Foods that leave you feeling hungry

Foods that leave you feeling hungry
By: Chef Cristian Feher
www.tampabaychef.com

We all know the old adage that Chinese food will leave you feeling hungry an hour later. And although it may seem like it’s something people just say, there is actually some truth in it. But in order to understand the reasons behind this, we must first understand preservatives.

A preservative is a substance that retards food spoilage and extends its shelf life - in other words, it keeps it from going bad. If you pick up any food item and read the ingredients you will undoubtedly find many words you can’t understand like: disodium EDTA, hydrolized soy protein, tripolyphosphate, and probably the only one you would recognize, mono sodium glutamate (MSG).

While all of these complicated words sound like the verbal dribbling of a mad scientist captured by a court stenographer, they are all just different names of preservatives. And the one thing they all have in common is their specific function of killing off bacteria or inhibiting bacteria from eating the food.

At first glance we see no wrongdoing in something that kills bacteria. After all, most of us have grown up believing that bacteria are our enemy. Your mom, the bottle of Lysol, your bar of soap, television commercials, and your doctor have convinced you that bacteria must be killed, or they will most definitely kill you, right? And we can surely make food last longer on the shelf, and even make it taste better (as in the case of MSG) with the addition of preservatives. So what does this have to do with that MSG-laden take-out container of chow-mein noodles that leaves you hungry an hour later? For that, we take a quick field trip inside your intestines!

Your body gets the energy and materials to stay alive through food. It gets broken up in your mouth, and mixed with saliva to lubricate it for the ride down to your stomach, where it is sterilized and broken down further with your stomach acid. Some of the simple things, like sugar, get absorbed into your blood stream directly through your stomach lining, but what about the other, more complicated elements that your body must convert?

The conversion of certain vitamins and nutrients actually take place in your intestines. And the things that do the actual converting are bacteria! Yes, those horrible little creatures we’re so busy trying to wipe out from the face of the Earth are not only inside you, but they’re trying to help you!

Now, if you missed the point on the last paragraph, I’ll just have to give it to you - preservatives kill bacteria or keep bacteria from being able to break down food. So when you eat preservatives, your bacteria can’t break the food down into nutrients and you end up absorbing mostly sugar and fat, much of the good stuff passes you by.

Your body knows this even if you don’t. So you eat that bowl of noodles, or fast food burger, and although you know you just ate, your body knows it’s not really going to get much nutrients from the preservative-soaked meal, so an hour later it says, “Hey, buddy! I’m hungry again. This junk you just fed me was just for show. I need real food!” And hence, you find yourself craving more a short time later.

So why have people picked Chinese food as the common butt of this colloquial statement and not fast food burgers, of Subway subs? I mean, I can eat a Subway sub and be hungry 20 minutes later thanks to the preservatives in the cold cuts and the chipotle mayo. But when I eat a bag of McDonalds burgers I’m good to go (albeit lethargic) for the next five hours. Is my theory wrong?

The answer is fat. That bowl of Chinese noodles has less fat than a bag of McDonalds or Burger King, and will sit in your stomach for a lot less time. And Subway subs can also be relatively low in fat and so pass through to the intestines faster, triggering the “Feed me real food” phenomena much sooner.

A meal with preservatives and lot of fat will make you feel full longer than a meal that has preservatives and is low in fat. But they’re both not really that good for you in the sense that you’re not getting the nutrition you should. Preservatives make you hungry.

Now that you know why some foods make you feel hungry after you eat them, you may want to avoid them or just have them less often, knowing that a healthy low-preservative or preservative-free meal will not only make you feel full longer, but also fill you up with actual nutrition.

Championship Baby Back Ribs Recipe
By: Chef Cristian Feher
www.tampabaychef.com

I was watching a show on the Food Network where several cooks were battling it out over BBQ pork back ribs. I observed their techniques and final products, and became very enthusiastic about wanting to be competing with them. Some were good, others were not-so-good, but one thing was for sure - I felt left out.

