Deep Pan Fried Diamondback Rattlesnake

a reply to: LookingAtMars

I have eaten snake and goanna on several occasions in Central Australia. The reptiles are thrown straight into a fire. No gutting (now gutting may take place with a larger snake. It is commenced through the anus with the use of 2 sharpened sticks. The guts are slowly wound out with the use of the sticks after an incision is made. Interesting to watch.) or skinning. Turned occasionally until the skin blisters off.

Skin, once, ashes are dusted off with spinifex or a plant substitute, maybe just shaken, peels off.

The meat is picked off with small sharpened sticks (skewers if you will) including the back strap as demonstrated in the video. Depending on the snake and size, talking several meters here (desert pythons) the meat tasted to me like fish except the goanna which had a unique taste. Locals said the lot tasted like 'chicken'. Not sure myself. More like fish to me. Wish I had a sauce at the time.

My experience,

kind regards,

Bally

a reply to: LookingAtMars

I eat every rattler I get, and we get quite a few here. The only ones I don't bother with are the small ones (too much work for not enough meat).

I think they taste great, not gamey at all; a delicacy actually.

Most often I pan fry them. Usually with a little batter of some kind. The best is with crushed up Lays potato chips. Just take a small bag of chips and mash 'em up about as fine as you can get them (the closer to dust the better). Then dip the meat in an egg wash and roll in the crushed up chips. Fry in a light oil, like peanut or grapeseed. DELICIOUS!

You can bake it too, and even crockpot is good (as someone else noted).

I think the best I ever had was one I got in my garage. He was extra special good because he scared the living crap out of me. I had some big bales of alfalfa in the garage, and he must have gotten baled up into one. When I cut a bale open he shot out, mad as a hornet and ready to strike. I jumped back about 4 feet and my Lab chased him over into a corner barking at him. I couldn't shoot him in the garage (didn't have my pistol anyway), so I grabbed the nearest thing I could find which was a long tree trimming pole. I flung him out into the driveway. I forget now how I actually dispatched him (a shovel I think), but that was some GOOD eats right there!!

Probably one of the best shots I've ever made was on a rattler. And it was kind of by accident too. One of the dogs was walking over a pile of steel "T" posts between two trailers when a big rattler lit off. The dogs know to be afraid of them so she jumped back and ran to me. I had my pistol and I thought I had it loaded with snake shot (which I usually do). Snake shot is pretty small so I figured it would be okay to shoot between the trailers without fear of too much damage if the shot bounced off the steel posts.

I could only see just snake's head sticking up out o the posts. I was a good 80-90 feet away at the time. I had to hurry before the snake disappeared back into the pile again where I'd never be able to get it. So, I aimed and fired. Direct hit, right to the head. It was a big one too, about 9 rattles! Took the snake inside after removing the head and dressed it out and skinned it. Wrapped the skin in tanning salt and ate the snake.

Later that night at bedtime I took off my pistol and removed the magazine and unloaded the pistol. I was shocked at what I saw! What I had thought was snake-shot was actually regular target ammo (i.e. bullets, not BB's)! I had grabbed the wrong mag that morning. So what I had done was take a shot at the head of a snake, between two trailers parked closely together, into a pile of steel posts, from about 30 yards away, with a 9mm pistol...and I'd hit only the head of the snake and nothing else! WOW!

I was pretty mad at myself over the whole ordeal for a couple of days afterwards for making the mistake, but it turned out okay in the end.

Incidentally, I only kill rattlesnakes that get up close to (or inside) the house. As a general rule rattlesnakes are fantastic pest control, so I leave them be as long as they're not bothering me, the dogs or the cattle.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

I enjoyed reading those two posts.

growing up an hour from sweetwater, tx....i've been to more than a few rattlesnake roundups. And have eaten more than a few pieces of deep fried rattler.

Its not great. But its not terrible. Kinda like alligator.