BATON ROUGE, La. -- In Louisiana, where everything that flies, crawls, hops, swims or slithers can be turned into haute cuisine through the zesty magic of Cajun cookery, the alligator is becoming the latest food fad to go national.
From the land of blackened redfish, turtle soup, fried froglegs and crawfish bisque, the demand for alligator as a source of fancy footwear and luggage is being balanced by the creeping popularity of its meat.
When the Chicago Bears prepared for their Super Bowl invasion of New Orleans they had a banquet featuring 250 pounds of Louisiana alligator meat. After they trounced New England 46-10 for the title they celebrated with another 300-plus pounds at a victory banquet.
In New Orleans, the Trey Yuen Chinese Restaurant atop Jackson Brewery offers stir-fried alligator.
'I have customers like restaurants in Denver that use 100 pounds a week,' Egon Klein, one of the state's major processors and shippers of alligator hides and meat, said Friday.
Klein reported 1985 sales of 55,000 pounds of gator meat. He expects to sell 100,000 pounds this year and forsees sales of 300,000 to 400,000 pounds within three years. His market stretches nationwide and to Japan and Europe.
'I think there are two reasons. One is Louisiana and Cajun food are very popular all over the U.S,' Klein said. 'And alligator, even though is considered a seafood, still is considered as an exotic meat.'
Some of Klein's customers are meatpackers who have begun canning alligator meat for gourmet shelves across America. The meat is not cheap. Restaurants pay wholesalers $8 to $10 a pound. Servings can go from $12 to $20.
Dr. Mike Moody, food scientist with the Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service at Louisiana State University, had another reason for the spread of alligator meat.
'It really fits into good nutrition, which Americans are so concerned about now,' he said. 'It's lean and high in protein.'
Despite the aquatic habitat of the alligator, its meat does not have a fishy taste. The taste and texture are similar to pork, or even veal. It can be fried like chicken, stewed in a sauce picquante, stir-fried with sauteed vegetables.
'Its very adaptable to picking up seasons and fixing in ways that we already fix traditional dishes,' Moody said. 'If we're using chicken to make spaghetti sauce, we can use alligator in its place. We can just fit it into the recipes we're currently using. Personally, I think it's got a lot of potential.'
