Chinese New Year will be celebrated this year on February 10th. 2013 is the year of the snake. Snake is considered a delicacy in China and in several other countries within Asia.
It is believed that raw snake meat is a powerful aphrodisiac. Traditional Chinese medicine books noted that snake can be eaten in a soup in the wintertime and helps to fight off the common cold. Snake meat is considered to be very healthy by the Chinese and many restaurants serve snake meat, often letting the customer choose their snake as we sometimes are able to select lobster.
Traditional Chinese Snake Soup
Snake blood has been part of Chinese medicine for centuries and is used to enhance virility, prevent hair loss and treat farsightedness. Snake wine is created by infusing rice wine or grain alcohol with a full snake or only its blood.
You do not need to travel to Asia to taste this delicacy. A handful of restaurants throughout the United States have snake on the menu. Rattlesnake is the most commonly eaten snake here and restaurants has experimented with it, most of them have found it is a nice meat to add with other meats into a gourmet sausage or patty. A few years ago I tried the Rattlesnake Cake at Hudson’s on the Bend and it was quite delicious. Rattlesnake tastes like a combination of fish and chicken and has a mild taste. Campers in the Southwestern Unites States often refer to rattlesnake as desert whitefish. Here are our four favorite rattlesnake dishes in the United States.
1. Hot Doug’s: Chicago, IL
Rattlesnake Dog with citrus mojo mayo, bellavitano cheese and crispy onions. Photo Credit: melissaleon @foodspotting
2. Hudson’s on the Bend: Austin, Texas
Diamond black rattlesnake cake in a pistacio nut crust coiled atop a spicy chipotle cream. Photo Credit JKI @foodspotting
3. Wurstkuche: Los Angeles, California
Rattlesnake and Rabbit Sausage. Photo Credit: Tony Amidei @foodspotting
4. Biker Jim’s Gourmet Dogs: Denver, Colorado
Rattlesnake and Pheasant Dog. Photo Credit : Keith Chu @foodspotting
If you don’t want to celebrate Chinese New Year by eating snake. I recommend looking at the variety of unique Asian Pantry items that we have available at earthy.com. My favorite of the bunch is the Asian Delights Sample Basket if you are able to source rattlesnake you could make your own Rattlesnake Sushi!