Panéed Alligator at Molly's in Soulard
Categories: Restaurant News & Reviews, Try This Now
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| Ian Froeb |
| The panéed alligator at Molly's in Soulard |
At Molly's, chef Bryan Flaxbeard serves panéed alligator ($11.95), which he describes as "an upscale version of what you'd typically find in true Louisiana/Cajun cuisine."
"Most of the people I know that cook 'gator, they fry it and then dip it in a chile or [other] sauce," he says.
Flaxbeard riffs on this by coating the alligator in a buttermilk batter and then pan-frying it. He tops this with blue crab meat and sauces it with chive oil and a Crystal hot sauce reduction.
The alligator itself has a relatively mild flavor -- if you want to say that it tastes like chicken, then it would have to be the more flavorful dark meat -- that the blue crab's buttery sweetness rounds out.
The Crystal reduction is what really makes this dish work: Each batch is made by reducing a gallon of the hot sauce to a quart, resulting in a even more piquant vinegar-pepper taste. The heat is mild, but it gives the alligator just the right pop.
The Crystal reduction is what really makes this dish work: Each batch is made by reducing a gallon of the hot sauce to a quart, resulting in a even more piquant vinegar-pepper taste. The heat is mild, but it gives the alligator just the right pop.
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