Turtle soup

[Jaga]

John,

you did a good job with this subject, recipe and photo. Still I wonder where these people come from, whether this thread is high in any search engines or this is just a scam that so many people allegedly saw it. I hope it is rather the first, and somehow this thread is very high in search engines, although I did not see it under google.

[justjohn]

Dec 9, 2009 22:44:48 GMT -7 Jaga said:

John,

you did a good job with this subject, recipe and photo. Still I wonder where these people come from, whether this thread is high in any search engines or this is just a scam that so many people allegedly saw it. I hope it is rather the first, and somehow this thread is very high in search engines, although I did not see it under google.

Explain how it could become a scam? I'm in the dark on that one.

[justjohn]

;D ;D

OK, I was watching Foodnetwork yesterday and on the segment of 'Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives he was at a restaurant in Louisiana. They were making and serving Turtle Soup !!!!!

Well, spring is almost here and a young mans fancy turns to 'SNAPPER"!!

Here are some reminders:









TURTLE SOUP



New Orleans Seafood Cookbook
by Ralph Brennan

The closest encounter some have had with turtle soup was to watch French actress Stephane Audran ladle it out as potage a la tortue in the 1988 movie "Babette's Feast."
While this delicious soup may be hard to set in most parts of the world, in New Orleans it remains a familiar dish on the tables of many restaurants and family dining rooms. Thanks to the abundant supply of the amphibian from South Louisiana's vast system of natural waterways, New Orleans Creoles have been enjoying their spicy soupe a la tortue ..for centuries, and variations on the basic recipe are as numerous as the cooks who prepare the dish.
Making the soup at home from scratch is best left to cooks capable of confronting the task of dressing a live snapping turtle. The rest of us can settle for buying fresh or frozen turtle meat (soft-shell and snapping turtles being the most common species) either from specialty markets or by mail order from seafood dealers in and around New Orleans.
The recipe below adheres to tradition, except perhaps for the addition of spinach. The leaf vegetable lends the soup touches of both color and interesting flavor.
This rich soup can be offered either as a first or main course, with crusty French bread or toast points.
For 16 appetizer servings or 8 main-dish servings

Note: If the soup is made ahead, check the level of lemon juice and sherry before serving.

Ingredients
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 pounds turtle meat, trimmed of all sinew and cut into 1/4-inch cubes
• 8 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 medium-size onions, chopped fine
• 4 stalks celery, chopped fine
• 2 medium-size green sweet peppers, chopped fine
• 1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt, plus to taste
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 medium-size Creole* tomatoes, seeded and chopped fine
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 quarts beef stock
• 1 cup Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tablespoons Crystal brand pepper sauce, or other relatively mild pepper sauce
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped Italian (flat-leaf) parsley leaves
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh thyme leaves
• 5 large eggs, hard-boiled, chopped fine
• 6 ounces fresh spinach, washed, stemmed and leaves sliced flne
• zest from 3 lemons, chopped fine
• 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 cup good-quality pale sherry

*South Louisiana's Creole tomatoes are preferred for this recipe, although other good, peak-of-season regional varieties can be used.

Directions
1. Over medium-high heat, melt the butter in a heavy 7-quart saucepan.

2. Add the turtle meat and garlic. Cook until the meat is no longer pink, about five minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Stir in the onions, celery, sweet peppers, kosher salt, and pepper. Cook until the vegetables start to become translucent, about 10 minutes.

4. Add the tomatoes and cook about five minutes, stirring often so the bottom of the pan does not scorch. Reduce the heat to medium.

5. Dust the vegetables with the flour and cook five minutes, stirring constantly and scraping the pan bottom clean so the flour does not burn.

6. Slowly add the stock, stirring and scraping the pan bottom constantly to prevent dough balls from forming in the soup.

7. Stir in the Worcestershire, pepper sauce, parsley and thyme. Simmer 30 minutes.

8. Add the eggs, spinach, lemon zest, lemon juice and sherry. Continue simmering 10 minutes more.

Serving Suggestion: Taste for salt and serve warm in heated cups or bowls.