Feeling ready for a rib-fight, I’ve decided to pull out the proverbial white glove and slap any would-be challengers with my championship rib recipe. I’m so confident that it will knock your socks off, that I don’t mind sharing it with you.

When making the sauce, be sure to use tomato ketchup that is made with real sugar. Sugar will caramelize nicely when on the grill, high fructose corn syrup will not. Also, high fructose corn syrup is something that I always avoid eating as I don’t want to become a diabetic overnight.

If you’re a purist and would like to make your ketchup from scratch you can combine tomato paste with brown sugar, salt and red wine vinegar.

This recipe works best with a pressure cooker. By cooking the meat under pressure, the flavor of the surrounding steam combined with the herbs gets pushes into the meat, as opposed to conventional cooking methods which tend to cause the fluids to exit the meat instead. But if you don’t have a pressure cooker, you can boil the ribs for 1 to 1.5 hours in water with salt and pickling spice, until the meat gets really nice and soft.

Without further a due, I present to you a recipe that, in one hour, will produce ribs you’d swear took all day to make.

Yields: 3 racks of baby back pork ribs

Equipment Needed:
- 1 Pressure cooker (preferably electronic)
- 1 BBQ grill (I used gas to grill them for the recipe, but would use charcoal if I was competing)

Ingredients:
- 3 Racks of pork back ribs
- 1 oz of McCormick pickling spice (cinnamon, allspice, mustard seed, coriander, bay leaves, ginger, chillies, cloves, black pepper, mace and cardamon).
- salt
- water

Ingredients for the BBQ sauce:
- 1 cup of ketchup that is made with real sugar (no high fructose corn syrup)
- 1/4 cup of brown sugar
- 2 tbsp of chipotle mustard
- 2 tbsp of Japanese soya sauce
- 1 tsp of liquid smoke
- 1/2 tbsp of Tigers sauce (tamarind-based sauce)

Instructions:

1. Cut the racks into three or four sections. Put them into the pressure cooker with 1oz of the pickling spice mixture and about a tbsp of salt. Put in enough warm water to cover half the ribs. Pressure cook on high for 23 minutes.

2. Mix the BBQ sauce by whisking together all the ingredients. Set aside. Pre-heat your BBQ grill.

3. When the pressure cooker is done, let out the steam, take out the ribs and place them on the BBQ Grill. Smother them with BBQ sauce and grill until the sauce has caramelized and you’re ready to enjoy some fall-off-the-bone ribs!

A Review of Yummy House Restaurant in Tampa

A review of Yummy House Restaurant in Tampa
By: Chef Cristian Feher
www.tampabaychef.com

I grew up eating sublime Chinese food in Toronto, where one of the world's largest communities of Asians comprises a large portion of the population. Quite simply, I ate like an emperor. Daily, and cheaply.

Second-best to actually eating in China, Toronto's Chinese restaurants can very well serve as a benchmark to compare all other satellite restaurants around the world. The same could be said for Chinese restaurants in New York, San Francisco, Montreal and Vancouver, but I can't imagine anything better than the Chinese restaurant scene in Toronto.

It was with a heavy-stomach that I left Toronto behind when i moved to Tampa Bay a few years back. The one thing I missed most was my beloved Chinese food, and to my disappointment, Tampa Bay had none by definition. It was, until now, a sad excuse of sweet and sour chicken balls, drive-thru McChinese crap, and bottom-of-the-barrel Chinese buffets catering to a crowd that thinks real Chinese food is deep fried chicken covered in high fructose corn syrup and food coloring, reheated five times, and served with Uncle Ben's parboiled rice and frozen peas with a fortune cookie printed in New Jersey. It was a dismal scene, and I soon learned to forget that part of my past. Out of sight, out of mind, I thought.

