Bayou Turtle Soup Recipes

CREOLE TURTLE SOUP

Steps:

• Start by making the turtle stock. Put the turtle meat into a large pot and cover with 8 cups of water. Add the bay leaves and about a tablespoon of salt. Bring to a boil and skim the scum that floats to the top. Drop the heat to a bare simmer and cook until the turtle meat wants to fall off the bone, about 2 to 3 hours.
• Remove the meat from the pot and pull it off the bones. Chop as coarse or as fine as you want. Strain the turtle broth and put it into a pot set over low heat to keep warm.
• In a Dutch oven or other soup pot, melt the butter over medium-high heat and stir in the flour. Cook this, stirring almost constantly, to make a roux the color of peanut butter, which will take about 10 to 15 minutes.
• Add the green pepper, celery and onion and cook for about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook another minute. Add the chopped turtle meat and stir to combine.
• Stir in a cup of the turtle stock at a time until you the soup is the consistency of gravy. Add the tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce, cayenne and paprika. Add more turtle broth until the soup thins a bit. It should be thicker than water, thinner than gravy -- like chicken and dumplings if you are familiar with that. Simmer gently for 15 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft.
• Finish the soup with the sherry, parsley, lemon zest and hard-boiled eggs. Add them all, stir to combine and simmer for a minute or two. Add salt, black pepper and lemon juice to taste. Serve alone or with rice.

BEST TURTLE SOUP

Steps:

• 1. Melt the half cup of butter in a heavy bottomed saucepan, whisk in the flour, cook to make a peanut butter colored roux. Set aside.
• 2. In a large saucepan or dutch oven, melt the 4 Tbsp of unsalted butter over medium-high heat, add the diced turtle meat and saute until nicely browned.
• 3. Lower the heat to medium, add both types of onions, the celery, and garlic. Season with salt and black pepper. Saute until the vegetables are tender.
• 4. Add the tomatoes, season with a little salt so they will break down, cook for 10 minutes.
• 5. Add the tomato sauce, beef stock, worcestershire, cayenne, allspice, and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, then down to a simmer. Simmer for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally and skimming off any impurities that may rise to the surface.
• 6. Whisk in the roux, simmer until thickened and smooth. Add the thyme, and marjoram, simmer for 15-20 minutes more.
• 7. Add the lemon juice, 3 tsp of the parsley, and the smashed egg yolk, heat through
• 8. Serve garnished with lemon slices, diced egg whites, and parsley. Add the sherry at the table, about 1-2 tsp per bowl. Enjoy!
• 9. *NOTES: As far as finding Turtle Meat in your area, you may have a bit of a challenge. If you have a great Asian Market in your area, it's probably your best bet, they may even have them live if you would like to butcher them yourself. It's a messy business though, with a lot of blood and Post Mortem squirming. I buy frozen. If you can purchase bone-in Turtle Meat, do so! You can Roast the bones and infuse the flavor into your Beef Stock. Roast them in a 400 degree F oven until a nice deep brown, then add them to your Beef Stock and simmer for 30 minutes to an hour. If you like your turtle soup with a rich brown gravy, leave out the tomato sauce. Adding the tomato sauce will add another layer of flavor and will only change the color of the soup slightly.

TURTLE SOUP

Steps:

• In a heavy 4-qt. saucepan, bring turtle meat and water to a boil. Skim off foam. Chop 1 onion and set aside. Quarter the other onion; add to saucepan along with bay leaf, cayenne pepper and salt. Cover and simmer for 2 hours or until the meat is tender. Remove meat with a slotted spoon and cut into 1/2-in. cubes; set aside. Strain broth and set aside. Rinse and dry saucepan; melt butter over medium-high heat. Cook chopped onion until tender. Add flour; cook and stir until bubbly and lightly browned. Whisk in reserved broth; cook and stir until thickened. Reduce heat; stir in tomato puree and Worcestershire sauce. Simmer,, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Add chicken broth, eggs, lemon juice and meat. Simmer for 5 minutes or until heated through. Garnish with parsley if desired.

