how does one go about eating a turtle?

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NewCaveMan	how does one go about eating a turtle?	Lead	[-]
Posts: 660 (04/15/09 7:46 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Tags : None ive eaten worms, possum, raccoon, squirrel but i have yet to kill and eat a turtle, how do i process one and cook it? any recipies? I like ol' timey stuff. PM me if you want to join the Ape Clan.
Yotman		#1	[-]
Posts: 4 (04/15/09 9:29 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Years ago my Grandfather took us turtle fishing and the ones we caught we put into a wash tub with water replacing it every day for 3 days to clean out their system then cut off the head and cut off the bottom shell clean out the inerds take out the meet and flour it and fry it.
Lady Nauriel		#2	[-]
Posts: 226 (04/16/09 11:20 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	According to my 1896 cookbook, start by plunging it live into boiling water, and boil 5 minutes, then remove the skin from the head, feet, and tail by rubbing it with a towel. Put into fresh boiling water and simmer until meat is tender (test by pinching the feet with your fingers). Remove from water, cool, draw out the claws from the feet. Cut shell at the crease and remove meat from the shell, along with whichever organs you plan to eat (remove the gallbladder carefully, as it would taint the meat). Now, I've never tried it that way. The one turtle I tried to eat, I had so much trouble getting it to stop moving even hours after its head was cut off, that I chucked it in the freezer just so I could go to bed that night. I think that gave it an off flavor, because it tasted and smelled awful the next day. This way sounds easier.
NewCaveMan		#3	[-]
Posts: 663 (04/17/09 4:59 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	i dont think my mom would appreciate me keeping a turtle alive that is going to be food lol. i think im going to go with lady nauriels way. ill probobaly kill it before i put it in the boiling water tho. I like ol' timey stuff. PM me if you want to join the Ape Clan.
Orien M		#4	[-]
Posts: 2802 (04/18/09 6:05 AM) Administrator Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	A lot of reptiles seem to keep moving for a LONG time after they're killed (and even after they are frozen and thawed!). If it smells funny, you might try soaking the meat in cold water for a day or so before cooking, it helps remove 'gamy' taste. Seems like soup was a popular way to cook turtle, maybe that's why... Turtles are cool animals. I'd feel bad to eat a big turtle, I think...they reproduce slowly, and can live to be 100+ years old.
mole		#5	[-]
Posts: 583 (04/21/09 12:01 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	"how does one go about eating a turtle?" very slowly... I've always heard it referred to as turtle stew, so I guess you boil it. They're aren't as plentiful as they used to be around here, so no one that I know eats them. Just an interesting side note. My folks were friends with a Chinese couple. They were appalled by the fact that people here eat turtle much the same way as most Americans would feel about eating a dog or cat, but for this Chinese couple it was kind of bordering on sacreligious as well as gross. John
bluedograins		#6	[-]
Posts: 601 (04/22/09 10:32 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Lady Nauriel, I know what you mean about waiting for it to stop moving. I had decapitated and parboiled a turtle last summer, and about an hour later when I went to try and cut it up, its heart was still beating. [shudder] Plus, I didn't find much meat to speak of. Where is the meat? Is it just legs and neck? What am I missing? Blue p.s. Mole, your avatar made me laugh.
Pamunkey		#7	[-]
Posts: 1421 (04/26/09 6:04 AM) Administrator Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I've killed and eaten lots of snapping turtles. They're muddy and smelly on the outside, but the meat isn't. I typically induce the turtle to stick its head out, then chop its head off with a hatchet. Then, I let it bleed for a few hours to overnight. Even after having bled out, the turtle often moves while you're cutting it up- kinda disconcerting if you're not expecting it. The meat comes from all four legs, the tail and the neck, and two little strips under the ribs which are fused to the backbone. Cut the bottom shell off with a sturdy knife (a pair of pruning shears also helps when cutting through where the top & bottom shells are attached). Cut off the appendages where they're attached to the shell and skin them (the neck skin makes an excellent bowstring, BTW), and cut through the ribs to extract the two little fillets from along the back of the shell. Turtle does require long cooking; there are many fine Cajun recipes (do a Google search).