Several people had mentioned a place called Yummy House. They told me it was the only real Chinese restaurant in Tampa. I had been reluctant to try it, as I did not want to get my hopes up and have my heart broken again. So I took their advice and put it on the back burner, yearning instead for a day where I would once again be reunited with my beloved Chinese food.

I spent the last week of 2011 in Toronto with my wife and kid on vacation. Needless to say, I had a six day torrid affair with Toronto's Asian restaurants. I ate like a hobbit - two lunches and two dinners daily. I had it in the back alleys of Chinatown, late at night, in hotel rooms and even on the Subway. I spent the week jacked up on sublime sauces, scrumptious dumplings, glistening noodles, decadent soups and meats bursting with flavor. Upon my return to Tampa Bay I crashed like a wounded fighter plane, and I needed a fix. But where was I to get it? I dug through my e-mails, and yes, there it was! Yummy House. I had to go to Yummy House, it was my only hope of smiling again. And so I decided to take a leap of faith and tempt my heart in Tampa.

The following is my honest review of Yummy House on Waters avenue in Tampa.

Two things stuck out to me right off the bat before I even entered the restaurant. The parking lot was completely packed, and the place looked like crap - Two excellent signs of a good Chinese restaurant. My spirits began to lift.

The inside of the place was a whirlwind of motion and sound. It was busy, loud, and people could be seen eagerly devouring their meals. My wife and I waited for a few minutes before we were sat at a simple table, with two plates and a fork. "I like this." I said to Kim, "This reminds me of Toronto. The roof panels caving in, dirty floors, jammed tables and the servers moving a hundred miles per hour. This is going to be good."

We did not hold back. I ordered several items, and despite the servers questioning looks, I managed to snap a few photos for this review.

Salt and Pepper Calamari

The first dish to reach our table, was clearly their most popular dish, as plates of fried squid made their way to virtually every table.

The salt and pepper calamari was delicious. The crispy and sweet crust, comprised mostly of corn starch and MSG was really tasty, and I really enjoyed the hot chili flakes and chopped coriander. It was fresh and flavorful.

The only thing that would have made it better would have been a side of lemon, vinegar and smoked or spicy salt, as is usual in other Chinese restaurants. But despite the lack of side condiments, we were very pleased with this dish.

Hong Kong Won Ton Soup

The Hong Kong Won Ton Soup followed the salt and pepper calamari. It had a certain charm. Although the stock was made from bullion and MSG, and was unusually but pleasantly smoky, it was good.

I always enjoy fresh, crunchy bok-choi and the won-ton dumplings, although not nearly as flavorful as they should have been, earned points for having a paper-thin, velvety wrapper that melted in your mouth.

At this point my expectations for perfect Chinese food were not met, but I was still enjoying the meal more than I ever thought possible in Tampa.


Hong Kong Roast Duck

I once drove a Toyota Celica that looked like a space-racer, only to find that it was a slightly fortified go-kart underneath a flashy exterior. Looks can be deceiving - and disappointing. And so it was with the Hong Kong Roast Duck.

It was served luke warm, which is still OK with me, but the taste was just not there. A duck is surrounded by a layer of fat, that if cooked right, can be infused with a tonne of flavor, but Yummy House rushed it and ended up with a duck that looked like Bon-Jovi, but tasted like William Hung.

Although I will admit that it's sitting in the darkness of my fridge at this very minute, awaiting its tragic fate at 4am.


Orange Chicken

The orange chicken was an unplanned accident. My wife had pointed to the table next to us to a luscious plate of chicken with pineapple and green pepper (yes, I'm against sweet and sour, but my wife loves it) however, the server accidentally brought us this meek orange chicken, which, aside from it's just-got-out-of-bed-couldn't-find-anything-to-wear-look, tasted to me like orange Tang sprinkled on deep-fried chicken.

By this course, I hung on to the won ton soup and squid hoping this chicken dish wouldn't be an omen to the rest of the meal. We only had one more course to go - the tie breaker.


