Gator

[jhlurie]

I far from the most adventurous of foodies.  I'm downright conservative, and the list of things I won't eat might rival the list of things I will.  

But for some reason I've never had a problem with Alligator (I suspect I'd like Rattlesnake too, but that's another topic).

My three experiences with Gator have been as a sausage in Gumbo, as a fried concoction treated kind of like Calamari and as a filet.

What other Gator eatin' experiences are out there?  Do folks other than the cajuns eat it?  Is Crocodile an acceptible substitute, and if so who eats it?  Aussies?

[grahame]

You can certainly get crocodile here in Australia, though I must say its not exactly a common local thing - more something for the tourists :) - as with most other Australian native animals, though I'm yet to see Koala anywhere...  

I've seen crocodile served ranging from teriyaki style to crocodile pies - seems you can get just about anything in a pie here.  I tried a pie once, and to be honest I wasn't all that taken with it.  I'll have a go at most things, and there isn't much I don't like, but I didn't really like the taste nor the texture of the crocodile meat.  Having never tried gator, I don't know how similar they are.

[Rail Paul]

Gator is occasionally on the specials board at Palazzo in Montclair NJ.

Breaded and deep fried (McNugget style) with a selection of dipping sauces. Found it to be tough, resembled (over cooked) chicken. They offered a shredded version with julienne carrots at one point, wasn't impressed with that, either.

[jhlurie]

It's 14.5 months later, and I'm still curious about eGullet user's experiences with gator. So I'm bumping this.

Bump.

Maybe I got lucky in that--unlike Paul--the gator I've had wasn't that "tough". Does gator get better when tenderized?

[Simon Majumdar]

My two experiences were both in NOLA ( or just outside )

Jaques-imo's in the Garden District did an "Aligator Cheesecake " Which was a rich souffle with chunks of smoked gator and a rich cheese. It was pretty special

On the other hand we also had a wonderful plate of fried Gator tails at the B&C seafood shack after doing the tourist thing and going on a swamp tour. These were good but not a patch on the deep fried bullfrogs legs that came with them

S

[Bux]

I recall having it once in Louisiana. It was deep fried. It was tough and dry like overcooked lean pork. I don't know if it had been overcooked. I thought it tasted more like pork than chicken. There was a producer/distributor? of gator at the recent restaurant show in the Javits Center. He had samples. I don't recall trying it, but if I did, it didn't change my original impression. I'd imagine aligator gets tender when it's tenderized. If it doesn't, it wasn't tenderized. Better is a relative thing.

[southern girl]

Gator is popular in FL...you see it in many ways...fried gator tail bits, plain ol' fried, sausage, gumbo, pounded and served piccata style...but my favorite...as sushi....spicy gator hand roll ...fried gator tail with masago, japanese mayo, chili oil and sliced scallions.

[jhlurie]

Okay, now "pounded and served piccata style" is the one that simultaneously puzzles, distresses and intrigues me.

[southern girl]

Guess I was a bit ambiguous there...the medallions of gator meat are pounded thin...and prepared just as veal piccata would be...It is tasty, and tender this way...and you can work out a lot aggression while pounding it .

[Dana]

Here in SE TX get alligator mostly as appetizers - usually deep fried with a dipping sauce, although sometimes in gumbo or sausage. I've had some that was tender and delicious and some tough as rubber bands (on the same plate). I wonder if the tenderness has more to do with the care it was given after butchering, or maybe the age of the animal. Or amphibian. whatever

Usually, it's pretty good.

[cabrales]

Bux, his wife Esilda and I sampled alligator at the NY restaurants show at Jacob Javitts earlier this year. The stand promoting the meat was close to the demonstration arena where we had just watched Chefs Barber and Anthony of Blue Hill demonstrate desserts. The alligator meat was fried in a saucepan, and was of medium fattiness. It tasted similar to pork or chicken, but seemed a bit more moist than most pork preparations. The meat was whitish in color.

[ranitidine]

I have always found it to be somewhat bland. There used to be a restaurant on West Street called Howe's Bayou that served it. In Florida, I've had it at The Oar House in Lake Worth, on Congress Avenue, which is a dark, narrow, cinderblock place with very fresh fish, an enormous beer list and consistently the best key lime pie there is.

[mb7o]

In Cambodia and Thailand they farm crocodiles, for food and hides. Never tried any (must not be on the foreigner menu), has anyone here? Here's a wholesaler: http://www.thaiinterfoods.com/ .

I have had alligator as some sort of breaded thing in St. Louis; fairly unmemorable.

Here's the back yard of a guesthouse in Cambodia.

Edited January 4, 2003 by mb7o (log)

[gknl]

Here in SE TX get alligator mostly as appetizers - usually deep fried with a dipping sauce, although sometimes in gumbo or sausage. I've had some that was tender and delicious and some tough as rubber bands (on the same plate). I wonder if the tenderness has more to do with the care it was given after butchering, or maybe the age of the animal. Or amphibian. whatever

Usually, it's pretty good.

I had the same experience in Alabama a couple of years ago. Tough and tender on the same plate, but I thought overall it wasn't any big deal one way or the other. Not sure if I would go out of my way to have it again, but I wouldn't not eat it either. I thought perhaps the difference in texture was due to the pieces being from different parts of the tail. I wonder what isn't edible deep-fried though.