Otter		#8	[-]
Posts: 172 (05/21/09 3:57 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Please be careful about what species you catch and eat. Many turtles are threatened or endangered.
aurox		#9	[-]
Posts: 10 (05/24/09 8:58 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	cutting the head off helps to insure they are dead, some like painted have skulls so thick if ya try and stab their brain the point will slide right off missing the brain casing, a snapper is easier as their heads dont go quite in as far, but be sure its done as cooking alive or being butchered alive must be brutal. and who to say what alive is when they move so much after, we had a snapper heart cut into pieces and the pieces still pulsed some, no kidding,, anyway, snapper is tough if fried or steamed, so steam or boil long enough for the tissue to soften, and become chewable to preference, the other way low tech is to build a large hardwood fire say for a 40 year old snapper in the northwoods, and once there is a large established coal bed with plenty of sustaining heat even some flame is okay as if one waits the critical heat may move to cooling, and lay turlte on his back and let cook until shell starting to burn into and it seems it will burn thru but i flip just before that onto belly, and do same, then take off and cut open and feast, there will likely be uncooked parts, one can leave them attached to larger cooked hunks and cook rest of it, be careful if intestines have ruptured, black stuff, it is not tasty even when partially starving, sipe and scrape carefully to not get it on as little edible portions as possible, and other turltes have much less meat and fat on them, huge livers, which have fat in their own right, snappers can be mercury bombs if they are feeding off of carrion of dead large predator fish in mercury high zones, so take into consideration before feeding to kids or pregnant wife, mercury poisoning sucks, but it will cycle out of the body tim
domin		#10	[-]
Posts: 188 (05/25/09 3:52 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	i was very close to asking about processing turtle last year myself, but i decided to let the turtle walk on by since he was such a big one and had to be very old, a snapper, looked like a bit over 3 feet long with head and tail out. respect your elders i always say, and that big snappers beak
Quillsnkiko		#11	[-]
Posts: 2100 (05/26/09 8:59 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I salute you domin for letting that Turtle walk on . It may have been a female off on her walkabout to lay her eggs. I was once working in the garden in Wisconsin when I heard some crashing in the woods... and i decided to investigate. it was a large Turtle climbing over deadfalls ..brush piles etc.... it was amazing what this turtle was climbing... ( I watched it for a while ) since It was not making much forward progress I moved it away from the edge of the woods where all the brush was piled and it walked on..I supposed..... to lay its eggs somewhere.The soil was pretty sandy. The young turtles would have had a pretty fair walk to the water. " You can't stop the waves .... but, you can learn to surf."
svaldrin		#12	[-]
Posts: 12 (06/23/09 5:25 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I killed a trutle the other day and the only animal i have ever felt horrible about killing because hours after i killed it it just kept moving and wouldn't die and i couldnt figure out how to skin it so the meat wen't to waste and i will use the shell but i have no clue about turtles and it might of been a female i just dont know. but all in all i think turtles a definitely of limits from now on. Just my two sense worth
hillbilly1		#13	[-]
Posts: 12 (07/02/09 5:27 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	i eat turtle the hillbilly way. build a fire (big turtle big fire little turtle little fire) let it burn down to coals. cut the head off,throw him in the coals,turn him every now & then so it dosnt burn through the shell. when you think he is done cut the botton off the shell clean out the guts.wash it out with creek water & eat the meat out of the shell. see the trutle provides the meat & the plate. if ya want to go further take a tater pack it in atleast 1/2in of clay or mud throw it in the coals too when it is done crak it like a egg & eat. the same with a ear of corn but pull back one small section of the husk butter it.replace it,mud it throw it in the coals too.& allways rember a country boy can survive. hillbilly1 army's in the city, missles stand ready for flight,a pale horse rides like the wind through the night
Quillsnkiko		#14	[-]