Hong Kong Pan Fried Noodle

If there is one dish that could save your dining experience in a situation like this, it's what I like to call Cantonese Chow-Mein. The only problem is that I have yet to ask for "Cantonese Chow-Mein" at an Asian restaurant in Florida without getting a puzzled look and a, "Huh?".

Armed with my photographic memory, I scanned their menu looking for a description that would fit my needs, and lo' and behold, there it was! Hong Kong Pan Fried Noodles.

Was it a perfect rendition of my favorite dish? Almost. They got the noodles just right. They got the toppings of pork, chicken, squid, shrimp and scallop just right, but they missed on the sauce - which was just the won-ton soup, with a sprinkling of MSG, thickened with corn starch. But don't get me wrong. I enjoyed it very much and it saved this review.


Upon stuffing myself with pan fried noodles and calamari, I asked myself if Yummy House could compete in Toronto, Montreal or New York. The answer was, no. But I will say, that like the only girl at the dance, I can get passed her slight blemishes, ugly hair and glasses, and can say happily that I will most definitely be dancing with her again. Yummy house is good. And it's light years ahead of any other so-called Chinese restaurants in the Tampa Bay area.

I can guarantee you that as long as I live in Tampa Bay, the owners of Yummy House will continue to drive around in luxury cars. It's not the love I left back in Toronto, but she's a good dancer, and she makes really good squid!

This year, it's different

This Year, It’s Different.
By: Chef Cristian Feher
www.tampabaychef.com

Wow, 2011. What a year! Kim Jong Il is dead, Justin Bieber sprouted a generation of kids with ridiculous hair, Schwarzenegger’s hanky-panky with the cleaning lady came to light, and you probably gained a couple of pounds. But 2012 is going to be different.

What resolutions have you made? Have you recycled last year’s resolutions again? Most of you probably woke up (late) on Jan 1st and said to yourselves, “This year is going to be different. I’m going to lose weight, get in shape, make more money, be happier, and make a difference in the world!” And although you may have failed in previous years, this time it’s going to work. You know why? Because one of my resolutions was to help you do it!

When I woke up on January first I tried to remember some of the wise things people have said to me over the years. I knew that I remembered these things for a reason - so, why not actually put them to use? Here they are:

“Money is a result of attracting positive attention by providing people with what is needed and wanted. Find out what is needed and wanted. Provide it.” -- A very wise man with a lot of money.

“Stay out of the attic! There are monsters up there [and a vast collection of gentleman's magazines].” -- My grandfather.

“Every day is a new chance to start again.” -- Tammy.

“Try? Do, or do not. There is no try.” -- Master Yoda.

“The only real pay in life is friendship, and the feeling that you’ve helped another.” -- A Buddhist monk. I don’t know his name.

“Pay it forward” -- I think that was the name of a movie. But I believe in that.

Although I’m not necessarily here to solve your money problems, or help you break in to your grandfather’s attic, I would like to help you get the most out of life when it comes to food.

For those of you who had a resolution to lose weight, and get in shape, here are some tips that will help you.

Cut the fat - As you will read in my upcoming book “Fat Chef, Skinny Chef” you’re fat because you eat fat. There are other less important determining factors, but fat is the big thing. Fat packs the most amount of calories per unit than any other food. By cutting out oils, butter, nuts, and animal fat, you’re not only drastically cutting calories, but you’re also forcing your body to use it’s own fat stores.

Go ahead, eat your carbs - You’ve been told for years that carbohydrates are the devil. And you’ve probably also found that not eating carbohydrates (although it does cause you to lose weight temporarily) also makes you feel tired, head achy, angry, annoyed, anxious, and such other undesirable conditions. It’s OK to feed your body carbs. Your body prefers them as its main fuel source. It’s the type of carb that matters most- avoid processed white carbs, and opt instead for healthy carbs such as sweet potato, al dente pasta, wild and brown rice, or just limit your carb intake to reasonable sized portions without any refined sugar in or on them. You don’t have to give up carbs to lose weight. You just have to be smart about them. You don’t buy 100 galons of gas to drive to the corner store, and you don’t need to eat 1800 calories of carbohydrates when all you do is sit around all day.

