How to butcher a rattlesnake

Okay, the process is a little more involved than I thought.

Cut head off about 4 inches behind head. Hang by tail just below rattles so that snake may bleed well. Using a sharp knife, on belly side and beginning at head end, split skin entire length. Starting with head end, separate skin from meat and peel upward to place where snake is tied; strip entrails from body of snake and dispose of.

Clip body of snake where it is tied and drop in fresh cold brine water (either cover container or be sure to stand by it because the snake will crawl out of water). Take down skin, salt well and roll with scales on outside; place in container with lid and freeze until ready to tan. When body of snake has stopped crawling, remove and wash in fresh cold water, chop in lengths 3 or 4 inch long.

NOTE: Be sure to dispose of head immediately as they can bite for several hours. Place heads in covered container. DO NOT HANDLE WITH BARE HANDS! [Cooks.com]

Have a safe weekend, guys.

Comments

[Mandos]

OK, the fact that it continues crawling after being beheaded, flayed, and disemboweled is not at all surprising, but it is pretty creepy. Creepier still is that it is still conscious enough to bite you after the head has been "bebodied". Does bashing it with a mallet work?

[coturnix]

It's not conscious. Those are simple reflexes.

I was once bitten by a pike that was already dead and on a skewer for an hour. I picked up the skewer too close to the mouth and the mouth closed on my finger. That hurt!

I'd like to try some fried rattler one day.

[ghostcatbce]

This has to be my nominee for grossest post ever.

[rob helpychalk]

That the snake can accomplish so much without consciousness is an argument that it doesn't have consciousness at all. What purpose would it serve the organism?

[lindsay Beyerstein]

Alternatively, rattlesnakes have souls and serious procrastination issues.

[agm]

It being a couple of decades ago, I don't recall what they taste like. However, my mom, whose father and brother would occasionally hunt one down and stick the dressed carcass in the freezer for later, say that it's rather disgusting.

[Petrilli]

Be sure to eat only range fed organic rattlesnakes.

But seriously folks, don't fuck with vipers.

http://www.uninet.edu/cin2003/conf/sharma/fig3.jpg

Order some wings. It all tastes like chicken anyway.

[isabelita]

Killing these animals is barbaric; they eat their weight in rats frequently. Anyone who kills snakes deserves to be overrun with rats.

[RosemarieK]

Didn't know what went into preparing rattlesnake to cook. Back in 1990 I was in the Phoenix area on business. One night several co-workers and I went to dinner and ordered the fried rattlesnake apetizer. It had a chewiness similar to chicken but was quite moist. There was an underflavor I called spicy but I can't compare it to something by name. I liked it.

[cfrost]

I worked one summer cutting firewood in N.W. Calif. where most days we'd see a rattlesnake or two. The redneck boss's punk son would kill them and I'd skin them because he was too clumsy and lazy to do it himself. I noticed that you could prick the snake's heart and get it to beating up to a day or so after the animal had been killed. I wanted to cook one as otherwise the meat was just going to waste (these snakes were often four feet and longer and as thick as a woman's forearm), but the people I worked with were ill informed about biological matters and believed that the meat was poisonous. After I'd skinned about a dozen, I told the boss's meathead kid that if he didn't stop killing the wildlife I was going to put a live rattler in his bunk. He was just stupid enough to believe me.

[Chuck Norris]

I Just went camping and stumbled upon a ratteler. It was rather interesting. I quickly loaded my trusty slingshot, and put a large BB right through it's head. I'd never skinned a snake before, we just kinda fried it over an open fire, and ate it. it was good, but it coulda used some seasoning. Mabey next time.

[Jim]

Why does the gutted and beheaded snake crawl out od the brine? Why is it necessary to soak it in salt water anyway?

[john man.......]

Guys.... snake is good! Just take out its guts, clean it up and cook it like any other meat.......... geeze........

[john man.......]

Guys.... snake is good! Just take out its guts, clean it up and cook it like any other meat.......... geeze........

[Ken]

I caught and killed an Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake yesterday. After cleaning it I cut it up into about 4 inch chunks. We broiled a couple of pieces and they were great. You just do it like any other meat. Add your favorite seasoning and enjoy.

[deano]

Just finished the third rattler for the season. YUMMM! Cleaned snake is battered in brown rice flour with a few spices after dredging in beaten egg whites. Deep fry or in the fry pan with butter. Tastes like a cross of cornish gamehen and frog legs. Maybe the texture of chicken but not the taste.