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Area Bites Into Gator Meat

Jason Johnson of the Hy-Vee meat department displays two of the varieties of gator meat now available at the Yankton store. Sales of the product have been brisk as consumers seem curious about the exotic offering.

A recent addition to a local grocery store is turning Yankton into Gator country.

Gator meat, not often associated with Yankton, can be found and purchased at the Yankton Hy-Vee grocery store.

The store offers three different kinds of gator meat— a wild caught alligator fillet, corn meal breaded nuggets and alligator and pork patties.

The fillet costs $15.99 per pound, while the cost of the nuggets is $14.99 for a 1 pound bag.

Yankton Hy-Vee chef Staci Stengle said the gator meat being offered at the store has been very popular so far.

“The gator meat we have here has really started to catch on with our shoppers,” she said. “I’m not sure if customers just think of it as a novelty and buy it because they’ve never seen, or tasted, alligator meat before, but we’ve been selling quite a bit of it — we’ve had to restock it on our shelves quite a few times.”

Stengle added that the three types of meat Hy-Vee offers should each be cooked in different ways.

The alligator fillet is a tail meat, and should be cut and cooked to be used for different types of stews or be used to make jambalaya. The fillet should also be cooked and braised for a while.

The tail meat of an alligator is typically white and tender, while body meat can be somewhat tougher and darker.

The meat of an alligator will taste similar to chicken or a mild type of white fish.

In order to braise the alligator meat, you need to pat it down with a paper towel and cut the meat into cubes. After sautéing with a variety of spices, the meat should be added to the skillet with a small amount of cooking liquid. It typically takes around 40 minutes to simmer the meat until it becomes tender, according to the Hy-Vee website.

To cook alligator meat for a stew, you should first rinse the meat and dry it with a paper towel, then cut it into cubes. The meat should be mixed with flour and spices and put into a Dutch oven and covered with liquid, herbs, spices and vegetables. It should cook at 325 degrees Fahrenheit, or on the stove over low heat until the meat is tender.

The corn meal breaded nuggets should be deep fried, while the alligator and pork patties should be pan fried or grilled.

For alligator meat to be grilled, you should marinate the meat in milk and spices for around three hours. The marinade should be drained and the meat pat dried. You should brush the tail meat with oil and place on a grill with a rack from the heat source. It will take the meat about 10 minutes to cook on each side.

Frozen alligator meat can be kept in the freezer for up to about three months. The uncooked meat should be thawed in a refrigerator overnight.

In addition to just alligator, the Yankton Hy-Vee also sells a different type of novelty seafood that has also been quite popular.

“We’ve also been selling picked crawfish, which is a type of tail meat that has been very popular,” Stengle said. “In addition, we are selling whole crawfish as well.”

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