# Has anyone smoked gator meat?



## SmokinAl (Mar 12, 2011)

There are a lot of stores here that sell gator tail & gator ribs. I've never had the ribs, but gator tail is great if cooked right. If you cook it wrong it's like shoe leather. Most of the restaurants deep fry it. I've had it both deep fried & grilled over charcoal, but with high heat & fast like a steak. I'm wondering if any of you have smoked it. It's a very lean meat so I don't know if low & slow would really be beneficial. Gator tail has about the same texture as a chicken breast, but no skin. I'm going to look more closely at the ribs to see if they have any fat in them. I'm guessing that there is not a lot of places in the US where you can buy gator meat, but where we are at it's everywhere. I bet you Louisiana guys have it around in your stores too. If any of you have smoked it I would like to know how it turned out. If not I may have to experiment.


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## alblancher (Mar 12, 2011)

I would think you would just have smoked shoe leather.  It gets pretty tough when not cooked in a red gravy or fried.   I've had this conversation with a couple of local buddies and that's what we kind of decided.  Try a little bit and let us know.

The other thing is that I wouldn't get to excited about reptile fat for any number of reasons.

Inquiring minds want to know.  There may be someone that has done it and can show where I went wrong

Al


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## fpnmf (Mar 12, 2011)

Gator fat is not tasty at all. Most folks go to great lenghts to get it off whatever they are cooking.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/search.php?search=smoked+gator+meat  

Have a great day!!

  Craig


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## SmokinAl (Mar 12, 2011)

OK thanks guys, I guess this will not be my next project!


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## callahan4life (Mar 12, 2011)

My son and I were watching a show (BBQ with Bobby Flay) on the Food Network the other night and they featured a restaurant, Alligator Alley, from South Florida. They were serving Smoked Alligator Ribs. Supposedly they don’t have them all the time but when they do the restaurant is packed. On the show everyone that was eating them were raving about them including some first timers. Afterwards I Googled   for Alligator Ribs and found quite a few sites for ordering them on-line. My son loves gator so at his demands this is now on my to-do list for a future smoke. Below is the restaurant’s recipe that they shared on the show, I think the only thing I would change would be adding a dry rub to the meat prior to starting them in the oven (and if I remember right the restaurant did that also:

Alligator Ribs Recipe








Recipe courtesy Alligator Alley Restaurant

Ingredients:

·          6 pounds alligator ribs

·          32 ounces barbecue sauce

·          wood chips, for smoking

Directions:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

Brush alligator ribs with enough barbecue sauce to coat. Place ribs on a rack set in a baking pan. Cover with plastic wrap and then aluminum foil. Bake for 3 hours.

Remove alligator ribs from the oven. When cool enough to handle, remove the plastic wrap and cover loosely with the aluminum foil; allow the ribs to rest 20 to 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare a smoker with your favorite type of wood chips. Transfer the ribs to the smoker and smoke for 30 to 45 minutes, depending on the size of the ribs; alligator ribs are very lean and dry out easily, so you may want to remove smaller ribs from the smoker first. After smoking, coat the ribs with more barbecue sauce.

While ribs are smoking, preheat a grill to medium-high. Place ribs on the grill and grill just until sauce begins to caramelize. Serve immediately.


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## Bearcarver (Mar 12, 2011)

I cooked every Gator I ever caught up here in good old PA. Not very filling!

I thought they were protected, or are we talking about farm raised.

Bear


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## callahan4life (Mar 12, 2011)

Bearcarver said:


> I cooked every Gator I ever caught up here in good old PA. Not very filling!
> 
> I thought they were protected, or are we talking about farm raised.
> 
> Bear




The gator meat we get down her is mostly farm raised, but there are so many gators down here now that they have regular qouta hunts here. I have some friends that hunt them. I know that Louisianna also has regular hunts for them also as observed on the History Channel's "Swamp People  " TV show.


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## flbobecu (Mar 12, 2011)

I'd deep fry em. It's the only way I've eaten it.. and it's still hella good. :drool


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## silverwolf636 (Mar 12, 2011)

Send some up here to Ohio. I'll let ya know how it goes.

--ray--


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## alblancher (Mar 12, 2011)

That does look good, BBQ gator ribs.  I still think that 8 hours low and slow it would be pretty tough.


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## beer-b-q (Mar 12, 2011)

Last Gator Caught Here In Kansas City Kansas was walking down the street last fall at 18th and Central... They still haven't figured out where he came from...  But we know where he went, Animal Control took him to the Dog Pound...

Almost forgot, he was about 5' long.


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## SmokinAl (Mar 13, 2011)

callahan4life said:


> My son and I were watching a show (BBQ with Bobby Flay) on the Food Network the other night and they featured a restaurant, Alligator Alley, from South Florida. They were serving Smoked Alligator Ribs. Supposedly they don’t have them all the time but when they do the restaurant is packed. On the show everyone that was eating them were raving about them including some first timers. Afterwards I Googled   for Alligator Ribs and found quite a few sites for ordering them on-line. My son loves gator so at his demands this is now on my to-do list for a future smoke. Below is the restaurant’s recipe that they shared on the show, I think the only thing I would change would be adding a dry rub to the meat prior to starting them in the oven (and if I remember right the restaurant did that also:
> 
> Alligator Ribs Recipe
> 
> ...




Thanks Calahan, I'm going to give it a try. There's a place about a 45 minute drive from here called Gatorama. They sell all kinds of gator meat. I'm going to get some ribs & try them out with this recipe.


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## Bearcarver (Mar 13, 2011)

Beer-B-Q said:


> Last Gator Caught Here In Kansas City Kansas was walking down the street last fall at 18th and Central... They still haven't figured out where he came from...  But we know where he went, Animal Control took him to the Dog Pound...
> 
> Almost forgot, he was about 5' long.


Sounds like he could have been a "Florida" mascot???

Bear


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## miamirick (Mar 13, 2011)

Heres a gator i ran across a couple weeks ago but it looks like the vultures already gotr his,  we estimated 12 to 13 feet

dont know about smoking them though usually fry it


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## alblancher (Mar 13, 2011)

Them road chickens got smiles on their faces


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