Alligator Gar

"Seems you can eat anything if you really want to!"

John, who shared his recipe for swamp cabbage with us, saw the story about Judy and the Garfish and was moved to contributed these recipes for Gar. I have never been hungry enough to eat a Gar. I mean, just look at it - that thing puts the "UG" in UGLY!!

For those of you who are hungry enough, brave enough, or just plain determined to kill *something* and eat it, here you are:

Prep the garfish by scaling and gutting, then spilt from the gut cavity to the tail and roll the gut area with a rolling pin or a bottle, then peel out the spine and cut away the rib bones with a thin flexable knife. (Yuk!)

Ingredients • flour • egg • dried tarragon • breadcrumbs

Coat the whole fillet with flour Dip into a beaten egg with a good pinch of tarragon (dried) then into some breadcrumbs Cook on a flat hotplate or BBQ until done (it wont take long)... enjoy!

Ingredients • 2 lbs ground garfish • 1 c. green onions • 1 lb. boiled and peeled potatoes, chopped • 2 medium white onion, chopped • 1/4 c. Creole Seasoning • 1/4 c. all- purpose flour • corn flour

Boil your potatoes and grind the garfish first. Mix the first 6 ingredients together in a bowl. Roll the mixture into balls the size of golf balls or maybe even a little bigger if you like. Put the balls in the corn flour and roll them around to fully coat them. Put the balls in the fryer (preheated to 375Á) and fry until golden in color or until they float. Serve as appetizers or as a side with the main meal.

Ingredients • Garfish • honey • egg • garlic • flour • breadcrumbs • peanut oil • salt & pepper

Scale, de-head and gut the Garfish and ensure they are thoroughly clean. Slightly roll the gut cavity with a bottle or rolling pin. Lightly poach in salted water in which you have added a clove of garlic. (approx 30secs) Remove garfish and pry the backbone and rib bones away from the fish and leave the tail on. Flour them, then coat lightly in beaten egg in which some pepper has been added. Cover with breadcrumbs. (There are a variety of tasty breadcrumbs available such as lemon, hot and spicy, etc) Fry in hot peanut oil.