By Tricia Pursell
MIFFLINBURG — Ed Mitch pulls a cleaned, dead rattlesnake from a bowl on the kitchen counter, uncoils it and gently lays it in a baking pan.
He does the same with another rattler. Then another.
Eight in all, a pound each, one of them 2½ feet long.
Add a few spices, a dash of white wine, place the serpents in the oven, and a short time later — voila!
Baked snake.
The reptile repast was among 16 selections on the menu for 200 guests at Saturday’s “It All Tasted Like Chicken” wild game dinner at Mifflinburg Nazarene Church.
From the scent wafting throughout the building, one would think it was just another barbecue.
But steak, beef or chicken weren’t anywhere to be found.
However, there was plenty of bison, caribou, muskrat, ostrich, rabbit, squirrel and wild boar to go around.
And raccoon and snapping turtles.
The items were being prepared for a dinner that accepted monetary donations for the church’s Kid’s Kamp. Last year’s debut of the event drew about 140 people, who munched on alligator meat from Florida. Diners donated $700 in 2009 toward the children’s camp.
Unfortunately, Mitch said a wild game lover’s theme — “If you can shoot it, you can cook it” — didn’t all together ring true this time around.
One menu item — teriyaki coyote — was a late scratch.
“The meat,” the former Army cook said, “was too strong.”
A coyote is a scavenger, and this particular omnivore must have eaten too many dead animals before it was killed.
Precautions must be taken when preparing wild game. Some of the meats require soaking overnight in salt water, vinegar water or buttermilk “to get the wild taste out of it,” Mitch said.
The soaking also purifies the meat, making it safer to eat.
Other than that, pretty much every part of a wild animal is edible, Mitch said, adding “We just took the bones out.”
Among the donations to the meal were a skinned raccoon and meat from five snapping turtles, found in local ponds, each weighing 25 to 28 pounds. The turtle legs (the darker meat) and the turtle necks (the lighter meat) are the edible parts of the reptile.
Chicken feet soup was also donated.
Seven small rattlesnakes, caught during a wild rattlesnake roundup, were shipped from Texas. Another bigger rattler, found in the Valley, was donated by a church member.
Mitch said not much can cause a rattlesnake meal to go awry, but it’s important to make sure it’s fully cooked and to use the right spices.
And to not forget to remove the rattle.
Not all snakes can be eaten, though most found in the United States are edible. Cottonmouths and copperheads are not recommended.
Flaky snake meat is similar to a turkey breast, or fish, Mitch said.
Raccoon tastes like the dark meat of a turkey thigh, said Mitch’s wife, Ruby.
“It tastes like chicken” — a phrase many use to describe the taste of an exotic meat — is actually fairly accurate, Mitch said.
It is common for first-time taste-testers to associate the new meat with something they already know. And though textures may differ, for the most part, they taste similar.
Wild game, Mitch said, is more healthful than the beef or poultry at the grocery store. There are no chemicals used, and the natural meat is leaner with less fat.
Though not a hunter himself, Mitch said he did try most everything that was being cooked Saturday afternoon. The retired Army cook said that during his military career, he never made the exotic dishes found spread throughout the church kitchen on Saturday. He added that his innate cooking talent urged him to vary certain recipes. He also sought the advice of friends and relatives who often bake wild game.
“I like experimenting,” Mitch said, “and this is a good way to do it.”
The Ostrich fettucine carbonara, for example, was a combination of two recipes, and Mitch simply substituted the hamburger in the recipe for ostrich meat.
The event was a natural fit for the church fundraiser.
“The church,” Mitch said, “is 90 percent hunters.”
People are drawn to wild game dinners to eat the exotic dishes “because they can,” Mitch said with a laugh. “Just to be different, and to say, ‘I tried it.’”
