What James Arness And The Cast Of Gunsmoke Were Actually Eating (And Drinking) On The Dodge City Set

There were many factors that helped make "Gunsmoke", the legendary TV Western that ran for 20 seasons between 1955 and 1975, an institution. One of them was the sense of authenticity that imbued the show and its 1870s setting of Dodge City, Kansas. This was aided by the fact that, while Dodge City may have been a set, the food and drink consumed by "Gunsmoke" star James Arness and his fellow cast members was entirely real.

Episodes of "Gunsmoke" would often find characters at Dodge City's local diner, Delmonico's (not to be confused with New York City's Delmonico's, the fine-dining establishment). In this fictitious eatery, James Arness' Marshall Matt Dillon and his compatriots would converse over meals including stew, chili, steak, barbecue ribs, and apple and pumpkin pie, none of which was fake.

In what appears to be a vintage article from an unnamed publication, posted in the Facebook group The Legacy of Gunsmoke, the writer notes that the food on the show was not only real but extremely palatable — so much so that the cast had to be careful not to gain weight each season. Arness in particular had a prodigious appetite, according to "Gunsmoke"'s prop creator Clem Widrig, "On location I've seen Jim polish off three steaks at lunchtime, then go into a scene where he's supposed to eat stew and clean up three big plates."

Meanwhile, all the beer drank in Dodge City's Long Branch saloon was also authentic, as it was impossible to find anything else that produced the unmistakable foam of draft beer. However, per True West magazine, the whiskey seen in "Gunsmoke" was either tea or colored water.

The barbecued dishes such as ribs, beef, and roast rabbit seen in "Gunsmoke" were sourced from a Hollywood cafe that specialized in such fare, but when it came to stew, there was no substitute for home cooking. Various kinds of stew were among the campfire meals that built the American West, and all the stew in "Gunsmoke" was prepared by Clem Widrig's wife Ruth, whose recipe called for 10 pounds of chuck beef cooked in a canning kettle, along with three bunches of carrots, a dozen potatoes, two bunches of parsnips, one bunch of celery, one garlic bulb, various herbs, and a bottle of Burgundy wine. Reportedly, between "the cast and crew, there were never any leftovers." If the thought has you salivating, we can't claim it's a match for Ruth Widrig's,  but you may want to check out our own recipe for old-fashioned beef stew.

Food also played a part in some on-set practical jokes. Buck Taylor, who played gunsmith Newly O'Brien on "Gunsmoke" and may be better known to modern viewers as Emmett Walsh in "Yellowstone," recalled in an interview with the DeSoto Times-Tribune that just as Taylor was being shot in a close-up, a mischievous James Arness was liable to produce an ice cream bar from behind his back and start eating it. "I'd have to be serious and say something like 'Marshal, there's a fight in the Long Branch!' And he's there eating an ice cream. He made me laugh so much."