SMACZNEGO !!!


You adventuress folks let me know what you think.

[justjohn]

just to send it up to the top

[justjohn]

Well folks,
After letting this thread go I decided to check the market conditions.
Now I am wishing I had a pond on my property. Look at those prices.


Boneless Turtle Meat - 1 LB.
Regular Price: $39.99
Sale Price: $24.99


Boneless Turtle Meat on sale - 5 Lb.
Regular Price: $149.99
Sale Price: $89.99


Bone In Turtle Meat - 5 Lbs.
Regular Price: $99.99
Sale Price: $79.99
Bone In Turtle Meat - 5 Lbs.

[justjohn]

Dec 9, 2009 17:10:05 GMT -7 Jaga said:

Guys,

did you realize that for some reasons this post was read over 14 thousands times!

Well Jaga,

It seems that this is still popular as the count now is 17,045 hits.

WOW !!!!!

[justjohn]

From "The Food Network"


Turtle Soup
Ingredients

1 1/2 sticks butter
2 1/2 pounds turtle meat, cut into medium dice*
Salt and freshly cracked pepper
2 medium onions, cut into medium dice
6 stalks celery, cut into medium dice
30 cloves garlic, minced
3 bell peppers, cut into medium dice
1 tablespoon dried thyme, ground
1 tablespoon dried oregano, ground
4 bay leaves
2 quarts veal stock
1 cup all-purpose flour
26 ounces dry sherry (750-ml bottle)
1 tablespoon hot pepper sauce
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
2 large lemons, juiced
3 cups peeled, chopped, and seeded tomatoes
10 ounces fresh spinach, stems removed, washed 3 times, and roughly chopped
6 medium hard-boiled eggs, chopped into large pieces

Directions

*Cook's Note: We use alligator snapping turtles, which are a farm-raised fresh water species available all year long. Turtle meat usually comes in 2 1/2-pound portions.

In a large soup pot over medium to high heat, melt 1/2 stick butter. Add turtle meat and brown. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper. Cook for about 18 to 20 minutes or until liquid is almost dry. Add onions, celery, garlic, and peppers, constantly stirring. Add thyme, oregano, and bay leaves and saute for about 22 minutes**. Add stock, bring to a boil, and simmer for 30 minutes. Skim any fat that comes to the top.

While stock is simmering, make the roux. In a small saucepan, melt remaining butter over medium heat. Slowly add flour, a little at a time, constantly stirring with a wooden spoon. Be careful not to burn. After all of the flour has been added, cook until roux smells nutty, is pale in color, and has a consistency of wet sand, about 3 minutes. Set aside to let cool until soup is ready (roux should be cool when adding to hot soup).

Using a whisk, stir the roux into the stock vigorously, adding a little at a time to prevent lumping. Simmer for about 25 minutes. Stir to prevent sticking on bottom. Add sherry and bring to a boil. Add hot sauce and Worcestershire sauce. Simmer and skim any fat or foam that comes to top. Add lemon juice and tomatoes and return to a simmer. Add spinach and eggs, return to a simmer and adjust seasoning.

**Cook's Note: Caramelizing vegetables and meats very will to get the dark color you are looking for.

***Cook's Note: This is like a stew, eaten as a main dish. This soup freezes well.

* Restaurant Recipe

This recipe was provided by professional chefs and has been scaled down from a bulk recipe provided by a restaurant. Food Network Kitchens have not tested this recipe in the proportions indicated and therefore cannot make representation as to the results.

[justjohn]

Stop #25: Mississippi River, LA

Featured Herp: Alligator Snapping Turtle (Macroclemys temminckii)


Alligator snapping turtle - the largest freshwater turtle species in the U.S.

