So I’ve been doing a lot of fishing lately and yesterday, as we were leaving the lake, we noticed a huge snapping turtle that someone had put in their truck - presumably to take home and eat.
I know people make soup out of turtles but I haven’t found a decent web site on how exactly one cleans a turtle. I have no interest in doing this - just sort of a morbid curiousity on seeing someone wrestle with opening that shell. Anyone know how to clean a turtle?
Also - what the heck else can you do with a turtle except make soup? What does turtle taste like?
Well done turtle soup is awesome! However, it is not the turtle meat that is good, it is the sherry broth that it is cooked in. Turtle soup has a very distinctive taste that requires a really good french chef to do correctly. Get it wrong and it is crap. I have never heard of anyone eating a large snapping turtle and I am very scared of those terrible beasts. I had snapping turtle as a meal at survival camp and it was not good even for a starved boy scout. However, some good restaurants in New Orleans make a turtle soup that is to die for.
Turtle soup is GOOD stuff, however, I deny that it requires any fru-fru FRENCH chef. Where I grew up in rural PA, there was a small town that had a bar and grill type operation featuring turtle soup made by the proprietor, who seemed not at all French. People from miles around knew about this place. He paid people to supply him with live snapping turtles, most of which were caught by the local kids. He used to sell the stuff frozen to take home, but the demand was so great he eventually sold it only to be eaten on the premises.
I remember being in there with my parents once when the owner approached our table and took us downstairs to see a particularly large snapper that somebody had just brought in. Critter was a good two feet across - he held out a broomstick in front of it and it snapped it in two with one quick bite. You’ve got reason to be scared of a big snapper. They have nasty dispositions, too.
I believe that getting the shell off is no big deal - from what I’ve heard, you can just pry it off. But you still have to skin the beast, and they are supposedly difficult to skin. This is all hearsay, though.
Once I was with friends in Louisiana, and we found a turtle by the side of the road. My Cajun* buddy resolved to cook and eat it. (duh!)
{Cajun}First you put a baton in fronta him head. When him bite dat baton, pull away and chop off de head wit de axe.{/Cajun}
Parenthetically, the head still had a firm grasp on the stick six hours later.
My friend hacked around and managed to clean the beast in an hour or so. The legs were still clawing at him the whole time. Removing the skin is not easy.
I’ll second what yabob said: Do Not mess around with big snappers. They will hurt you.
{hijack} One of my fondest memories of Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom is of Jim diving into chest-deep water, thrashing around a while, then coming up with a snapper about 2 1/2 feet wide, while Marlon sat safely in the boat. {/hijack}
*Not considered offensive by persons of Louisiana/French/Acadian extact as far as I know.
Explosive “Satchel Charges”, as used by tunnel rats to clear out caves in Vietnam. Just pop one in the turtle’s head hole, light the fuse, then…Ka-BOOM! Instant turtle-shell ashtray! With some starter ash, no less!
Ranchoth
Oooo, interesting stuff! Thanks for the links, Walloon and DMC..
What does turtle meat taste like? All the recipes I found online were for snappers. I’m just amazed people really eat them when I’ve always thought of them as pets or something.
I know this sounds horribly …well, it sounds gross but I want to see someone actually clean one.
I remember a neighbor getting his finger crunched by his kid’s pet turtle and him swearing and screaming, running up and down the driveway. Definitely wouldn’t be playing around with those big things.
Justin Wilson says turtle tastes like seven different kinds of meat: beef, chicken, etc. My guess is that different areas have different texture or whatever and so have slightly different tastes.
If you can get your hands on an old copy of “The Joy of Cooking” (not the new revised edition), it has instructions on the cleaning and preparation of turtles (including some kinds of turtles that are now endangered).
If you can get your hands on an old copy of “The Joy of Cooking” (not the new revised edition), it has instructions on the cleaning and preparation of turtles (including some kinds of turtles that are now endangered).
