#chefscollaborative

"Rooster Bullets" #freshchickeneggs #farmfresh #buylocal #chefscollaborative (at T3 Culinary) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bvfidb_hR0c/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=x6tdz2qa5qyz

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BURMESE STIR-FRY DE LAS EVERGLADES Pythons have slithered in and out of my life, starting even before the first decade of my life, again as a teenager, then as the old man I am now. Today, my brother, Ted, breeds them, and as children we hunted snakes and lizards and practically any living thing we could catch. But we never thought to eat them, unless they were fish. Nobody ever taught or encouraged us to hunt or fish. That's why I strongly suspect the urge to chase down and catch an animal comes from somewhere ancient, written in our D.N.A. With the establishment of the Burmese python, native rabbit and raccoon populations have plummeted.  Largely due to the pet trade, invasive species are the top cause for biodiversity loss in Florida - making the state the epicenter of invasive species in the world. Last fall, I spent over a month in the Everglades hunting, gathering, and fishing for edible invasive species. In the Everglades, I met people who love hunting pythons and other reptiles more than anything. They call their hobby "herping." I asked my friend Wei to join me on the trip, because he's killed and eaten more animals than Noah had on the Ark; and I just knew I just didn't have the drive or the skill to kill like he did. And I asked my friend Andrew, a New York Times photographer, to come along, too, to record the whole thing. We followed the herpers around like happy but confused beagles. After a light rain, Quinton, , Jeffrey, a master helper along with his wife - they both worked at Bob's wild animal refuge, off and on - and now he was leading me and his friends along dirt back roads that were dangerously full of knee deep water-filled pot holes. Jeff drove Bob's tank-like open air swamp buggy; all of us with flashlights in hand - and lights strapped to our heads too.  After couple hours of driving, my ass bone felt deeply bruised. For everyone else, these bumpy rides were obviously no big deal. I like to think of myself as an a rough and tumble outdoorsy person but ass told me otherwise. Quinton, a teenage snake hunting prodigy, spotted a python crossing the road. The vehicle stopped and we all jumped out. It was as long as half the road and Quinton stepped up to it and redirected it with the snake hook. "Bun, grab it by it's neck quickly and don't hesitate." I snapped the snake up by it's neck and I was high on adrenaline and relieved I didn't get bitten. Python teeth are curved and the only way of getting your hand out of their mouths are to push your hand deeper into it to dislodge their teeth - this wasn't something I wanted to experience. I lowered the python into a pillow case and twirled it around and knotted it. A few days after catching the python, Dylan the film crew arrive. Dylan, who I grew up with, a fellow environmentalist and actor, was my co-host of the show I had been working on for years. It was finally happening but I never imagined I'd dread killing so much, and especially of an invasive species. We kept the python in a chest freezer for a couple of hours to slow it down and make it sleep. We were now filming the cooking scene. Dylan and I pulled it out of the bag and onto a wooden outdoor bar top  - it slowly pulsated in our hands. It didn't have much fight left in it and it was bigger and more beautiful than I remembered. I had reached out to a couple of scientists who specialize in humane ways of killing farm animals before my hunting trip to the Everglades; and they told me that one of the most humane ways of killing animals are to club them in the head. I couldn't bring myself to club the snake - and I hate killing animals. At Miya's, like most chefs, I took for granted that the animals I used were already dead. If people had to kill what they ate, I'd betcha we'd have millions more vegetarians. As I raised the cleaver to cut the snakes head off, my arm FROZE high above my head. After what seemed like hours, Dylan, whose always the calm one whispered "do it Bun." I slammed the heavy knife over it's neck and it's severed head seemed to gasp for breath. The rest of the body seemed to come to life too. It was heartbreaking and revolting to kill with my own hands. Soon Dylan and I were pulling it's skin off. I was emotionally drained. Python, like big predatory fish, are not the kind of food you should eat all of the time; these apex predators have been found to contain high amounts of neurotoxic mercury. That said, the way to prepare python is to slice it's milky-colored lean flesh into paper-thin bite-size pieces. Cut into thicker pieces and cooked for too long the flesh became as hard as tire rubber that only a gnawing dog might appreciate. Sliced so thin that the flesh is translucent and passed quickly through smoking hot peanut oil in a wok - I seasoned the snake Cantonese-style - with garlic, ginger, scallions, hot peppers, soy sauce, sherry, and fish sauce.  The flesh had the pleasant chewiness of squid and easily took on all the flavors of the seasonings. This was the first-time any of us - including the herpers - had ever eaten a snake. The only thing that would have made this meal better woulda been a bowl of rice. 飲杯! Yámbūi!