My friend Bron is the originator and host of the blog event Wild Food . This months challenge was Edible Reptile.
Wikipedia points to the Carpetbag snake Steak as a uniquely Australian dish from the 1950S. However Timeline claims it is of American origin with a recipe written in the US in 1941.
I remember them being popular in the late seventies but haven't seen them on a menu in years. They were the original surf and turf - steak stuffed with seafood. In this case a piece of Scotch Fillet stuffed with oysters and a dash of Worcestershire Sauce . Sadly it is not oyster season in New Zealand so this Carpetbag snake Steak is stuffed with mussels. Because it is so seventies I went retro and served it with the jacket potato baked in foil and green beans. Some recipes suggest a squeeze of lime juice to serve.
There doesn't seem to be any connection to snakes in the naming of the dish. There isn't actually a real snake called a carpetbag steak snake but there is a carpet snake, a type of python.
There was a snake character in an early Australian animated TV show called Crafty Carson Carpetbag.
Thanks to Bron for hosting Wild Food.