Move it, buddy! The easiest way to wreck your car, motorcycle, boat engine, or lawn mower is to let it sit for a long time without using it. You would think the opposite, but I urge you to try it for yourself if you don’t believe me. The best way to keep engines (your body is also a carbon-oxygen engine) working is to use them often. That’s why exercise is so important. This does not mean that you have to be that guy who’s wearing neon tights and a fanny pack, running up the street at the crack of dawn checking his sports watch to make sure that he beat yesterday’s time. You can get into really good shape by simply walking 30 minutes to an hour (continuously) every day. A brisk walk - or “constitutional” - keeps your engine parts lubricated and running well, and uses up that extra fuel you’ve been carrying around in the form of fat.

I guarantee that if you put these three things to use, and you keep it up, you will achieve your fitness and weight loss goals in 2012. And if you need my help to plan your meals, please let me know, I’m here to help!

I trully wish you a year of success and happiness. Thank you.

Resolutions

Resolutions
By: Chef Cristian Feher
www.tampabaychef.com

It's December 28th, 2011. Chunky snow flurries fall in all directions outside the window. It’s the first snowfall of an unusually warm winter. The owner of the restaurant, a small Chinese woman wearing a puffy jacket and knitted cap finds her way to me through a very crowded dining room and greets me, “Oh, I no see you in so long! You like soya chicken?” I am flattered that she remembered me - I haven’t been back in Toronto for over two years. And at the Chicken and Noodle Restaurant nothing seems to have changed. I run my hands over the plastic disposable table cloth, and pick up the oily menu to have a look at the pictures and Chinese characters, but I don’t really need it. I know what I came here for, I knew it before I got on the plane the night before.

I order their specialty - cold soya chicken, chicken rice, and pickled radish. The lady rushes back to the kitchen and yells my order at the cooks. I can see their silhouettes behind the frosted glass wall that separates the kitchen from the dining room. They are blurs of motion. The sounds of fire, heavy woks and clanking metal instruments are soothing to my ears. Oh how I’ve missed this place.

My meal arrives and I find my heart racing. I’m nervous. I don’t know where to begin. Its been so long since I’ve had really good Asian food. The first bite confirms what I expected - nothing’s changed at the Chicken and Noodle Restaurant. The chicken is perfectly cooked - marinated in a salty brine, with white pepper and ginger before it’s steamed just until the meat becomes cooked. It’s then chilled overnight and served cold, chopped up into manageable-sized pieces with a dip of peanut oil, salt, ginger and chopped scallions. The rice is drizzled with subtle - yet incredibly delicious chicken drippings and garlic, and the pickled carrots and radish strips are crisp and perfectly sweet. I’m having one of those moments where all the problems in life recede and I am left in a warm and happy place. For the moment, all that exists is the plate in front of me. My wife is trying to tell me something, but her words can’t quite penetrate the euphoria that surrounds me.

Her words finally reach me and we begin to talk about new years resolutions. The beginning of the year finds most people looking back at the things that went wrong. The missed opportunities. The lack of responsibility. We all look at the new year to wipe the slate clean, to start again. Many focus on losing weight. Crash diets, green smoothies, HGC drops. A week of running on the treadmill, two weeks of knee pain, and back to eating Twinkies in front of the television by February. I think about all the resolutions I’ve ever had. And I wonder if I succeeded in achieving any. Were they even worth achieving in the first place?

My cold soya chicken makes me think. I ask myself what makes it good. It’s simple and healthy. The goodness comes from the skill of the cooks behind the frosted glass. They’ve done this with a thousand other chickens since I've last been back. Each chicken, slightly better than the last. The art polished and honed over time. It’s healthy, it’s good and it’s cheap.