TURTLE SOUP

Steps:

• In a large soup pot over medium to high heat, melt 1/2 stick butter. Add turtle meat and brown. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper. Cook for about 18 to 20 minutes or until liquid is almost dry. Add onions, celery, garlic, and peppers, constantly stirring. Add thyme, oregano, and bay leaves and saute for about 22 minutes**. Add stock, bring to a boil, and simmer for 30 minutes. Skim any fat that comes to the top.
• While stock is simmering, make the roux. In a small saucepan, melt remaining butter over medium heat. Slowly add flour, a little at a time, constantly stirring with a wooden spoon. Be careful not to burn. After all of the flour has been added, cook until roux smells nutty, is pale in color, and has a consistency of wet sand, about 3 minutes. Set aside to let cool until soup is ready (roux should be cool when adding to hot soup).
• Using a whisk, stir the roux into the stock vigorously, adding a little at a time to prevent lumping. Simmer for about 25 minutes. Stir to prevent sticking on bottom. Add sherry and bring to a boil. Add hot sauce and Worcestershire sauce. Simmer and skim any fat or foam that comes to top. Add lemon juice and tomatoes and return to a simmer. Add spinach and eggs, return to a simmer and adjust seasoning.

MOCK TURTLE SOUP

Steps:

• Brown onion in the butter and oil, add the oxtails and brown slightly. Add the spices and herbs, then stir in the flour until it bubbles, adding more butter and oil as needed. Pour in the hot water and stock and bring to a boil. Add the remaining ingredients, except the egg and sherry. Simmer for 2 hours. Remove the oxtail, cut the meat and marrow away--add back to the soup and discard the bones.
• When ready to serve, chop the eggs coarsely and stir into the soup. Ladle into bowls, stir in a teaspoon of sherry to each, top with parsley -- and put a cruet of sherry on the table, for atmosphere if nothing else.

MOCK TURTLE SOUP

Steps:

• Brown the clarified butter and flour in a small saucepan, stirring constantly to avoid scorching.
• Reserve.
• In a soup pot, add oil and sweat the onions, peppers and celery until tender.
• Add the ground beef and cook until not pink.
• Add garlic, tomatoes, chicken broth and ground round.
• Bring to a simmer for 15 minutes.
• Add grated eggs, lemon juice, seasonings and vinegar.
• Continue to simmer.
• Place small amounts of roux into soup while simmering to flavor and to adjust thickness.
• Once desired thickness is achieved, remove bay leaves and serve in pre-heated bowls, with a dollup of dry sherry.

MOCK TURTLE SOUP

Steps:

• Put all ingredients in a large stock pot, except for the hard boiled eggs.
• Cook over medium heat until boiling.
• Cover pot and simmer for 3 hours.
• Add hard boiled eggs, chopped at 2 hour 45 minutes.

TURTLE SOUP

Steps:

• Combine first six ingredients together in stock pot.
• Bring to boiling point and cook until meat is tender.
• Remove bay leaf and mace; add egg white and season with salt and pepper.
• Add sherry after removing soup from heat.

BLEND OF THE BAYOU

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°. In a small saucepan, cook and stir cream cheese and 2 tablespoons butter over low heat until melted and smooth. , In a large cast-iron or other ovenproof skillet, saute onion, celery and green pepper in remaining butter until tender. Stir in shrimp, crab, soup, rice, mushrooms, garlic salt, pepper sauce, cayenne and cream cheese mixture., Combine cheddar cheese and cracker crumbs; sprinkle over top. Bake, uncovered, until bubbly, 25-30 minutes.

TURTLE BEAN SOUP

Steps:

• Soften beans according to directions. Drain soak water.
• Add bacon, chilies, corn, and spices.
• Mix flour and cold water and add to beans.
• Simmer for 20 minutes, or add to slow-cooker and simmer as long as you want.
• Can be served as a soup (may need more liquid) or over rice.

TURTLE SOUP

Steps:

• Put the turtle meat in a large saucepan with 1 teaspoon of salt, 1/4 teaspoon cayenne and the water.
• Bring to a boil.
• Skim off any foam that rises to the top.
• Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 20 minutes.
• With a slotted spoon transfer the meat to a platter.
• Cut the meat into 1/2 inch dice and reserve the liquid.
• In another large sauce pan, combine the butter and flour over medium heat, stirring constantly for 6 to 8 minutes to make a dark roux.
• Add the onions, shallots, bell peppers and celery.
• Stir occasionally and cook for 2 to 3 minutes until the vegetables are slightly tender.
• Add the bay leaves, thyme and garlic, cook for 2 minutes.
• Add the tomatoes and the turtle meat.
• Cook for 5 to 6 minutes stirring occasionally.
• Add the Worcestershire sauce, the remaining salt and cayenne, the turtle stock (about 6 cups) lemon juice, and sherry.
• Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium and simmer for 10 minutes.
• Add the parsley, green onions, and eggs and simmer for 45 minutes.
• Garnish with green onions and chopped eggs.