Preparing an Arizona Rattlesnake for Cooking - NSFW Language

***CAUTION - INTERACTING WITH AND HANDLING VENOMOUS SNAKES AN BE DANGEROUS AND LEAD TO SERIOUS BODILY INJURY OR DEATH. INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY IS REQUIRED.***

A neighbor killed this rattlesnake (not me) when it tried to bite him as he stepped off of his porch.

**OF NOTE** The commentary from my neighbor about the "bite and hold" until sunset and such - is total BS. While the head of a venomous snake absolutely can be dangerous until total death, sunset has nothing to do with it.

While I accept that killing is a part of our natural world, as all living complex organisms must kill in some way or another, and the Human-Wildlife Habitat Interface is always an area of controversy --- if killing must happen, we humans should be responsible about it.

I prepared the rattlesnake by pressure cooking it over rice, with Harissa seasonings. It definitely does NOT "tastes just like chicken." It has a very strong, gamey flavor, and is of course - very stringy and tough, even after pressure cooking. It tastes like rattlesnake.

And - it wasn't a horrible. While I would not specifically hunt rattlesnakes for food under normal living conditions - under the duress of survival (or even just hard times when meat is unavailable or too expensive) - it is actually pretty gourmet. [Especially in a starvation situation, when one has been eating bugs and rodents? Total gourmet.]

Prayers and thanks were given for the life of the snake.