Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey, how many snapper owners know the recipe for turtle soup by heart due to stupid people making jokes about the only good thing to do with a snapper? Was just wondering if this weird sense of humor is endemic to Upper-Eastern PA only. I get this response every time my mother (who thinks my snappers are cool, especially since I don't live at home) tells someone that I have snappers as pets. I am so misunderstood up here.

On a side-note, had some hail today. It was about a quarter of an inch around and the hail lasted for about 15 minutes.

HHHHHHHeeeeeeeeellllllllloooooooooooooooo Summer!!!!!!!
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"People who don't like animals are the true freaks",
Jasmine Davies

0.1 White German Shepard (Fugi)
0.1 Rott/Dobe rescue (Angel)
1.0 Chi/Cairn rescue (Puck Oberon Thisbe)
1.0 Formerly Feral DSH (Ajax)
0.1 Forever Feral DSH (Chainsaw Manny)
0.1 Evil/Psychotic Ferret (Kakiri)
0.0.2 Hatchling Common Snappers (Hannibal & Charles Manson)
0.2 African Clawed Frogs (Annabelle & Clarabelle)
0.0.3 Dwarf ACF's (Winkin, Blinkin, & Nod)
0.0.1 Crayfish (Tank)

I get it quite a bit, especially with soft shell turtles. They alway ask me if I have eaten it. I tel them noo and I won't becuase To me it is like eating a dog.
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Justin

From this link: http://www.wadsworth.k12.oh.us/central/turtle_soup.htm

5 lb Turtle
2 Celery stalk; with leaves
2 md Carrots
1 lg Onion
2 Bay leaves
1 Garlic clove
Thyme, fresh; sprigs
Parsley, fresh; sprigs
Salt; to taste
Pepper; to taste
4 tb Butter
2 tb Flour
1/2 c Sherry
3 Egg; hard-cooked

Cut off the turtle's head and stand it upside-down to drain. After it
has bled well, scrub with a stiff brush. Drop into a kettle of boiling
water to cover, and cook until the skin and upper shell peel away
easily. Discard this water and cover turtle with fresh water. Add the
vegetables and herbs, and salt and pepper. Simmer gently for two hours
then strain, reserving the broth. Remove shells and skin and pick out
the meat, being careful not to break the gall sac (located in the
liver). Cut the meat into small pieces and brown in butter. Blend in
the flour, then the strained stock and simmer it until tender.
To serve, pour into a tureen with the sherry and garnish with sliced
eggs. If you prefer, float a few slices of egg on each plate of soup.

I usually see snapper turtle soup being sold in pseudo-upscale seafood restaurants. Makes me wonder how come people aren't b*tching about this as much compared to the red-eared sliders sold for food in Chinatowns...just cuz snappers are uglier? Or because they're not put in places people can see them? hmm.....

Johnny

i have eatten snapping turtle soup wonce on accident it was the soup of the day. it was some crazy french name. when they brought it out it smelt really bad and the meat was black and like leather. after trying a peice which was really bad.(i would rather eat some rotton eggs with a glass of old milk) i asked the guy what was in it he said snapping turtle i got up and left. about 2 weeks after that the place closed up. people who eat that stuff must not have tounges or noses its really nasty.
CrazyCody

At least the recipe posted involves killingt he turtle first (semi-humanely).

In MD, where I used to live people still boil diamonback terrapins alive.

Funny, as people seem to be of the impression that it is poor, uneducated, rural "unsophisticated" Americans that still eat turtle; but in MD its a food associated with small private parties at exteremely high priced restuarants and private homes of very wealth individuals.
Several of these are infamous and the party hosts have to buy the turtles in secret to avoid being publicly ridiculed for their choice to eat the state reptile.

Turtle soup is one of the best soups you can have if it is cooked correctly. You have to be careful because some deceitful restaurants will serve "mock turtle" soup instead of real turtle soup. In "mock turtle" soup, beef is used in place of turtle. With the sherry on top and diced boiled eggs it tastes the same, although real turtle is much chewier and stringier than beef when cooked the same amount of time. One of the best turtle soups in the world is at Commander's Palace in New Orleans. Anyone who says turtle soup is awful has not had real turtle soup and is just talking [bleep].

I'm in AL and people here think the only use for turtles are for soup. It's pretty heartbreaking for me as a "turtle mom" (yes, I even consider my huge adult snappers to be my babies!) that people have this attitude twards these amazing reptiles. Each year, people ride the roads during the rainy weather looking for snappers crossing the roads. They haul them around in their trucks and sell them for soup. They also use turtle traps and trap lines to catch them. Anyone that knows me personally knows better than to use "soup jokes" around me. When I was a kid I saw a fisherman "butchering" a snapper while it was still alive, it broke my heart! I remember telling him how cruel it was and his reply was "turtles don't feel pain!" I cried for days after witnessing the event and it still breaks my heart to think about it today, knowing that it's an event that happens almost daily . Christy

Where in AL.are you? I'm in northwest AL (marion county)
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Justin

Hey Justin,
I'm in Anniston, where is Marion? Is that close to Huntsville? Christy

I have to agree that turtle soup is great...and about the lady who thinks that snapping turtles are her babies....? HUH you need to pull your cranial knot out of your rectal orifices...I mean these things are mean beasts that I think hell invented...I mean have you EVER seen one devour a duck...The first thing they do is rip open the belly and sit there and torment the poor animal while it dies a slow cruel death. So theres no love loss to a guy who eats them in soup.....For gods sake its a animal! GET OVER IT!