Turtle Soup

[Smokehouse13]

Ok the soup turned out delicious so here is the recipe:
I have a large family so it takes this much to feed my crew.

2 lb's Turtle meat
2 sticks unsalted butter
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup diced celery
2 cups of diced onion
1 1/2 cups of tomatoe puree
1 quart beef stock
6 hard boiled eggs,chopped fine
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp oregano
1 tsp or so of pepper
1 tbsp of poultry seasoning
salt and pepper to taste

Slow cook turtle,pull off bone set aside.
melt butter,add flour cook until flour is rich in color. Stir at all times it will burn.
add celery,onions cooked diced turtle meat, cook until vegetables are tender. add tomatoe puree and seasonings. simmer for 15 min or so. heat beef stock to boil add to tomatoe mixture
simmer,add lemon,diced eggs. Enjoy

 

[One Acre Wonder Farm]

So DH is telling me that turtle is tough/chewy. I've never had it, but I can't imagine that people would love it so much if it were...

Is turtle tough/chewy???

 

[Peeper]

Barffff! I have a turtle but his trips to the kitchen are only for wading in the cat's water bowl!
I guess if my family were starving I would eat turtles and everything else!

 

[Smokehouse13]

Not to my experience turtle isn't chewy or tough. We enjoy trying new dishes.

 

[One Acre Wonder Farm]

Good to know Smokehouse! I'd really like to try it!

Turns out DH tried turltle jerky, so maybe that's why he said it was chewy

 

[morkelkey]

Turtle soup is a soup made from the flesh of the turtle, often the green turtle or, especially in the United States, the snapping turtle, in which case it is commonly referred to as snapper soup (not to be confused with red snapper soup, which is made from the fish called a red snapper).

In many jurisdictions, turtle soup is illegal because many species of turtle are considered threatened or endangered, and cannot legally be captured and killed. Generally speaking, turtle populations cannot quickly recover from the loss of a breeding adult, thus, killing these turtles to make soup can depress populations below sustainable levels.

 

[yodercountrygirl]

We caught a snapper, and found out that it was a female. A total of 40 eggs. By the way can you eat turtle eggs and how do you cook them? Here is the turtle.

 

[River Lizard]

Here's a photo of my younger years when I use to go turtle huntin'.
Turtles have close to 11 different kinds of meat in them. My favorite is the strip that's on the underside of the shell where you have to cut the cross bones so you can get the meat off the shell.

They are a pain to clean but it's worth it.

 

[JennsPeeps]

I found this page about the legality of catching turtles:
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2009/freshwater-turtles-03-11-2009.html

Specific to Missouri it states:

Missouri

Missouri law allows turtle collectors to deploy an unlimited number of box traps and hoopnets to harvest freshwater turtles. Collectors may harvest an unlimited number of common snapping turtles and spiny and smooth softshell turtles in three major watersheds: the Missouri River, Mississippi River, and St. Francis River. However, collectors are not required to report the date, species or quantity of turtles captured or stream and county where harvest occurred. Missouri law prohibits the harvest of rare turtle species including alligator snapping turtles (Macrochelys temmickii), and chicken turtles (Deirochelys reticularia). However, these species overlap in range with non-protected turtles in Missouri and are caught in baited traps set by commercial collectors. Trappers often can not distinguish alligator snappers from common snappers and coin both species simply as “loggerheads.” To the untrained eye chicken turtles are strikingly similar in appearance to red eared sliders and river cooters. Collectors who can distinguish these species and who realize their high value for the international pet trade may purposely harvest and portray them as common snappers and red eared sliders and sell these to dealers in states where their commerce is legal. Alligator snapping turtle population surveys from the boot heel of Missouri show depleted and extirpated population, which may indicate relatively low densities of other turtle species. Studies funded by the Missouri Department of Conservation describe grave concern for depleted turtle populations resulting from incidental mortality from commercial fishing nets that are commonly deployed in Missouri.

And here's how to tell the difference between the protected alligator snapping turtle and a common snapper:
http://www.chelydra.org/common_alligator_snapping_turtle.html​