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Snake Sausage

Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2018 00:51
by Butterbean
With the arrival of spring the snakes are crawling pretty good. I ran across two at work last week thought I'd try to make snake sausage out of them. Turned out pretty good but I still need to tweak procedure. Flavor is spot on but the emulsion wasn't what it could be. Basically I made a mousseline with a snake meat garnish and stuffed in lamb casings. Very delicate sausage but I added some red pepper to the snake meat to give it a little bite - pardon the pun.

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Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2018 05:14
by Lonster
What the.......?????
Now here's a topic I never saw coming. I have to ask.....what kind of snake is it and......are there bones in a snake. Jeez this a a new one on me. But the beer looks good!

Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2018 15:07
by Kijek
Yeah!. ... what Lonster said :???:
And what's next, a sausage made from bugs?

Also, what equipment do you use to make your emulsions?

Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2018 15:17
by redzed
Wow! wish I could taste that! Can you please post the recipe and maybe a pic of the snake. I'll put it on the Polish WD site. They will learn something new over there. :mrgreen:

Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2018 16:27
by Kijek
What does snake taste like anyway?
I'm sure most will say it tastes like snake LOL, but does it have it's own unique flavor, I would try it for sure, just wondering.

Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2018 18:20
by Bob K
Kijek wrote:What does snake taste like anyway?
Somewhere between frog and Carp :mrgreen: ...but milder

That sure is unique BB!!

Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2018 20:35
by Kijek
Hmm, interesting, I've eaten frog, this is a must try.

Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2018 02:58
by Butterbean
It tastes about like Bob says. I'll post a recipe shortly.

Here is one of the timber rattlesnakes I ran across last week. Two was my total for the week and I came across one today so they are crawling good. They are bony and don't have much meat on them. To clean you just have to gut them and hope they aren't full of babies then skin them then just cut the loin off the back. Most common rattlesnake here is the timber rattlesnake. They average around 4-5' and are typically smaller than the diamondbacks.

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Here is a very large diamondback that was killed not far from where I live. Most diamondbacks are between 5-6' but this one was 9.5' including the 20 rattles. Its rare to see them this big.

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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2018 14:12
by Butterbean
Redzed, here is the recipe for the snake sausage.

Timber Rattlesnake Sausage Recipe

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I bet you are asking yourself why? Why not? I mean I might as well make more use of these critters than belts and wallets right?

This is sausage is good. Its a very delicate, creamy sausage and garnished with snake meat seasoned with red pepper which gives you a surprise bite in the smooth creamy emulsion.

Its basically a fish emulsion with snake meat as show meat and as with emulsions they can be challenging so you must use your experience to know when to stop and I can't stress the importance of keeping things cold. Though challenging, at the end of the day it is worth the squeeze.

Snakes skinned and about to be filleted. Most of the meat comes from the loin area running along the center of the back.

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Basically, the sausage is composed of a fish emulsion garnished with rattlesnake and parsley. Flavor is mild and delicate. I also decided to add some red pepper to the snake meat to give it a bite - pun intended. It did seem appropriate.

Recipe for Emulsion aka Mousseline

1 kg of Crappie Fillets or Speckled Trout - Any delicate white meat fish will do.
1 kg scallops
0.46% Salt
0.89% Old Bay Seasoning
3.3% White Bread Crumbs
0.87 liters heavy cream
7 egg whites - about 3.6 egg whites per kilogram of emulsion meats

Drain fish of any water then season with salt and Old Bay Seasoning mix then place in the freezer till its semi-frozen but not frozen. Then grind meat through meat grinder with the finest plate you have then cover and place meat back in freezer. (you probably could skip this part and just use the food processor)

Make a panada by adding half the heavy cream to the bread crumbs and let sit in refrigerator till needed. You may want to stir this from time to time till smooth and creamy.

Now take the cold fish mince and place in a food processor and beat this as smooth as possible. (Food processor and blade should be chilled) Once it starts binding up add the egg whites and continue processing till you get the mince as smooth as possible. Then slowly add panada mix and continue to process till smooth and creamy keeping in mind that this mixture needs to remain COLD.

Next, begin slowly adding the remaining cream and watch the consistency. You want it soft but firm yet not watery. Again, be careful and keep the mixture cold and do not overwork the mix or the cream will become butter and your end product will not form properly and will be grainy. Go by feel and look and withhold any remaining cream if it begins to become too watery.

At this point put your emulsion in the refrigerator or in an ice bath and poach a test piece to be sure the flavor is to your liking or just trust me. This is pretty good.

Again, it is worth mentioning you might want to slowly add the COLD cream to the COLD mince slowly and depending on the amount of water in your meats you may want to hold back on adding all the cream since your emulsion will be somewhat dependent on the moisture of your meats. Your goal is a spongy consistency like a bologna emulsion and not a watery consistency. And DO NOT over-process. Pulsing is a good way to finish the mousseline.

Procedure for Garnish
0.74 kg Timber Rattlesnake meat. About 2 average sized 4-5 footers should do it.
Dice the snake meat into small pieces small enough to fit through your small stuffing horn. Season with 0.89% Old Bay Seasoning, 0.46% salt, 0.5% red pepper.
Chop up around 2 tablespoons of parsley.
Also worth noting that if you add other non-protein ingredients like onion or vegetables these need to be cooked before adding else they will render water and mess up your emulsion when poached.

Finishing
Fold the chilled garnish into the mousseline then chill and stuff lightly in lamb casings being careful not to overstuff because the mix will swell when poached. (You can adjust the tightness of the links when linking but if over-stuffed you can't undo and they will burst when poached) Link every 4-5 inches. Poach sausages at 165F till the internal temp reaches 145F then chill them in an ice bath till internal temp drops to 60F.

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To prepare, either bake or pan fry. Pretty good I think. Surely something different and surely a good use for these vile legless critters. :mrgreen:

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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2018 17:24
by Kijek
The meat and the sausages look great, the snake it's self, scares the ba-geezz out of me. Don't know why, but I hate snakes.
So I need to find some place that sells the meat and not the snake. :mrgreen:

Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2018 18:47
by Butterbean
I don't care for snakes either but what scares me far worse are yellow jackets and killer bees. Funny thing about snakes is there must be some primeval instinct in the human body that "sees" snakes when your conscious eyes don't. I can't really explain this phenomena and its not foolproof but most of the time you "see them" even though they are well camouflaged. Also, about 20% of the bites from pit vipers are dry bites and contain very little venom if any at all. These "dry bites" are merely reactionary bites where the snake is just trying to keep you from stepping on him. However, if you get one upset you can watch the venom glands swell and a bite from one of these can be life threatening if you don't get treatment in short order. I lost a friend a few years ago to a rattlesnake but most people who are bitten survive the encounter although it may take weeks if not months for the damage to heal.

Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2018 19:04
by Kijek
I know one thing, in a few years when I move down south, it aint gonna be South Georgia.

Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2018 02:10
by Butterbean
Kijek, they aren't that bad. Most people never see them. I work outdoors so I see more than most people.

Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2018 13:20
by Kijek
Oh I'm not saying that they are bad in any way, except if a poisonous one bites you, and they do play their part in the ecco system.
They just give me the shivers :shock: