things,” says Bertelsen.

As for the options of what to cook (this is the good part), go Cajun with a huge pot of seafood jambalaya; classic cowboy by heating beans, meat, spices, and peppers into a chili stew; or south of the border with a steaming bowl of pozole. Other than boils and stews, you can use your cauldron as a grill by piling it with wood and cooking up some killer meats.

Article originally published by Jahla Seppanen on September 8, 2017. Last updated by Sam Slaughter on February 19, 2018.

Jahla Seppanen
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Born and raised off-the-grid in New Mexico, Jahla Seppanen is currently a sports, fitness, spirits, and culture writer in…
Beverly Spirits and Cedar Ridge Distillery collaborate on a new whiskey
Beverly Spirits is collaboratiing to make this new single malt whiskey
The Beverly

If you’re a fan of collaborative whiskeys, you’ll love the new release from Beverly Spirits and Cedar Ridle Distilling. It’s called The Beverly: The QuintEssential Edition and it’s an American single malt whiskey that was matured for at least six years before being finished in first-fill Amontillado sherry cask and French oak barrels.
The Beverly: The QuintEssential Edition

This cask strength, 116.9-proof American single malt whiskey begins with a nose of dark chocolate, fresh leather, dried fruits, and oak. The palate is a mix of dried cherries, sticky toffee, sweet sherry, cocoa, and charred oaky wood.

Read more
Treat yourself to a cheeky adult dessert with Gin & Tonic popsicles
Freeze your G&T into popsicle form because why not
gin tonic popsicles copy of dscf9397 1

The Gin & Tonic is to my mind one of the finest drinks in existence, and even though it has just two basic ingredients it's still something that can be varied, tweaked, and perfected to your tastes. Whilst that usually involves trying out new gins, sometimes it can involve different brands of tonic water, or varying garnishes, or even changing its format from a slim collins glass to a big round Spanish-style copa glass.

But one change that's bound to make the drink a ton of fun to enjoy is to freeze it into popsicle form. This suggestion from Nolet's Gin involves simply taking all the ingredients of your favorite G&T, including the garnish, and freezing it in a popsicle mold. So what if it's winter now? G&T popsicles are for all year round as far as I'm concerned.
G&T Popsicles
Ingredients:

Read more
Four Roses is releasing a new single barrel bourbon collection
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of its flagship Single Barrel Bourbon, Four Roses is launching a new Single Barrel Collection
Four Roses

Four Roses is one of the most well-known and respected names in the bourbon world. It's been crafting high-quality bourbon since 1888. While you can't go wrong with the distillery's classic (and inexpensive) Four Roses Kentucky Straight Bourbon and Four Roses Small Batch Bourbon, it shines with its single-barrel expressions.
Four Roses Single Barrel Collection

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of its flagship Single Barrel Bourbon, Four Roses is launching a new Single Barrel Collection. Along with the classic and beloved Four Roses Single Barrel OBSV, the brand is releasing three new whiskeys: OBSF, OESK, and OESO. All of these new expressions are matured between 7-9 years and utilize Four Roses' proprietary combination of mash bills and various yeast strains featuring ten different recipes. If you enjoy the first Single Barrel Collection, you can get excited because the distillery plans to release a new set annually.

Read more