I also look around me and see a very busy and successful restaurant. The tables are too close together, there is cheap plastic sheeting over the tables, there are no knives - just chopsticks and spoons, and the two servers are wearing winter jackets inside because every time someone opens the front doors, a draft of frigid air lets a generous helping of snow into the dining room.

But every table is full, the kitchen is churning out dishes as fast as they can, and there is a line of people waiting to come in. It’s the first place I came after flying in from Florida. People all around me are smiling over their dinners. Friends and family serve each other and share food from the middle of the tables. My kid is eating rice out of a bowl with her hands, and when I pick up my bowl to slurp out the last drop of pork bone soup, no one seems to mind.

This place just feels like home, the food is amazing, and people are happy to be here. For a chef, this is an invaluable lesson - at the heart of every successful restaurant, the food has to be perfect - you can have bad service, a bad location and ugly tables, but if the food knocks your customer’s socks off, you’ll be successful.

My resolution for 2012 - to be more Asian. Which is to say to be practical - why use a spoon, fork and knife when a couple of chopsticks will do? To eat really good, simple, healthy food, to continue to give my customers food that knocks their socks off, and to share life with friends and loved ones across an ugly dinner table more often.

How to throw a perfect holiday dinner party

The Holiday Dinner Party Guide

By: Chef Cristian Feher

www.tampabaychef.com

It’s that time of year again where friends and family get together to celebrate the spirit of peace, good will, and giving. It can also be a time of spilled drinks, family squabbles, dry turkey and grocery store cheese trays. But I will do my best to provide you with information that will help you avoid unseemly situations, and throw a perfect get-together that everyone will enjoy.

As a personal chef I have done hundreds of dinner parties. And I’m going to share with you some do’s and dont’s.

Drinks

DO - Provide an assortment of, both, alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. Even if you don’t drink, there may be someone who does. A small assortment of white wine, red wine, beer and a mixed drink or two, will do for most parties. Don’t forget to have bottled water, as alcohol will dehydrate your guests.

DON’T - Leave out any bottles that you don’t want to serve. After a few drinks, some guests may go rooting through your house looking for more booze. So if your inherited bottle of 200 year-old brandy that belonged to King Louis IV is off limits, be sure to keep it off limits and hide it in your closet.

DO - Remember that white wine is usually served cold, and red wine can be served warm. I remember this by thinking “Red Hot.”

DON’T - Forget to offer your guests a drink when they arrive. Especially for work functions, where some guests may not be familiar with your other guests. It will make them feel more relaxed. And having something to hold in their hands can make people feel more comfortable. Remember that binky you held onto when you were a kid? Nothing much has changed.

Food

DO - Expect to have leftovers. Make more food than you think you will need. Feed your guests until they can’t eat any more. That’s the first sign of a good host. It tells your guests that you really want to take care of them. It doesn’t have to be expensive food - it just has to taste good and there should be lots of it. Send your guests home with leftovers.

DON’T - Foist off your dietary requirements onto your guests. It’s fine that you only eat gluten-free, sugar-free, fat-free, organic, vegetarian, vegan, non-soy, non-GMO, albino asparagus that only grows on the eastern side of a mountain in the Andes. But unless your guests are your friends from Whole Foods or yoga class, you should have regular foods that other people enjoy. It’s no fun to be forced into a diet while visiting someone.

DO - Cook your turkey in a roasting bag. It’s the safest and best way to ensure that your turkey will be cooked-through, and deliciously moist - even if you over-cook it. Yes, it’s very tempting to show off with other methods of cooking your turkey, but you want to avoid the embarrassment of serving under-cooked, or dried out turkey. If you want to impress your mother-in-law, don’t tell her that you used a roasting bag.

The Extras

DON’T - Let your pets slaver on, hump, bark at, bite, scratch, or fly at your guests. I’m sure you think 200Lb Smoochy Bear is the cutest thing on Earth, but your guests might disagree. If your pet recognizes your guests as food, a toy, or a potential mate, keep them in a bedroom or take them to the pet sitter.

