Ree doesn’t have a ton of time to watch TV between her family, her Food Network show, her Walmart line and life on the ranch, but she has been known to put Yellowstone season premieres on her calendar! The popular series tells the story of the Dutton family, who live on a Montana ranch and experience a fair amount of drama involving squabbles over land—and some dark secrets.
Although Kevin Costner is the most recognizable star (he plays patriarch John Dutton III), Gabriel “Gator” Guilbeau often steals the show as the Dutton family cook. He sort of plays himself: He learned the art of Louisiana cooking from his family and was tapped by Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan to appear on camera while he was working as chef for the crew. He has since made a handful of guest appearances and often provides much-needed comic relief—all the while still making Yellowstone recipes for the crew. We caught up with Gator between shoots on the ranch.
On cooking for 300 people.
“Some days I start at 3 a.m. It makes a difference to people to have food that’s hot, homemade and delicious when they’re working 16-plus hours. My team will hightail it up a mountain in ATVs and set up tables in the woods in the middle of nowhere. Filming isn’t as glamorous as you’d think.”
What the cast really loves.
“My Cajun cooking—étouffée or shrimp-and-corn stew. A few days a week I’ll make something special for the handful of people who have been here for a long time. We’re close.”
On Kevin Costner’s favorites.
“He likes apple pie. And chili. And hot dogs. That’s his principal diet, and some ice cream, maybe. Then he’ll tell me how he shouldn’t, he’s on a diet. Then once again he’ll eat the pie.”
On his first starring role.
“I went to the wardrobe department with a greasy apron and ash from the barbecue on my face. And they looked at each other and said, ‘This is perfect!’ Taylor says, ‘OK, go do some Gator stuff.’ I saw onions and potatoes, I had my chef’s knife with me, so I started chopping them for a stew. And from behind the camera Taylor goes, ‘Oh, yes.'”
About that octopus scene.
“There’s a scene where I have to serve octopus to John Dutton and the whole cast was in the dining room. It gave me confidence instead of being stuck serving Kevin Costner grilled octopus by myself! I set it down in front of him and he looked me dead in the eyes, like I had stolen his juice box or something, and asked what the hell it was. That’s when Kevin decided to use my name in the show.”
How ‘Yellowstone’ might end.
“It’s been an ongoing joke between the cast and myself that in the very last scene of Yellowstone, most everybody’s died and I ‘m climbing up a ladder to the Yellowstone barn, taking down the Y and putting up a G. And Beth [John’s daughter] is in the background, looking up at me, swirling a glass of whiskey. It’s perfect because I ‘m the only one who has never gotten involved with the fighting.”
A Typical Day’s Menu:
Breakfast: “They love their baked goods,” Gator says of the cast and crew. Usually that means banana bread, but on occasion he makes his Cajun “Pop-Tart”: canned biscuits rolled in sugar, filled with his homemade jam and dusted with powdered sugar.
Lunch: Gator preps 400 to 500 sandwiches for lunch. Many are filled with smoked chicken or meat, though there are also veggie options like lettuce wraps. For snacks he puts out giant pineapple spears: “Cutting things too small scares people away!”
Dinner: Classics like shrimp scampi, pasta and sauce, garlic bread and Caesar salad are typical, plus sides like potato salad. There’s no skimping on quality—the crew gets grass-fed beef straight from Taylor’s own Four Sixes Ranch in Texas. It’s “beyond
prime,” in Gator-speak.