ALLIGATOR SNAPPING TURTLE: Magnificent Beast Protected from Feast **

by John B. Jensen, Georgia Department of Natural Resources
southeastern distribution



**The following account is a true story. Some names have been changed to protect the not-so-innocent. One turtle was harmed in the making of this story.

Summer mornings often find many herpetologists "in the field" studying their cold-blooded species of interest. Unfortunately, that was not the case for me on July 17, 1997. Faced with what seemed to be an insurmountable stack of deadline-ridden paperwork, I was completely office-bound. As the principal herpetologist for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ Nongame-Endangered Wildlife Program, however, I must also be available for other unexpected duties when working at my office in Forsyth. Frequent public assistance phone calls, usually snake "crises", are par for the course, but one particular call that day was quite unexpected.

Mr. "Catfish" Trotline, a fisherman from Southwest Georgia, called to inform me not of the fish, but rather the turtle, he had caught a few days earlier. A 57 pound "loggerhead" (local vernacular for the alligator snapping turtle) fell for his one of his baited hooks set in Kinchafoonee Creek. This particular turtle had a metal tag attached to one of its feet and Mr. Trotline correctly reasoned that someone with the DNR put that tag there and would be interested in knowing about the catch.



The turtle, or Number 119 as he was affectionately known, was a male turtle first caught farther downstream in the Flint River during a 1989 status survey of this threatened species. I was very pleased to get the capture information on No. 119, which would certainly help add to the limited knowledge of alligator snapping turtle movements and growth. Interestingly, over the course of eight years, this turtle gained 32 pounds and moved upstream several kilometers into a tributary of the Flint. I thanked Mr. Trotline for being so kind to inform me of his catch and asked if he had already released it. To say the least, I was quite unprepared for his answer - "No, I ate it."

I thought – "How could he possibly tell me this?" After all, the alligator snapping turtle is a protected species and Mr. Trotline was openly telling a state biologist with the Endangered Wildlife Program of his illegal feast! Clearly, "Catfish" Trotline was not aware of the alligator snapper's status and since he only meant well by calling us, he was pardoned.


can of commercially produced 'snapper turtle soup'

Alligator snapping turtles were once highly prized for their meat. Old-timers professed that there are seven different flavors of meat on a single turtle (one of them must be chicken, I assume). Many freshwater turtle species were eaten, but 'gator snappers could provide a much greater quantity of meat than others and thus were especially favored. During the 1960s and 1970s, Campbell’s, and certainly others, even produced a canned turtle soup. It was this fact that eventually led to the decline and threatened status of the alligator snapper.

Commercial turtle trapping operations strongly focused on this species since it was easy to catch and its enormous size ensured good earnings for the trappers that sold meat at per pound rates. The removal of so many large, mature alligator snappers from the rivers and streams of the southeastern Gulf Coastal Plain caused a huge population crash in many areas, requiring state agencies to prohibit commercial harvest.

The largest freshwater turtle in the Western Hemisphere, the alligator snapping turtle can reach 250 pounds or more and have a shell nearly one yard in length. Alligator snappers look quite pre-historic, with three jagged ridges on the carapace, a massive head with powerful hooked jaws, bear-like claws, and a long scaly tail. On the floor of its mouth is a pink, fleshy structure that is unique to this species. The worm-like process is wiggled and twitched while the turtle lies otherwise motionless under the water with its mouth wide-open. This action lures small fish within striking distance of its lightning-quick jaws. Actually, fish are only one component of a highly opportunistic and varied diet that includes smaller turtles, mussels, birds, muscadine grapes, palmetto berries, acorns, and carrion (and fishhooks).

Humans very rarely see alligator snapping turtles, except those people who purposely pursue the turtles, such as biologists and trappers. However, many people misidentify their smaller cousin, the common snapping turtle, as an alligator snapper. Common snapping turtles often travel across land from one aquatic habitat to another, which puts them in view of humans much more frequently. Conversely, alligator snappers never voluntarily leave the water, except nesting females, which rarely stray more than a few yards beyond the high-water line.

