COOKING FOR COWBOYS

Germantown resident regularly heads West to rustle up grub from a chuck wagon

By Michael Waddell, Special to The Daily Memphian Updated: September 23, 2018 11:17 AM CT | Published: September 21, 2018 3:55 PM CT

<strong>Germantown resident Steve Gibson found a way to combine his love for cooking and his passion for woodworking in the form of his 1915 Springfield wagon he uses to compete in national chuckwagon cook-offs. Every October, Gibson and his trusty wagon make the journey out West to the Lincoln County Cowboy Symposium in Lincoln County, New Mexico, to compete in an event Gibson refers to as the “Super Bowl of chuckwagon cook-offs.”</strong> (Patrick Lantrip/Daily Memphian) — Germantown resident Steve Gibson found a way to combine his love for cooking and his passion for woodworking in the form of his 1915 Springfield wagon he uses to compete in national chuckwagon cook-offs. Every October, Gibson and his trusty wagon make the journey out West to the Lincoln County Cowboy Symposium in Lincoln County, New Mexico, to compete in an event Gibson refers to as the “Super Bowl of chuckwagon cook-offs.” (Patrick Lantrip/Daily Memphian)

Not very many people have spent a month on a working ranch sleeping under the stars, feeding cowboys three meals a day as they prepared the spring herd. Germantown resident and longtime FedEx employee Steve Gibson is one of those people, cooking from a chuck wagon in an atmosphere far removed from suburbia. “I love being out there and thinking about how it once was like – what were people doing back then and what was it like to eat back then?” said Gibson. “It’s quite interesting studying U.S. history. Everything cowboys are doing now is what vaqueros, descendants from Spain, were doing back then in Mexico.

Topics

Bell Ranch chuck wagon cooking Spanish Ranch Steve Gibson World Championship Chuckwagon Cookoff Competition

Michael Waddell

Michael Waddell is a native Memphian with more than 20 years of professional writing and editorial experience, working most recently with The Daily News and High Ground News.

Want to comment on our stories or respond to others? Join the conversation by subscribing now. Only paid subscribers can add their thoughts or upvote/downvote comments. Our commenting policy can be viewed here.

COOKING FOR COWBOYS

Germantown resident regularly heads West to rustle up grub from a chuck wagon

Topics

Michael Waddell

Comments

Email Editions

Trending Now

Calkins: A birth, a death and an improbable reunion — after more than three decades

Lucchesi’s heads back to grocery stores

Japanese department store coming to Germantown

The Peabody Memphis to start $18M renovation in early March

Memphians ask mayor questions about Elon Musk, MSCS and drive-out taggers