Alligator Skewers w/ Horseradish Fry Sauce

Welcome back for 2024! A lot goes into what posts at what time. Did I do too much Brisket? (Never.). Did I already post a pork butt this month? (Probably, but you’re getting it anyway). How to kick off the new year? I know you didn’t have gator on your list. I was thinking of all the things I want to bring you, all the things I want to try.. and gator was one of them. Shockingly, there isn’t too much of a guide book on how to do gator.

You’re welcome.

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Recipe

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For those new, I give you the recipes up front, so you don’t have to scroll through if you don’t want. Not the best idea when all I do is peddle words and pictures, but I’ve been to enough to recipe sites/blogs.. I give you the link up front. I break up my posts into three blocks: How I prepare it, The process in cooking it, and the finale. Let’s start prepping:

The Prep Table

Found some frozen gator at the market and was like, “yep!”. Has to be done. I’ve had some po’boys in the bayou.. but I’ve never had it grilled, always fried. We’re going to use our RecTeq, as I always do and throw the gator bits on a skewer and grill it. We’re going to taste gator, not batter. We’re going to throw these onion petals on there and whip up a zesty horseradish sauce for dipping. Actually, let’s whip it up now.

When ForensicBBQ expands, this sauce is permanently on the menu. Absolutely dynamite. Steal it, use it, enjoy it. Melinda’s Habanero ketchup? Thank you much! I love a spicy ketchup and Melinda’s never fails.

She ain’t cheap. Midwest doesn’t see gator often, so prepare to pay a bit of it. Thawed it out in the fridge, and we’re slicing it up into bite-size, kabob pieces. Hardest part here was the spending. The rest is smooth sailing!

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The Process

I’d be doing a disservice if I didn’t throw a lil’ cajun on there. Okay, a lot of cajun. Seemed like a requirement for this cook, and I’m glad it was. You know I make my own blends when I can, and my cajun gets the chef-kiss. Bites were dusted, now lets throw them on some skewers.

Had the petals on for a little while, now it was time for a quick sear on them bites. These were a big box company of onion petals, I’m sure they’ve only seen a fryer. Having cooked these several times since, it’s tough to find the perfect cook. I recall the bag saying 2-3 minutes, flip.. 2-3 minutes more.. but no. Minimum 10 minutes. I went all the way to about 30 on one particular cook.. wasn’t good. Find your desired baked-instead-of-fried goodness and run with it. As far as the gator.. Wasn’t entirely sure what I was looking for.. until I saw this:

When I saw ’em blackened up a bit, I knew these were going to be good.

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The Result

Petals grabbed a little color.. the Alligator grabbed a whole lot of color and I was dying to get into these. MrsForensicBBQ was out of the state when I was making these, so I grabbed her fancy plate. One hundred percent sure the plate hasn’t seen gator on it before.

Perfect is a tough word to use when cooking, but I can’t imagine a grilled gator bite coming out better than what I had here. It was tender, juicy, flavorful. It had a slight sea/gamey-ness to it, but it wasn’t unpleasant. It was actually welcoming. Lets you know it wasn’t chicken y’all eating. Put a little bit of that horseradish fry sauce on there and we got something special. It’s a pricy gamble if you’re outside of the swamps, but worth throwing some money down. Did you try it? Let us know!

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The Recipe