Whole Smoked Alligator
If you want to have a truly epic get together, smoking a whole gator is the way to do it! Surprisingly easy with great results, the secret ingredient here is time and smoke for perfectly cooked gator! The part that takes the longest is brining overnight, but after that, the gator will only take about 5 hours until cooked for a 27 lb alligator.
Smoked gator taste more like turkey or ham than when you fry it, which makes it taste more like chicken.
Servings: 8 -10 servings
Ingredients
Alligator:
- 1 whole alligator this one was ordered from Louisiana Crawfish Co. and came frozen
Brine:
- Container to put the gator in a small ice cooler works well
- enough water to cover the gator 6 gallons were used in this recipe
- 1 cup Kosher or sea salt per gallon of water used
- 3 cups brown sugar
- 2 cups white sugar
Seasoning:
- Light dusting of your favorite Creole seasoning
- A good rub Plow Boys Yard Bird Rub was used in this recipe
- Jack Daniels
- Cherry cola
- Apple juice
For the grill:
- Briquettes
- Lump charcoal
- Light or fruity wood chunks pecan wood chunks were used in this recipe
Instructions
- Allow the frozen alligator to thaw for about a day before putting it in a small ice cooler and covering it with enough water to submerge the gator.
- Add Kosher or sea salt, brown sugar and white sugar to the water in the cooler and let the gator sit in the brine for 16 hours.
- Preheat your pit to 250. I used a Meadow Creek PR60 Pig Roaster with a combination of briquettes, lump charcoal and pecan wood chunks.
- Season the gator with Creole seasoning and a rub of your choice.
- Once the pit's temperature reaches 250, place the gator on the pit and mop the gator every hour for 5 hours with a mix of Jack Daniels, cherry cola and apple juice.
- After 5 hours, the gator should be perfectly cooked and you can serve it immediately (just to be sure, internal temp with a thermapen should be 155 degrees)
Notes
The tail meat is the most tender of the gator and is made up of 2 tenderloins. The legs are called the red meat of the gator and taste similar to chicken thighs. They are also really tender and moist.