Kouwei Spicy Snake 口味蛇

Kouwei Spicy Snake (口味蛇) is a Changsha (长沙) dish of snake meat cooked with a heavy load of chilli. Ningxiang (宁乡), one of the food destinations around the city, has its own version, Ningxiang kouwei snake (宁乡口味蛇), which New Hunan (新湖南) lists among the representative dishes of folk-style Hunan cuisine, next to fish head with chopped chillies and Dong'an chicken.

Flavour and texture

Ningxiang cooks use locally farmed snakes, and a feature supplied by the Hunan tourism authorities describes the meat as firm yet tender. The plate arrives covered in bright red chillies in a thick, strongly flavoured sauce. The heat comes after the first bite rather than with it, sharp enough to make diners gasp, yet they keep eating.

Where it comes from

At the first 'Ningxiang Flavour' (宁乡味道) food festival in 2017, reported by Changsha Evening News (长沙晚报), Dachengqiao kouwei snake (大成桥口味蛇) was chosen as one of Ningxiang's ten famous dishes, and another snake dish, Jiangtian braised big snake (江天卤大蛇), made the same list. CCTV-10's food programme 'Flavour' (味道) filmed Ningxiang's kouwei snake in 2018, noting that snake meat is pink rather than red and that Ningxiang cooks use every edible part: the skin dressed cold, the tail in soup, the liver stir-fried and the gall bladder steeped in liquor.

How it is eaten

Kouwei snake is also a night-snack dish in Xiangtan (湘潭), where a local restaurateur told New Hunan that snake, rabbit, shrimp and crab are what people there like to eat late at night. His version is seasoned with a slow-simmered 'snake sauce' of beef paste and twelve spices including chilli; the tender meat comes away in shreds and releases the spicy sauce as it is chewed.