Snapping Turtle Recipe ?

[jvs]

Does anyone have a Recipe for Snapping Turtle Soup?

I just did one last week and it turned out pretty good for being a Reptile Soup.

I was wondering if you all had a favorite recipe for Snapper Stew or if there's another way to make them.

[JeffG]

Boil the meat off of the bones .  There is 3 kinds of meat.  Dark, light and clear like crayfish.  Keep it all aside and use mom's chicken soup recipe, substituting the turtle meat for chicken;  it is sooooo goood!!

[dukkillr]

Someone told me once that it was important to clean the turtle well.  It seems like they said that the fat was very fishy smelling.  Is this hard to do?  Is all the meat good?

[JeffG]

Use a sharp knife and cut out the fat. All of the meat is good, the trick is to add fresh chopped onions and pepper to the boiled meat, and simmer for a while, and use chicken soup base to start your soup.  As long a the turtle is fresh, and not injured, say by a farmer's plow when you got it, it should be fine.  They can get pretty stinky after being hit by a car, etc.

[jvs]

The first Turtle soup recipe came out so good that I now have another Snapper sitting in water, cleaning itself out.  I change the water about twice a week.  This tends to allow the mud and other stuff from the Turtles original habitat to slowly wash off the outside.

Soon this one will either be Soup or Breaded & Fried.

I get mine while fishing most of the time.  Turtle season doesn't open up here until after the mating season.  So finding one on shore so late in the year is mostly unheard of because the mating is long over by the time it is permisible to posess.

What I found out is that there is a definitely good way to handle them when preparing them without losing any of your own body parts.   They do have a pretty bad attitude and can be Lightning fast.

[wijim]

ive always caught em crossing roads from one swamp to another.  i pull over.....dangle a cloth or glove in front of them...then when they snap it, i pull slowly so their head comes out .....and i whack it with a 2# maul.  ive gotten alot of snappers that way.

[JeffG]

JVS, glad it turned out for you! Nice job! JeffG

[volshooter]

I have been eating snappers for over 40 years and love them more now than before. Here in East Tennessee this is how we cook em.

Allow cleaned turtle to set in salt water overnight in fridge.

Pressure cook turtle pcs. with salt and pepper for 15 minutes for a small turtle and 25 for an old one.

Relieve pressure under water, remove whole pcs.(if you can, most of the time the meat falls apart, so use everything) and roll in a flour, salt and pepper mixture and fry in GOOD oil or LARD. When the pcs have slightly browned remove meat and set aside. Use meat grease to make a schorched gravy add some biscuts and you are set. I have never heard of wasting snapper in a soup. Sounds like a waste of good meat to me.

BTW We use this basic method for squirrel, gorundhog, rabbit, coon and just about about anything else short of possum. I have eat 2 coons in the past week, one fried and one baked.

Enjoy, Rick

[volshooter]

On a side note snappers are easy to catch. Walk up to them and put your foot on top of him and grab him by the tail, my daughter can do it. When clening time comes grab him by the tail and allow his front feet to touch the ground, this will make him stick his neck out and just wack it. While he is knocked out turn him over and drive a 16 D nail through his chin and nail his kester to a tree. I would suggest you cut off his claws on all four feet first. The rest is simple. Don't try dunking them in hot water or some crap like that, totally not needed.

I don't claim to be special but the taking, cleaning and preparing natures gifts should be tought when your 6 yeas old. I fear we have become a nation of sensitive folks with 24 hour open stores. It saddens me greatly, I guess I am perhaps one of the last of my kind.

Rick

[Game_Stalker]

When removing the head, I whack em on the head with a pair of pliers. When they hiss at you, grab their lower jaw with the pliers. Step on the shell, pull the head out as far as it will go and use a nice sharp knife to cut it off.

For a first go around, I STRONGLY recommend you use a bigger snapper and the little ones are just as time consuming and can cause a lot of frustration when you're done. My first was small and took me forever to get it done. When I looked at what I go tout of it, I was REALLY frustrated. To top it off, I cooked it wrong and since there wasn't much meat, I cooked it all the same way. Ruined a perfectly good turtle. :?

[wijim]

On a side note snappers are easy to catch. Walk up to them and put your foot on top of him and grab him by the tail, my daughter can do it. When clening time comes grab him by the tail and allow his front feet to touch the ground, this will make him stick his neck out and just wack it. While he is knocked out turn him over and drive a 16 D nail through his chin and nail his kester to a tree. I would suggest you cut off his claws on all four feet first. The rest is simple. Don't try dunking them in hot water or some crap like that, totally not needed.

I don't claim to be special but the taking, cleaning and preparing natures gifts should be tought when your 6 yeas old. I fear we have become a nation of sensitive folks with 24 hour open stores. It saddens me greatly, I guess I am perhaps one of the last of my kind.

Rick

no there are lots of us that still believe in this.  my kids get their hands dirty while we're butchering.

[gp911]

I wish I had a copy of my great uncle's recipe for turtle soup. It went to the grave with him and family reunions have never been the same. His had a reddish broth like beef with tomato, and there was definitely lemon juice in there, along with shreds of turtle and some vegetables. It was an exotic treat reserved for special occasions, and I miss it (and him) terribly.


gp911

[Buckskin]

How about softshell turtles?