Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-11-11
JUICY RATTLESNAkE.
Properly Cooked It Makes Dish Fit
 for Kings and Epicures

| II n for Kings and Epicures.
 "There is something about the taste of
 the breast of a young and tender chicken, when 1t has been done to turn and has l Just the right kind of gravy served with it,
 that reminds me of rattlesnakesn This
 was the remarkable manner in which l colonel Harden Scott, one of the civil en-
 glneers Of the Missouri Pacific, opened up a
 new train of thought at dinner at the Grand l faclhc-which dinner, by the way, became l thereafter merely hollow from the Chica- l go Nears reporter who was participating in | the ceremonies. "I gather," continued Colonel Scott, "from the amazement and surprlse that you manifest, that you have never eaten rattlesnakes. Let me tell YOU l tnat there are very few of the older school | or the regular army men who were stationed on the plains who have not tried them-and | nobody ever ate rattlesnake once without wanting to eat it again. The flavor is half way between that of young and tender
 breast of spring chicken and the belly-fin cut of red snapper. Of course you've got to get your rattlesnake before he becomes a patriarch. An old "he" is just as tough as hunk of jerked buffalo meat, but young snake IS deicacy that appeals to every mans palate.
 Ut was General A. J. Smith, now of St. Lotus, who first put me on to the dish We were out on the plains long before General smith won fame with Grant in the cam palgns about Vicksburg, and Smith had good deal Of trouble getting us youngsters to try the new food. We rapidly became converts, however, and I have never since seen one of those fat, juicy prairie rattlers put have wanted to cook him and spread the rattlesnake cult among the gentiles every where.
 "You must be very careful that you kill your snake properly. If he has any chance to bite himself his flesh IS unfit for human 1000. Hence the best way is to hold his head down with forked suck until you have chance to cut it off. Then hang the body up after skinning it, in some place where the air will have plenty of chance to DloW on 1t, and after it has been up a couple o1 hours look 1t over carefully. If there is any greenish spot any where throw it away and hope for better luck next time If it is all a healthy, yellowish white cut it up into pieces about six inches long and skewer oig slice of bacon with each section. Then Try and you have dish fit for king-es- pecially if you have some good mealy pota- toes baked in the ashes to go with the meat.
 "While General Smith was really the pioneer of rattlesnake hunting and eating among the army men, quite number of the old school officers have fallen in love with the dish and get it whenever they can. General Sheridan, they tell me, is an en- thusiast on the subject, and when President Arthur made that trip into the Yellowstone Park, Sheridan cooked a dish of rattlers for the party, which nobody enjoyed moro than the President.
 ''The meat when cooked breaks into flakes like fish. 1tis very succulent and nourish- ing, and the gravy has a flavor of it's own that must be tasted to be understood Some of the darkies down our way in Arkansas make soup from the rattiers which they claim is excellent, but I always thought it was rather insipid. The meat is little too sweet to make up well into a soup"