How to Cook a Snake

Roadkill. It's what's for dinner when the apocalypse comes.

Learn how to cook snake, and you'll be ready for almost anything.

A companion piece to How to Skin and Clean a Dead Snake.

Ingredients:
1 snake
1 box Jiffy cornbread mix
1/2 c egg whites (I used the pre-packaged eggwhites to avoid wasting yolks)
splash black pepper
1/2" oil (depends on pan size)

Step 1: Acquire fresh snake

This is probably going to be the hard part.

Snakes do a fine job keeping the world free of unnecessary rodents; don't kill them unless absolutely necessary! That said, if you do kill a snake, or find one dead, don't let it go to waste.

The snake in this Instructable was run over by a car; Eric found it a couple minutes later, its heart still beating, in the process of expiring by the side of the road. Since we knew both time and cause¹ of death, and refrigerated the carcass promptly, it was safe to eat.

A bit of internet research identified it as a probable Black Rat Snake, a non-poisonous Indiana resident.

¹ Note that snakes can also die from eating poisoned rodents. You dont want to eat a snake dosed up with warfarin or other toxin². Pay attention to context.

² It's apparently fine to cook and eat poisonous snakes- cooking is sufficient to inactivate any venomous residue.

Comments

[animal lover]

Could you just roast it over a fire?

[Gavabc123]

wicked if only there were snakes in new zealand

[johnnyappleseed]

REALLY?... No snakes in new zealand?

[AstralQueen]

Hopefully, the next snake you get is also road kill, lol!

[supervillain]

When I was 10, my dad wants me to learn how he live. So we take a vacation in his province in the entire summer. Everyday we always have a unique food, monitor lizards, grasshoppers, beetles, snakes, cobras, rodents, rabbits, grubs, crickets, sting rays and frogs. The only animal that I didn't taste is dog because my father doesn't want me to. AFAIR, frogs, lizards, snakes, rodents and rabbits all taste like chicken. grasshoppers, grubs and crickets taste like anchovies. Boiled beetles (June Beetle) have a unique taste, and it's really delicious. Sting rays had small bones that is like a sand in your mouth, but it's really soft. Sting rays taste also like a chicken.

[sajada]

wow man. thats cool. im currentle looking up interesting, exotic, and rarely eaten foods and you totally just fit the bill.

[canida]

Cool. If you ever do it again, take pictures!

[reverendborq]

canida is a unique name , is it a flower?

[zozzen]

i have a snake soup all the time, usually in winter to keep the body warm. If the smell is too strong, add some chrysanthemum and make the taste mild. I know some guys drink snake fresh blood with liquor too.

[deathmango]

Interesting. I was under the impression that Chrysanthemums are poisonous -- same toxin as in Permethrin. Is this only in large doses, or only for bugs? Do you live in a place where snake soup/blood is common and available?

[solidsquid]

Chrysanthemum is a genus of flowers rather than a specific one. some can be used for cooking, others aren'tt. As I understand it though, the seeds are what contains the insectiside, but these are not as toxic to humans as to insects (although you still wouldn't want to eat them)

[deathmango]

Nice Instructable, canida. Especially the skinning and cleaning tutorial. I cooked up a garter snake this summer -- it had been caught and wounded by one of our cats. Before skinning, I sprayed it with a soap solution (for parasites, germs...). This didn't become an issue when cooking. One thing you did with yours that I wish I'd done with mine: you cut your snake into pieces. When my snake curled up as it cooked in the pan, that was a bit off-putting. I fried mine in oil and white wine. The texture was chicken-y, while the taste was more like trout. If there's a next time, I'll probably cut it up and fry it as you did. Thanks for sharing your experience. The photos are great, btw! ~dani

[Gjdj3]

That's awesome that you were in Indiana. What were you guys doing? Oh and nice instructable. Actually makes snake look tasty. I'm going to have to try that.

[canida]

Visiting family and riding bicycles.

[DuctTapeRules!]

Can you make boneless snake?

[canida]

You'd have to have an awfully big snake to be able to cut off boneless chunks of meat of any decent size. I'm hoping I don't run across one in my neighborhood.

[n8man]

*gag*
*Runs to trash can*

[DJ Radio]

no wonder!

[Shifrin]

A stuffed snake would be awesome! Nice instructable!

[Whaleman]

Cool! Were you guys in Indiana? I thought that you lived in Alameda. One time there was a king snake in my backyard, so we took pictures of us holding it and released it

[canida]

We do ocassionally leave work and do a bit of travel!

[Whaleman]

Yeah, after I read the snake skin instructable, I realized you were visiting your mum and dad

[ermockler]

When I was camping at 16 we caught a 6' timber rattler. Killed it, and thought the killing wouldn't be so bad if we ate it. It was a VERY big snake, probably 4" in dia at the widest, but we didn't seem to get such a big meal out of it. I cooked it all wrong according to this. Roadkill is out of the question.

[canida]

Well, did it taste good? That's the important part. If it tasted good you cooked it right. ;)

[Mr. Rig It]

I hear that snakes carry tongue worm. So make sure you cook it really good. That is what "Bear" off of the "Man vs Wild" TV show said.

[stephen20x6]

Snakes on a plate!

[acosby]

Hey, as regards the flavor: We used to cook/skin/preserve snake on a regular basis. Rattlesnake, Western diamondback, specifically. It's a fishy texture, a little less flaky than fish. Bland meat flavor. Basically "it tastes like chicken" is pretty accurate. Almost identical to gator, goes great with chile *green, not texas "chili"*. There is, if one is really discerning, a slight "nutty" flavor, but mostly it is dominated by the "chickenesque" taste.

[canida]

I'd agree- gator is the closest I've found in taste. Good stuff, when you can get it!

[stasia-realsimple]

do you have the recipe for that scrumpdelicious-looking couscous-y side on the plate there?

[canida]

I'll ping my mom- it's her recipe. Might qualify for the contest!

[whatsisface]

Just curious... What does it taste like (in comparison to a regular meat)?

[canida]

Well, this one mainly tasted fried because I overcooked it; however, there were definitely bits that had a distinctive almost nutty taste that was clearly snake. I liked it, and would definitely make it again.

[whatsisface]

Hmm.. sounds good. Not the cliche'd "Tastes like chicken" deal then?

[SnuffyDaPenguin]

I'd bet it's probably tougher and a little oily, because it's like all muscle. I've got t otry this, we get a ton of snakes down here in New Orleans, though I don't think whatever they eat is healthy for you.

[canida]

Very lean, and not at all oily. The taste was a bit nutty. They're as healthy for you as anything else, so long as they're not eating a diet of partially-poisoned rodents. This snake was from rural Indiana, so I'm pretty sure he got good healthy rodents. City snakes would be more suspect.

[zachninme]

Indiana? I thought you guys were in San Fran?

[canida]

We do occasionally travel...

[zachninme]

Ahhhh I figured that about 3 days after, I think I was reading some other instructable or something... Whenever we travel, we either go out to eat, or just make something incredibly simple, ie pasta. Its just didn't hit me, I guess :P

[canida]

Well, we're food geeks, and were probably raised wrong. ;D

[SnuffyDaPenguin]

I'd definitely move the rating from "partially-poisoned" to "dangerously radioactive" This place is a mess, really...no one cares about it, no one takes care of it... A snake could eat anything here. Look around...What's the first thing you see (that's smaller than a toaster?) Imagine it soaked in greenish moldy mud for 10 years, then dug up and chewed up by some random animal. That's the kind of stuff you'll find on the ground around here.