Title: Braised Rattlesnake
Categories: Game
Yield: 1 Recipe

The delicacies of ratlesnake meat was introduced to us at an early age by my father, the youngest son of John Bowen, the Founder of Pleasanton, Tx. As a cowboy on the old Judge Noonan Circle Dot ranch, with his 44 Colt six-shooter now in the Ben Parker Atascosa Museum, he'd blast the head off a sizeable diamond back and supper was practically in the pot.

Cut 5" sections of the dressed rattler till you have about 2 pounds. Salt and peppepr; dip pin milk and roll in flour. In 2 or 3 T. of hot fat sizzle in a heavy skillet till golden brown on both sides.

With slices of onion on top of the meat, add a scant cup or so of hot water, cover tight and simmer. Don't boil. Very slowly on low heat for about an hour until it's tender as your heart. A sprinkle or two of milk for the last fifteen minutes is all to the good. Add a little garlic and, if you want your spurs to really jingle, throw in, as your conscience dictates, a grab of chili-petines.

It's larrupin' good all right; but if you're feeding a dude tell him it's flown-in breast sections of baby French pheasants or hind legs of a new breed of frogs and he'll CHUPAR LOS DEDOS!!

SUBMITTED BY JOHN BOWEN, IV

SOURCE: "Brush Country Cookbook, Pleasanton's Bicentenial Cookbook", 1976

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