What a yummy thing to have for dinner. I'm intreiged by your filling. What did you do, serve slices?

I had real gator last night as an appetizer. I would much rather have yours, it's fabulous!! I wish I could be that creative for my little man.

Westelle, yup! The gator's tummy was filled with crab meat, ham, and cheese; but the limbs were just cheese stuffed. I served the legs whole then slice the body so reveal the cheesy fillings. Then I filled some mashed avocado in the middle. They loved it!

Mustangs, wow! I have never try gator meat. How did they serve it? BBQ? Very interesting indeed!

Al

You are so artistic, Al...that is great! Thanks for sharing.

I want to know the method for getting the stuff into the gator...and making the ridges on his back etc....and the teeth!!Wow!!!have eaten gator...think it was sauteed in butter...tasted just like chicken...:) what did I know...

Yeah, pretty much tastes like chicken. Been eating it all my life. Last night it was battered and deep fried "gator bits" with aioli sauce.

Ohh, we should hang out. I need someone who likes to do stuff like this too. Everyone I know thinks I'm crazy with half the stuff I do. I love it, btw (if you didn't figure that one out).

Thanks Marigene! Not sure about being artistic but I sure love to play with food! :-)

Lindac, I first rolled out a large piece of dough to make the gator's body. I mixed grated cheese, chopped ham, and shredded and crab meat... stuffed the body with the mix then roll up like a sausage. Once stuffed, I marked the neckline and where the tail should start, squeezed the fillings away from the marked areas, making narrow shapes according to the body parts. Then I attached the cheese stuffed limbs and shaped the back. The spikes were made by pinching three rows of "ridges" then snipping with the tip of a pair of scissors. I gave my last gator some "scales" by adding sesame seeds into the dough.

Once the gator is baked, the cheese will melt and you will see a tunnel when slicing the body. That's when I bring in the avocado to fill the tunnel. It's a lot easier to fill one slice at a time than trying to stuff the whole body. :-) I also love how the green color contrasts the cheese, ham, and crab meat. It looks quite pretty that way.

The two boys are already fighting over the "remains" for tomorrow's lunch. Guess they will each get one arm, part body and half of the head. Sounds pretty gross but it's really fun to eat.

Al

I love that! And I love he crab you made too.
My little gkids would enjoy eating that!
Thanks for sharing it!

Al, that is one of the most AMAZING things I have ever seen! Thank you so much for sharing it! It sounds delish too, and so much fun to eat, (well, my version would have fake ham and broccoli, but I get the gist).
What are the teeth?
And do you havve to let it rise after shaping it? It is so detailed, to me that's an amazing feat of bread dough shaping!

Cookie8, we definitely should hang out. Most of the people I know think I am weird too! LOL

Thanks Kathleen! My 8-year-old is a bread lover, he loves it even more if he gets to eat some ferocious animals! :-)

Lpink, thanks! I love the idea of ham and broccoli for fillings, or even spinach. Unfortunately, if I put that in the gator's tummy, hubby and little man will turn their noses up. :-) Oh the teeth are slivered almonds. They help keep the gator's mouth from falling all over the place. When the gator came out from the oven, the "teeth" were all brown and ugly (but yummy), we ate them first! By the time I took the "after" picture the gator had become a toothless predator! LOL

And oh yea, I can imagine gator meat tastes just like chicken... because everything else does too! LOL

Al

Cool!

I have eaten alligator. We had an alligator appetizer in Emeril's Commanders Palace and it was great.

We just got back tonight from Ft. Lauderdale and I nearly bought my two little grandsons stuffed aligators, not stuffed like that, but they would like it stuffed like yours and so would I. LOL

You have alot of patience and talent.

Way cool! I'm showing my sister that and bet she makes one for her kids.

I always thought alligator tasted like fish to me. Looks just like chicken but tastes like a fish... or at least the gator I've et. Nothing I'd seek out unless I had not tried it before. Wouldn't turn it down if I was hungry and it was hot.

It could be interesting to bake an alligator bread stuffed with gator meat. Perhaps a theme going there... cows with beef and pigs with pork? Kids would love it and don't we all love to be kids?

: )
lyra

That's just brilliant! Wish I was clever enough to make one of those. Don't suppose you could do a video tutorial, could you? My grandsons would really love me then LOL

I LOVE that!! Adorable. Little man is so lucky to have such a creative mom!!

OK, questions:
Can you do this with any bread dough do ya think?
Do you need to let it rise after shaping it?

Al, that's is so cute! I think you're ready for the Roald Dahl's Revolting Recipes cookbook. The entire book is playful dishes based on his books, including a spinach-skinned alligator.

ruthanna, I've seen that book, it's way cute, I ought to get a copy for Princess and Bruvver, thanks for the reminder.

I've also eaten alligator, in a Cajun restaurant in Lansing, Michigan, LOL. It was in chunks and in a sauce and like Michael/Lyra I thought it tasted like fish although it had the consistency of chicken. Truthfully, I liked the rattlesnake I had out in the Dakotas better, and I'll bet rattlesnake would make great bread and easier to stuff because there are no legs. (grin)

Al, that is just cool, the grandkids would love that. I'm also wondering if you let it rise before baking, I'm only assuming not, so that it doesn't lose its shape?

Annie

Al, you are really good at making bread animals. The crabs and alligators have a lot of personality. I've never known anyone else who made them. Maybe I'll try it myself some time when I'm with the grandchildren. I would not have thought about making reptiles or crustaceans. Thanks for showing us.

Jim

Al ligator!

Obviously you have had training in this kind of things, judging from the skill and proportioning of how you made them.

Your creations of cold-blooded creatures warmed my heart.

Did you serve the bread with Gatorate? :-)

dcarch

Thanks Plllog and trixietx!

Wow so many people have tried gator meat. We don't even have an alligator in our zoo let alone in a grocery store!

Lyra, that's a great idea! Maybe I can try making mini piggy bread stuffed with ground pork for little man's lunch next week.

Islay_corbel, I have considered making some cooking videos with little man in the kitchen. I have not figured out how to do that Youtube thingy... so it will be a while before I can come up with something. It may be easier for me to just publish a book on bread sculptures. I think there's a need for it.

Lowspark, thanks! Since I use sourdough to make the gator bread, I did let it rise twice before baking it. You probably can pretty much use just basic dough for that purpose. I would make the homemade dough a bit stiffer than your regular bread. In that case, the bread will still hold its shape after the final proof. If you use frozen bread dough, don't let it rise for too long for final proof. The animal will rise some more during baking. The more rise it has the bigger the tunnel you will get if you stuffed the body with cheese and meat.

Thanks Ruthanna! I have never seen that book. Did a google search only came up with the title but no sample pictures whatsoever. Wonder how good it is. Spinach skinned alligator? That sounds interesting! So the gator is green? Hubby and little man will never touch that! LOL

LOL Annie. It' so true about making rattlesnake bread. In fact, little man had already tried making a snake bread but he didn't like how "simple" it looked. Strange thing about kids, eh?! I actually let my dough rise in the oven for 2 hours (final proof) before baking it. It did lose some shape i.e. droopy jaws. But other than that, the animal actually held up its shape pretty nicely. Of course, it really depends on how you prepare the dough. I made mine a bit stiffer than usual and let it rise in colder than usual temperature. But, if I used store bought dough I definitely wouldn't let it rise a second time for too long or I would have to call my gator "Droopy". :-)

Jim, I notice that too, not too many people make bread sculptures. It's not as difficult as it seems. I find making reptiles or crustaceans easier because I don't have to come up with ways to prop them up. They stand on the ground with all limbs, naturally. :-) I have tried making Godzilla and let me tell you how it didn't look like Godzilla when it was done! LOL

Awww dcarch, many thanks! I wished I had received some training; it would make me a better bread sculptor. I pretty much got trained by many attempts and failures. Anything that didn't quite look like what it was intended, turned into bread puddings on the table... never waste! Served gator bread with Gatorade? What a witty thought!

Al