DO - Avoid awkward beginnings by making guests feel like royalty. Introduce new arrivals to other guests by telling them something positive about the arrival like, “This is Steve and his beautiful wife who is a marathon runner. Steve and Barbara just came back from Hawaii.” or if you can’t find anything nice to say, you can always use geography, “This is my brother Jim. He lives in St. Pete.”

You should also have music and TV on in the background, and it helps to have things for your guests to do like; hot-tubbing, dinner party guessing games, gift exchanges, interactive video gaming (XBOX Kinect is a hit at many parties), photo albums and videos made for or by the group, sushi rolling stations, pasta bars, backyard fire pits, fireworks, etc.

DON’T - Forget to enjoy your own dinner party. I recommend hiring a personal chef who will take care of all the shopping, planning, and cooking so that you have nothing left to do but enjoy the company of your friends and family who will rave about your party for weeks.

Florida's New National Dish: Alligator Balls

Florida's New National Dish: Alligator Balls
By: Chef Cristian Feher
www.tampabaychef.com

There is nothing more telling of a place and its local culture than the food. Regional foods are the culinary map of the world.

Take sushi; everyone knows that sushi is representative of Japan and its people. Pasta (although a Chinese invention) puts Italy on the map. OK, maybe that makes it a bad example. Fried chocolate bars are a Scottish regional specialty. If you’ve ever been to Trinidad and Tobago you wouldn’t go home without eating “Roti” in Trinidad, and “Crab and Dumpling” in Tobago. Every Canadian knows where to get some good Poutine (fries and cheese curds smothered in gravy). And if you should find yourself in Holland, how about “a schmoke and a pancake?”

Finally we arrive in America, jet-lagged and hungry. And although we could say that there is nothing more American than apple pie, the truth is that each state and city can seem like its own little country (some can even seem like third world countries, but we won’t go there, Detroit).

Erie, PA is known for their pepperoni balls, New Yorkers are known for their pizza, Memphis has finger-lickin’ BBQ ribs, Californians made the California sushi roll - lame, but popular, and finally we arrive in America’s pe...- third leg - Florida. And what do we have to show? The grouper sandwich? Which is fed to tourists and can occasionally contain actual grouper. Give me a break! That’s more lame than the California roll.

Due to the current scene, I’ve elected myself to be Florida’s new unofficial PR chef. We need to add some culinary razzle and dazzle to this place, and come up with a regional food we can be proudly known by. So after much deliberation I’ve come up with “Gator Balls”. It’s edgy, it’s fun, and they taste pretty good too!

If you live in Florida it’s easy to get good quality, fresh alligator meat. And if you’ve never tried it, you’re in for a treat. I like to put mine through a meat grinder for this recipe, but chopping it up into small pieces with a knife works just fine. Recipe below.

Gator Balls Recipe:

Ingredients:
- 1 quart peanut oil for frying
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup corn meal
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 cup chopped or ground raw alligator meat
- 1/2 onion finely diced
- 2 cloves garlic finely diced
- 1 stalk of celery finely diced
- salt and pepper to taste
- pinch of yellow curry powder to taste
- pinch of cayenne pepper to taste (optional)

Dipping Sauce:

Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 1 to 2 tbsp of Tiger Sauce (tamarind sauce)
- 2 tbsp of Tequila (optional)

Instructions:

1. Heat oil in a deep fryer or large pot. It’s much easier with a deep fryer. Make sure it’s at least 365 degrees so that the gator balls don’t soak up too much oil while cooking.

2. In a bowl, mix the flour, egg and milk. Season with salt, pepper, curry and cayenne. Mix in the alligator meat, onion, garlic and celery.

3. Drop small lumps of batter using a spoon into the hot oil and fry until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.

4. In another bowl you will mix the dipping sauce by combining the mayo, ketchup, tiger sauce and tequila. Serve dipping sauce on the side of the gator balls. Enjoy!