Turtle soup

“ Let the soup boil half an hour longer, then strain it and put in the meat, and season with salt, black and cayenne pepper (and a few cloves, if you like them) . Thicken with butter and brown flour.
Let it now boil nearly an hour longer, and just before serving it, stir in one tablespoonful sugar browned in a frying-pan, and half a pint wine. A good substitute for turtle soup.—Mrs. Col. A. F.
Calf's Head Soup.
Have a head nicely cleaned, the brains taken out and the head put to soak. Put it on with,
1 gallon water. ”

“ Gravy, ox-tail, mock turtle, and giblet soups are much more common at English dinners than real turtle soup, for the two sufficient reasons, that they are more easily prepared, and that they are less costly. ”

“ The sight gave me quite an appetite, though my friend Sir Henry Thompson will insist upon it that turtle soup is made of conger-eel, but in the wide Atlantic one has time to think of such things; day by day passes and you see nothing but the ocean—not even a distant sail, or the smoke of a passing steamer. ”

“ It would have been more just to have asked this boon in behalf of him who invented eating and turtle-soup. The wearied fall into sleep, as it might be unwittingly; sometimes against their will, and often against their interests; while many a man is hungry without possessing the means of appeasing his appetite. Still more daily feel hunger without possessing turtle-soup. Certain persons impute this delicious compound to the genius of some London alderman, but we rather think unjustly. ”

“ The great artist divides the dressing of a turtle into four operations, and on each expends a page. In order to dress the turtle as it ought to be prepared, he says, two large legs of veal, eight fowls, lean ham in slices, sweet herbs, beef stock, the nut of a ham, cloves, Cayenne, allspice, mace, long pepper, white pepper, eight bottles of dry Madeira, and sixty eggs, are necessary. It is therefore clearly better for those who wish to give turtle soup at a dinner, to have a quart or gallon of it from some first-rate hotel, than to go to the expense of all these ingredients. ”

“ Work through a sieve, and add the purée to a clear soup. Mix a tablespoonful or two of flour with a cup of cream or milk, add this with salt and white pepper; let boil for 2-3 minutes before serving.
Turtle Soup (tortue) .— (a) Kill the turtle by cutting off its head. Then put it in water for 12 hours; divide the shells, remove the entrails, and carefully preserve the green fat, which should be put into cold water to steep. Put the fins and flesh with the shells cut into several pieces into boiling water for a few minutes, then remove the thin outer skin from head, fins, &c. ”

“ The cans contain not what is commonly called turtle soup, but the meat of the turtle, boiled, and the proper proportions of lean meat, yellow and green fat put together. They cost fifty cents each, and a single can will make soup enough for six persons. ”

“ To make it even better, add a sprinkling of dried mint and a handful of toast dice, browned with butter, and you have a feast for hungry gods on a cold day.
Another way: instead of using mint and toast, cut half a dozen thin slices from a [Pg 43] Brunswick sausage, peel off the rind and drop them in the soup when it is half cooked. The mixture is very toothsome.
Turtle Soup.
From small things to great: from the common and strictly garden pea to the Aldermanic and luscious turtle. Most turtle importers make their own preserved turtle, which is sometimes good and always expensive. ”

“ Put it into a saucepan with 3 qt. water, one teacupful pearl barley, 6 onions, 1 turnip, 1 carrot, a bunch of sweet herbs, and a few cloves. Let it simmer gently for about 5 hours, then remove the head; strain and rub the vegetables through a sieve, or leave them whole, according to taste. Let it stand all night, and when cold take off every particle of fat; cut up the meat from the head into small pieces, and warm it up in the soup. Season to taste, add a wineglass of white wine, a little mushroom ketchup, and thicken with butter and flour. Very little inferior to mock turtle soup. ”

“ In a very short time a thick and nutritious soup was formed, which, though it would have been improved with salt, pepper, lemon, and a few other condiments, was well calculated to restore the vital energies, aided with small doses of brandy-and-water. Such, at all events, were the only means that Charley and Elton could think of for giving the sufferer the strength he required. Whether or not the turtle soup would have served the purpose without the spirit, or the spirit without the soup, it may be difficult to determine ”

