These Spicy Fried Alligator Bites, seasoned with Black Pepper, Chili, and Cumin, make for a piquant and exquisite Cajun-style appetizer.

This little appetizer is my own rendition of the way I have most commonly been served Alligator in restaurants, that is to say, deep-fried with Cajun seasonings. Sometimes, this consists chunks of Alligator meat that are battered, but I much prefer them when they are very lightly breaded, as I have done here. The process is quick and simple, and the result is very nice indeed.

The Basic Method

The first step is to slice your Alligator into strips and marinate it with a little Dry Sherry. If you are not actually hunting your own Alligators, you can purchase commercially packaged Alligator Meat quite easily these days, and it is available on-line if you can’t find it in stores. If any of the avenues are closed to you, you could actually reproduce this dish quite nicely using Chicken or Pork.

My Spicy Fried Alligator Bites are coated with Breadcrumbs blended with Garlic Salt, Black Pepper, ground Cumin and ground Chilli. Naturally, you can adjust the amount of chili to make your bites as mild or as fiery as you like.

Breading the Alligator Meat involves nothing more complicated than dipping it in beaten egg, coating in the seasoned crumbs, and shaking off the excess.

You can use a deep-fryer for doing your Spicy Fried Alligator Bites if you like but I find that very wasteful of oil and I find it better to do a few pieces at a time in a shallow pan with about 2cm of oil in the bottom. Simply fry the pieces for a minute or two and drain on paper towels.

Serve your bites while still hot You can provide any sort of dipping sauce you like (or even just a few lemon wedges). Here, I mixed together Tartar Sauce, a squirt of lemon, and a little Sriracha Sauce).

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