Hometown Favorites II: Alligator, Chicken, Frogmore

Alligator. It is said they are easy to catch. Seems the sport has become more popular due to reality TV shows. You need 40 or 50 feet of line that tests at 700 to 900 pounds.

   Though it is rare that alligators kill or even attack humans (they prefer small prey), maybe you prefer your alligator already caught. You may find alligator in an upscale supermarket. And I see it is available for about $20 per pound on Amazon.

   I got into this alligator thing when I wondered if there had been any follow up publications to the Food Editors’ Hometown Favorites Cookbook, a book I very much enjoyed.

   I found one: Soups, Stews and Casseroles with recipes attributed to several dozen

newspaper food editors. The book was issued in 1990 and like the earlier “Favorites” is a special edition benefitting Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD).

   The first of the recipes in that book to catch my eye was for Chicken Sausage Rice. Here is recipe similar to the one in the book, found on the Recipe for Living site. Among differences are that this includes mushrooms, while the book has a package of peas.

   Creative Bite cooking site offers another variation that includes cheddar and broccoli.

   And here is a nice simple Cajun style recipe from the Delish site.

   Moving right along we come to Frogmore Stew, named for a community on St. Helena Island, a home of the African American Gullah culture connected by highway to Beaufort SC. Creation of the dish seems to trace to the 1950s or so, with the name conferred at some point by Richard Gay, a fish company owner on St. Helena.

   There are many versions of this dish around, contents vary but usually will involve shrimp, sometimes crab, sausage, corn on the cob. Here’s a simple one from My Recipes.

   Then there is a more complex with Andouille and watercress.

   In the area of origin, called the Low Country, the cooked stew is drained and spread out on a table to be eaten by hand.

   

  Now about that alligator. Betty W. Bernard of the Lake Charles American Press offers a recipe in the book as a “a thick stew flavored with tomatoes and usually served over rice.”

    From what I have read, it is the tail meat that is sought, that of an alligator no more than six feet in length. Bernard’s recipe includes the usual chopped onions, green pepper, celery and tomato sauce and paste. Emiril Lagasse of course has a similar recipe. 

   And I suppose a recipe from the Louisiana Seafood Board would be trustworthy. It doesn't mention sausage but I like the idea I saw elsewhere of adding some chopped Andouille.