“ When the flesh is also completely cooked, strain it through a silk sieve, and make a very thin white roux (i.e., a preparation of butter and flour) , for turtle soup must not be thickened very much. When the flour is sufficiently done on a slow fire, and has a good colour, moisten it with the liquor, keeping it over the fire until it boils. Ascertain that the sauce is neither too thick nor too thin; then draw the stewpan to the side of the stove and skim off the white scum, and all the fat and oil that rises to the surface of the sauce. ”

“ Mock Turtle Soup. Time—11⁄2 hour. 1 bullock’s foot, 2 lbs. shin of beef, 2 carrots, 2 turnips, 1 small head celery, 1 leek, 1 onion, 6 oz. dripping, 1⁄2 lb. flour; bay-leaves, cloves, cayenne, and ground mace; 1 wineglassful sherry.
The day before the soup is required cut up the foot and put it in a saucepan with 2 quarts of cold water; simmer 5 hours, then strain; cut all the flesh off the bones and chop it up into neat pieces. Put on the shin separately in 2 quarts of cold water, and simmer 4 or 5 hours. Prepare the vegetables, cut them up, fry them in the fat in a large stew-pan ”

“ Mix smooth in a gill of cold water a teaspoonful of French potato-flour and of Vienna flour, stir into the soup, and when it has thickened put in the turtle meat; let it get hot through, add a wine-glassful of sherry, a dessertspoonful of lemon-juice, and salt and pepper to taste, and serve at once. It is necessary to have "Bellis's Sun-dried Turtle," imported by T. K. Bellis, Jeffrey's Square, St. Mary Axe, London (sold in boxes) , for this soup, because it is warranted properly prepared. An inferior article, got up by negroes from turtle found dead, is frequently sold at a low price ”

“ MOCK TURTLE SOUP. To make a single tureen of this favourite English soup in the most economical manner when there is no stock at hand, stew gently down in a gallon of water four pounds of the fleshy part of the shin of 24beef, or of the neck, with two or three carrots, one onion, a small head of celery, a bunch of savoury herbs, a blade of mace, a half-teaspoonful of peppercorns, and an ounce of salt. When the meat is quite in fragments, strain off the broth, and pour it when cold upon three pounds of the knuckle or of the neck of veal ”

“ Broth should always be in the larder of a good kitchen, as it is perpetually required for sauces, braises, soups, consommés, and essences.
The great English soups are, real turtle, mock turtle, ox-tail, gravy, giblet, hare, green-pea soup, and pea soup. The great English broths are, chicken broth, mutton broth, Scotch-barley broth, veal broth, and beef broth or tea, which is almost equivalent to the French grand bouillon.
Real turtle soup is seldom made in private houses, unless of the very highest distinction. ”

“ For the finest kind of mock turtle, only the skin, with the fat that adheres to it, should be used; and this, with the tongue, should be cut down into one inch squares, or if preferred into strips of an inch wide. For ordinary occasions, the lean part of the flesh may be added also, but as it is always sooner done than the skin, it is better to add it to the soup a little later. When it is quite ready, put it with the strained stock into a clean pan, and simmer it from three quarters of an hour to a full hour: it should be perfectly tender, without being allowed to break. ”

“ The cuisine is almost too elaborate for a traveler's palate, but plain meat is rarely to be got, and even when procurable is unpalatable unless disguised. Curry is at each meal, but it is not made with curry powder. Its basis is grated cocoa-nut made into a paste with cocoa-nut milk, and the spices are added fresh. Turtles when caught are kept in a pond until they are needed, and we have turtle soup, stewed turtle, curried turtle and turtle cutlets ad nauseam. Fowls are at every meal, but never plain roasted or plain boiled. ”

“ Tur′tle-soup, a soup the chief ingredient of which is turtle meat; Turt′ling, the catching of turtles.—Green turtle, a species of turtle which attains great size and is the source of real turtle-soup—its eggs also are much prized; Mock turtle, a soup made of calf's head in lieu of turtle meat; Turn turtle, to capsize, as a boat. ”

