The Chinese are big on snake, both for its medicinal properties -- the bile is especially prized -- and as warming food during the winter months. Photo shows a typical Chinese shop on Shau Kei Wan Road on the eastern side of Hong Kong Island. The shop sells looseleaf tea in big glass jars, dried mushrooms (shown left), dried snake (middle) and dried frog (right), among other delicacies.
In Texas they fry rattlesnake, dredging it first in cornmeal. Among the Chinese the two most popular ways of preparing snake are stirfries or stews. (Here's a good article on snake preparation). Despite living in Hong Kong since 1997 I have not yet found the guts to try snake though.
As for dried frog, one of my Chinese friends says it helps boost the reproductive system -- I reckon this is badly needed in Hong Kong since birth rates here are falling -- and is good for the skin too. Ideally only the frog's reproductive organs should be consumed.
The mushrooms on the far left are variously called lion's mane, monkey head or bear's head mushroom. It's supposed to be a brain tonic and a digestive aid.
I'm visualising dumping all three ingredients into a stew and letting it bubble away in some wicked magical kawa somewhere...with perhaps a bit of toadstool, a smidgen of wolfsbane and fresh newt.
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