Today, even biologists rarely see alligator snappers. In an effort to evaluate current populations of this species in Georgia, I, along with other colleagues and volunteers, conducted status surveys in the major stream systems of Georgia within the species’ range. Using live traps and snorkeling searches, we did in fact find 'gator snappers, but certainly not in the numbers we had hoped. One river, the Suwannee, yielded no captures or sightings of this spectacular creature, despite seemingly ideal habitat. Clearly, commercial trapping in the past left this and many other Georgia streams with very depressed populations.

Hopefully, with protection measures in place preventing commercial harvest of this species in Georgia and elsewhere, this species will make a successful comeback, much the way its namesake, the American Alligator, did following over-hunting and subsequent protection. However, building on the lesson learned from that phone call in July of 1997, we obviously need to make the public more aware of the threatened status of the magnificent alligator snapping turtle.

[justjohn]

I watched a segment of "Wild Man" on the 'Animal Planet Channel' yesterday.


The person, known as Turtle Man, caught a 50 pound snapping turtle.

Mmmmm Mmmmmm Goood

Soup tonight.





10 Awesome Snapping Turtle Facts

Snapping Turtles are often maligned because people think they're mean and scary looking. But they're actually pretty fun to hang out with. Don't believe me? Here are some facts about snappers that might change your mind.


1. Common vs. Alligator Snappers

Let's start with the basics. There are two types of snapping turtle: the Common Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina) and the Alligator Snapping Turtle (Macrochelys temminckii). A common snapper has a smoother shell than an alligator snapper's, which has three distinct spiky ridges. Don't be fooled by common snapper hatchlings, however. They have ridged shells at birth that even out over time. The alligator snapper has a more triangular head with little bumps that look like eyelashes around the eye. Generally, the alligator snapper looks more prehistoric than the common snapper. Can you tell these two apart

[Jaga]

John,

frankly, after posting the pictures and info I am thinkning twice about trying a turtle soup again.

By the way, turtle male often destroys turtle woman shell during the sexual act. Is this not sad? This is what they told us during ZOO preparation classes.

[justjohn]

Mar 1, 2012 10:57:52 GMT -7 Jaga said:

John,

frankly, after posting the pictures and info I am thinkning twice about trying a turtle soup again.

By the way, turtle male often destroys turtle woman shell during the sexual act. Is this not sad? This is what they told us during ZOO preparation classes.

I don't believe that holds true for snapping turtles. I see many females that look pretty healthy laying eggs every year.


It would be interesting to find out if that is true for all species of turtles.

[JustJohn or JJ]

Well now, there are 19,039 hits for this item. Just watched "Turtle Man" this week. Largest snapper he caught was a 30 pounder.



What would happen if he posted on this forum? Where would the count go then?

Interesting to contemplate.

[JustJohn or JJ]

For all you snow geese that went south for the winter here is a daarn good place to stop and fill up your belly.

www.greenturtlekeys.com/ourstory.html


They have been in the Florida Keys a  long time. Years ago they would use sea trutle for their stew but that is against the law now so they get their snapping turtle from a turtle farm in Georgia.


Let me know what you think if you go there.

[JustJohn or JJ]

Soups on !!!!


And now Russia is chiming in with this delicacy.

/photo/1




A creature that looks like a miniature dinosaur, complete with spikes and a pointy beak, crawled out of a river in the Russian Far East and into the nightmares of many who saw images of it on social media.

The spiked turtle was found on the banks of the Amur River near the Leninskoye settlement, part of Russia's Jewish Autonomous Region, according to the Siberian Times.

'When we saw it, we did not even realize that it was a turtle," Anastasia Steshina, who filmed the creature, told the news site. "It reminded us of a dinosaur."

[JustJohn or JJ]

Soup on the run - - -


Alligator snapping turtle's great escape

2 December 2016 Last updated at 18:42 GMT

A huge alligator snapping turtle got stuck in a blocked drain pipe in Houston, Texas.

www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-38189724