Catching, killing and eating turtles

DannyinJapan

DannyinJapan

Joined
Oct 9, 2003
Messages
5,594
We started this strangely, but I thought it might be worth its own time to explore.
Yvsa, would you mind going through your own routine again?
Start from how you catch a turtle and finish with the salt and pepper....

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Creamed Terrapin Recipe

Mix in the blazer two tablespoons of butter and one of flour and gradually stir in one pint of cream, a teaspoon of salt, a saltspoon of white pepper, the same of grated nutmeg, a pinch of cayenne pepper and a pint of terrapin meat, stirring all until scalding hot. Place over the hot water pan where the contents will keep hot but will not boil. Then stir in four well-beaten eggs, but do not allow the terrapin to boil after adding the eggs. Just before serving put in a gill of good sherry wine, if liked, and a tablespoon of lemon juice.

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Turtle Soup

1 Snapping Turtle

Any old soup recipe will work for (snapping) turtle soup. The main problem with turtle soup is cleaning the turtle. You have to be certain that every last speck of fat is removed from the meat before cooking. This is not too difficult because the fat is between the skin and the flesh.

To butcher a turtle you start by chopping off the turtle's head. Be careful because the head will still bite even after it is removed from the body and the body will still crawl away after the head is removed. Turtles don't die right away.

When the body stops trying to crawl away, dip it in boiling water and scrape off the exterior layer of skin, including the shell. The result will be a bright white carcus, compared to the muddy brown-green you started with.

Next step is to remove the shell. Cut along grove on each side between the front and back legs. It is the narrowest part of the shell. The tail, neck and all four legs are attached to the top of the shell. Remove from shell and you have the bulk of the meat. However, there will be some meat on the bottom shell and top shell.

It is at this point that you remove the fat. Just roll back the skin and with a paring knife and your index finger scrape out the fat.
 
The head of those snapping turtles sure remind me of some beaked dinosaurs, looks like a ceratopsian...


I wonder how they taste. Better not be like chicken! :cool:
 
The one time I had turkle soup was in New Orleans at a fancy schmancy place... it tasted like beef stew. I think down home snapper soup will be a lot better ;)
 
Catching the snappers is easy, least never had a problem when we were camping. Bait hook with an earthworm, catch bluegill. Make sure you set hook well. THen throw line back out with bluegill still on hook. Set yourself well and reel in snapper.

Make sure ya got heavy line on the reel and a steel leader on the end.

Use favorite recipe. :)
 
Well hell!:grumpy: I lost the post from the other thread.:(

Anyway the posts above describe pretty well how to skin a turtle and a lot shorter than my description.;)
If anyone thinks I need to rewrite it I will.

We used to seine the snappers. A seine is a strong small meshed, 5/16" to 3/8" squares,net about 4 feet wide and up to 50 foot long.
It has floats on the top side and heavy weights strung evenly along the bottom of it to hold the bottom down while in the water.
Any old sturdy stick about 5 foot long and 1 1/2" to 2 1/2" in diameter is tied on each end with the bottom end tied closely to the very bottom of the seine, don't want nothing escaping from underneath.;)
One person stands close to the bank while the other wades out into the water up to just below the depth of the seine and makes as large a circle as possible while moving back towards the bank.
It's important for the wader as well as the stationary person to start angleing their sticks with the bottom edge ahead of the top as they get closer to the bank, also helps things to keep from escaping underneath.

You never know what your catch is gonna be. We generally got the turtles, softshells as well as the snappers, when we were seineing for crawfish for bait.
These days I would probably be more interested in the crawfish for eatin rather than the turtles but I'd take whatever I could get except for the minnows and tiny perch.;)
 
did you grab them bare handed and whack em, or what?
snapheld.jpg


Look! There's a video, turtle trapping for fun and profit!
GetImage.aspx


holy Cow!
168 pounds!
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DannyinJapan said:
did you grab them bare handed and whack em, or what?

holy Cow!
168 pounds!
pictur10.gif
Click to expand...
Yup, grabbed 'em bare handed being extremely careful to avoid their long neck as they can swing their head around for an amazing distance! I generally picked 'em up by their tail.