“ Turtle soup of nicest and freshest quality commenced the ceremony, turtle pie helped to continue it, so did turtle steak, otherwise you might imagine yourself at an ordinary American hotel except that beef and mutton, and ducks and chickens, appear in an excellent state of mummification, as if they had all died of a lingering consumption, and would severally assist us to follow their example. The climate of the tropics is ill-adapted to our domestic animals. We are told that the best American cows die here after a few months, even if brought in the fall. ”

“ Put the stock, turtle, and a dessertspoonful of salt into a large stewpan and bring to the boil, then add the prepared vegetables, herbs, bag of peppercorns, etc., and when the stock boils remove the scum as it rises. Put on the cover and cook gently for 8 or 9 hours, adding more stock if that in the pan reduces very much. Strain, put the pieces of turtle aside, and remove the fat from the soup when cold. Pass the beef and veal 2 or 3 times through the mincing machine, and add them together with the shells and stiffly-whipped whites of the eggs to the soup, and whisk until it boils. ”

“ The ancients believed that the earth was based on the back of a gigantic turtle—a most comfortable belief, for the turtle moves so slowly and cautiously that there would be no danger that it would be joggled off. It is also interesting to note that [Pg 140] turtle soup dates back to prehistoric times. Then, again, we have terrapin, the most aristocratic of turtles, whose flesh is so highly prized by epicures that restaurateurs cannot get enough of it and are compelled to serve stewed muskrat as a substitute. ”

“ The big animal lay bottom side up, vainly moving its flippers. In a few minutes Washington had killed the turtle and cut it out of the shell.
"Now we'll hab turtle soup!" he exclaimed.
Soon the fire was again blazing in the improvised stove, and a little later an appetizing smell filled the air. Washington had made the soup, and, in addition, had cooked a number of the turtle eggs.
Big clam shells again served for dishes and a better meal than the breakfast was served.
"Now if we only had some dessert," spoke Mr. [150] Henderson in a joking tone, "we wouldn't want much more. ”

“ The fat which rises to the surface during the boiling is skimmed off and kept in joints of bamboo and turtle bladders, being much prized as food; I have even seen the natives drink it off in its hot fluid state with as much gusto as ever alderman enjoyed his elaborately prepared turtle soup.
HAWKSBILL TURTLE.
The hawksbill turtle (Caretta imbricata) that chiefly producing the tortoise-shell of commerce, resorts to the shores in the neighbourhood of Cape York later in the season than the green species, and is comparatively scarce. ”

“ None to speak of; sour oranges and green bananas.—I went to market last Saturday, and bought one cabbage, one banana, and half a pig's head;—there's a market for you!—Fish? Oh, yes, if you like it.—Turtle? Yes, you can get the Gallipagos turtle; it makes tolerable soup, but has not the green fat, which, in my opinion, is the most important feature in turtle-soup.—Shops? You can't buy a pair of scissors on the island, nor a baby's bottle;—broke mine the other day, and tried to replace it ”

“ Since those far-off days mankind has been faithful in its love for the genus Testudo, whether terrestrial or marine, wherever edible members of it could be obtained; but when and why the consumption of turtle-soup became with us a synonym for the highest luxury in the way of food, and indissolubly associated with the royal hospitality of the Lord Mayor, is indeed a question to be answered. ”

“ INGREDIENTS.—A turtle, 6 slices of ham, 2 knuckles of veal, 1 large bunch of sweet herbs, 3 bay-leaves, parsley, green onions, 1 onion, 6 cloves, 4 blades of mace, 1/4 lb. of fresh butter, 1 bottle of Madeira, 1 lump of sugar. For the Quenelles à Tortue, 1 lb. of veal, 1 lb. of bread crumbs, milk, 7 eggs, cayenne, salt, spices, chopped parsley, the juice of 2 lemons.
Mode.—To make this soup with less difficulty, cut off the head of the turtle the preceding day. In the morning open the turtle by leaning heavily with a knife on the shell of the animal's back, whilst you cut this off all round. ”

“ Aldermanick genius is easily excited and rendered active, no doubt, by strong appeals on such a theme, but our own experience inclines us to believe that the tropics usually send their inventions to the less unfruitful regions of the earth along with their products. We have little doubt, could the fact be now ascertained, that it would be found turtle-soup was originally invented by just some such worthy as Jack Tier, who in filling his coppers to tickle the captain’s appetite, had used all the condiments within his reach ”