How was the old turtle soup like?

[hank_rearden]

you often read about it in old books. famous people made a fuzz about turtle soup, long before sea turtles were scarce, and before people had "environment" in their vocabulary.

[Daddyo16]

Never had turtle soup, but I did have turtle steak once in the Cayman Islands. Some of the tastiest protein I've ever had, so I would gather that the soup is just as good. Alligator is similar, but not quite as good.

[willseeyalater]

Never had turtle soup but we have done up snapping turtle in chunks like fried chicken. Bread and pan fry until crispy then finish in a cast iron skillet in a 350 F oven. You could also deep fry it but the meat is more dense then fish so a slower cooking gets it nice and tender instead of being chewy. Coating is made by dipping turtle meat in egg then into a plastic bag with cornmeal/flour 50/50 and Old Bay or whatever seasoning you prefer, same as many do chicken or fish. Good meat but my wife calls it a dinosaur supper and she finds something else. It reminds me of eating a country style pork rib that is well cooked and tender.

[hank_rearden]

thanks for the replies. a chef-friend just told me that green turtle soup as cooked in the US and UK was prepared very much like chicken soup. the only difference was that turtles are collagen-rich, so it was good for one's skin. think of oxtail soup but with a chicken-like flavor. disavantage was turtles have very fine bones.

[SouthernComfort]

Never eaten sea turtle, but I have eaten alligator snapping turtle. The turtle has something like seven kinds of meat ie; ranges from dark to white. I have had it in soup, sauce piquant and fried. If cooked correctly it is delicious. Though it was called soup, it was more like gumbo as it was slightly thickened with a dark roux.

I would avoid it now days as they are almost an endangered species due to intense hunting and the fact the they do not reach breeding age until they are forty (Bummer eh!).

I have been diving with sea turtles :-)
hawaii_scuba_ed_turtle3 copy.jpg

[hank_rearden]

oh, actually the reason i'm asking is my brother in canada is asking if i'd like a 7-pound frozen snapping turtle flown over to me. i'm looking at two recipes, the cajun and chinese.

[BA_Colt]

I have had the Chinese version in Chinatown in NYC. It was turtle meat in a chicken stock. Soy sauce, ginger, green onions and sliced boiled eggs on the side.

[SouthernComfort]

I'd go fer it, what have you got to lose ? If you don't like it feed it to the dog. I was curious is he talking about a whole turtle or seven pounds of meat ? If that is a whole turtle weighing seven pounds, I wouldn't think you would get much meat by the time you remove shell, skin, bones, guts etc. Might be more like cup o' soup :-)

[Thomas Linton]

It often had a burnt taste because the turtles, with their stubby little arms, had trouble stirring the soup.

[proud2deviate]

It often had a burnt taste because the turtles, with their stubby little arms, had trouble stirring the soup.

*snerk*

[jeepin]

Never had turtle soup but we have done up snapping turtle in chunks like fried chicken. Bread and pan fry until crispy then finish in a cast iron skillet in a 350 F oven. You could also deep fry it but the meat is more dense then fish so a slower cooking gets it nice and tender instead of being chewy. Coating is made by dipping turtle meat in egg then into a plastic bag with cornmeal/flour 50/50 and Old Bay or whatever seasoning you prefer, same as many do chicken or fish. Good meat but my wife calls it a dinosaur supper and she finds something else. It reminds me of eating a country style pork rib that is well cooked and tender.

That sounds really freaking good right now.

[Mr. Eddy]

oh, actually the reason i'm asking is my brother in canada is asking if i'd like a 7-pound frozen snapping turtle flown over to me. i'm looking at two recipes, the cajun and chinese.

I haven't had turtle but if it's similar to alligator like Daddyo said, then I imagine it also tastes similar to chicken(punn intended). Also, if the meat's composition is anything like alligator, you'll need to tenderize the crap out of it.
I remember being at great grandma's in Louisiana eating alligator gumbos and whatnot so a cajun soup sounds divine to me. I bet it also would be excellent in say, a hazelnut mushroom soup.

[texascarl]

http://www.thedailymeal.com/commande...ry-turtle-soup

Have had this many times and highly recommend it.

[SouthernComfort]

Hank,
Soo, did you ever get that turtle ??

[Stelth]

I've always wondered about turtle soup myself. There is a place in the Florida keys called The Green Turtle Inn that served turtle soup. It's still there, but I don't think they can sell real turtle soup anymore. http://www.greenturtlekeys.com/ourstory.html

[mete]

OT - yesterday I was channel surfing an came to MTV which I never watch.But I stopped as there was a guy who was completely freeking out !! His problem was that a [small] snapping turtle had bit him in the butt and they couldn't get him off. A small turtle but doing his thing !!