There's two kinds of snappers. I was watching a documentary that explained the differences and the names but I have forgotten the names except one was an Alligator Snapping Turtle and the other was similar.
The differences is that one of them, like the big one pictured, can't swing his head around very far as they have a very short neck.
I think they're the ones we used to call Loggerheads. You don't see to many of them generally but the other species is pretty abundant here in Oklahoma.:D
They are so abundant that during mating season you will often see them along side the road as roadkill.:(

The purpose of the boiling, or near boiling, water is too soften the shell enough so that it can be cut rather than chopping them out with a hatchet, except now days I would use a khuk if the going got tough.;)
Maybe that's a topic for another thread (?) "Which khuk to use to clean a turtle?":D
The trick to getting them to "Stick their necks out" is to tease the snapper with a fairly large stick. He will generally bite on it and keep a hold of it long enough to pull his neck out and cut off his head.
Cut it off close so as to not lose any of the neck meat.:D

Also it's a little difficult sometimes to get out but the meat laying close to the back but it is really good and well worthwhile for the effort!
Alongside the middle of the inside of the shell is a bony ridge that looks almost like built in ribs, maybe that's why that meat is so good.;)
Turtles have really strange shaped bones so unless you bone it out people will know they're not eating a common meat animal.:eek:
 
Turtle meat is pretty much like any other kind of meat except it can be on the tough and chewy side which explains why it's almost always made into soup.:rolleyes:
But there's a few other game animals that can be the same way so it's just a matter of changing your cooking style. Old Grandpa Squirrels is a good example.;)

Oh, and I never worried overly much about the fat but I did get rid of most of it.

Two of my favorite ways of cooking turtle is as follows:

Put the turtle meat into a good sized pot add water to cover over about an inch and bring it to a boil then turn it down to a slow simmer, add a little salt and as much pepper as you like. I like a lot!
Simmer it until the meat is falling off the bone, let cool and remove the meat from the bones.
Then adjust the seasoning to taste. Pack tightly into a baking dish, something thats as deep as it is wide like a loaf pan does nicely, and then put it in the oven to roast.
Don't let the meat dry out but let it brown nicely on top. I used some dried pepper flakes like you put on pizza in mine while seasoning it to taste.
Makes for mighty fine eatin!!!!
Gotta go for now but will be back and edit the post for the other recipe or make another one.:D
 
Save a half dozen empty milk jugs with caps on.Gallons or Quarts both OK.

Tie string approx. 2 to 3 feet long with hook attached, to handle of jug.Jug helps keep turtle from gaining a purchase in order to pull hook out of mouthas hook is not grounded to solid point of attachment. If string is too long gator or turtle can hang it around pond trash and pull free.

Put some meat on the hook.Chicken/cut fish/beef,etc.

Large bass will eat cut brim bait. Gators/turtles/and catfish will eat anything.

Put assembly in the water in the evening and go to grocery store and buy some saltines,butter,and milk then go home and rest

Turtle will swallow the meat and hook and will tire of hauling the jug around and will come to rest in the shallows where there will be no pressure on the hook.

Return next day/morning and pick up your jugs with turtles, catfish,alligator,etc., attached.

Clean turtle as described above with hot boiling water like scalding a chicken or pig. Boil till meat falls from bones. Pour off water and to the meat,add whole milk to cover,butter,salt and black and red pepper,and crushed saltine crackers-reheat put in large bowl and PIG OUT!

http://www.fish-n-friends.com/Mudcats_flagging_jugs.html

http://catfishing.proboards26.com/index.cgi?board=jug

Here's a pretty good article on catching,cleaning and cooking a turkle:
http://www.conservation.state.mo.us/conmag/1996/jun/jn96john.html
 
Only et turtle once, it was in a fancy restuarnt as soup. Served with sherry as a condiment.

Very tasty.

Not worth much, but I'd say gumbo or long cooked soup, can't go wrong. ( but that works for mos' everthing). Make a good Cajun rue, add the trinity, onions, peppers, and celery, then the turtle meat and a bit later, some water, sherry or white wine. Gettin' it of the of the shell, just do what-ever is needed. then add some more sherry or white wine, hot sauce, and simmer on low heat as long as you can stand. Close to serving toss in some shelled crawdads or shrimp.

Maybe not the best recipe, but it works with most everything, including fresh roadkill (or so I have been told) .

Serve with Carolina rice and (of course) beer and more hot sauce.

Bon apetit.
 
I have had both Snapping Turtle and (believe it or not) Eastern Box Tortoise as soup. Different times, different chefs, different recipes and different species- but both had the same ruuber-chicken texture and mildly metallic/fishy taste. Definitely not on my list of favorites, but I'd try it again sometime.

Since the meat is already chewy, I wonder how "turkle-jerky" would be? :p

Also, for the edification of those who have piqued my pet peeve- "turtle" and "tortoise" (unlike Kerry's ribbons and medals) are not interchangable. Turtles are aquatic, and tortoises are landlubbers. Both are terrapins.

My father used to collect and keep terrapins. He sometimes did business with a mail-order outfit in eastern Indiana that sold a variety of exotic animals. On the back of their mailer was an order form containing an agreement, regarding the purchase of any terrapins, that they would not be used for soup. Considering the going rate for a Matamata, I couldn't imagine anyone wanting to make such an expensive dish. :confused: :eek:
 
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