Posts: 2156 (07/06/09 10:07 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	well yesterday I observed another Turtle on her walk about... or at least part of it. She.... was crossing a dike road that leads to Lock & dam 13 on the Upper Mississippi. going from the downriver side to the up river side.I am sure she was probably laying eggs some where in the mud of some low water sloughs on the downriver side. when I first saw her ahead on the road people going out were swerving around her and when I came up the road she was in the middle of my lane looking like a creature from jurassic park..Muddy ..powerfully walking up on her big thick legs with her shell held at least 6 inches or so over the pavement. she was at least a foot wide and longer..a snapping turtle with her head held out in front at least 8 or more inches.her head was about 3 inches wide at least and much longer.her tail was held straig out behind to. She was muddy and had pond weeds on her shell...... the up river side is huge grey limestone rocks some quite large with holes inbetween so I stopped my car and stood on the edge watching to see she made it the 20 or so feet down to the water without falling into a rock crevasse upside down. You are not supposed to stop there but I wanted to make sure she made it to the water. she left a muddy trail on the tops of the rocks where mud caked to her shell rubbed off . they were a lot of folks biclcling & fishing along the dike..and I did not want some one makeing soup out of her either. It was amazing how she powered over those rocks...over the holes... etc. dang & me with no camera either..... anyway she had no problem really her legs got her out of every bump & hole..she used her head & tail for balance as well.I was glad to see her finally make it to the water where she rested and minute before swimmig under water away. She made me think of a great book I read as a kid ..Minn of the Mississippi ..which is a story of a snapping turtles journey down the river and long, long life before man... Quills " You can't stop the waves .... but, you can learn to surf."
bluedograins		#15	[-]
Posts: 628 (07/13/09 8:05 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Quills, even though I understand the urge to eat turtles, and have cooked them myself, I admire your stories of turtle appreciation. Thanks for sharing. Blue
Quillsnkiko		#16	[-]
Posts: 2158 (07/13/09 8:30 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Thanks Blue...Ive eaten turtle 2 numerous times years ago.... and cleaned a few 2 . we used to trap em in some sloughs up along the Railroad tracks when I was a kid and into my early 20's . But any more I just enjoy seeing them. Ive gone with my dad ...searching in the sand of sand bars with a willow stick...poking... for turtle eggs. Ive no idea why we did it....really. we brought them home but never ate them.I think we were trying to hatch them..in a bucket of sand at home... . I really don't recall seeing any of them hatch though..... I was pretty young. I think my dad was just humoring me.... Today on the road about where that turtle was walking across..there were about 20 canada geese.... 1 mom & pop for sure and a bunch of youngsters about half grown..... half of them flew off north into the pond lillies abut 50 yards ..the other half ran south into the low water slough theyed come up outta to get to the dike road. It was not that long ago they were yellow & grey fuzz balls. Quills " You can't stop the waves .... but, you can learn to surf."
Mutt.vets		#17	[-]
Posts: 78 (07/17/09 11:07 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Yeah, I grew up in mid Illinois and most of the Taverns served catfish and fried turtle. It was common back in the 70 for the family to go down to the tavern for dinner. They'de have pork tenderlion sandwitches (can't seem to find those anymore), big ol catfish. But, the turtle was fried. Looked like chicken parts (with a little fishy taste). Think they were either red eared slider or alligator snappers. I am pretty sure those are the only two that are legal to kill. Any ground turtle or tortuse from what I understand is illegal to kill. So, if it has that really round looking shell ...... leave it alone. When I was young, we used to wade through muddy creeks and poke with a stick till we found something that sounded hollow. We would then flip it ove with the stick and try to figure out which end had the tail. We would grab the tail ... very quickly and toss them on to the bank. Thats they way I remember hunting snappers. Mutt Ask of your men only that which you are willing to do yourself.
Invildr		#18	[-]
Posts: 12 (07/17/09 11:29 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I have a repro of an old Fannie Farmer cookbook that has turtle recipes. I got the book because it was recommended for cooking for someone with allergies because it is older than most 'convenience foods'. My two year old son is allergic to corn and ALL corn derivatives. Most prepackaged food is completely off the menu for him and I'm cooking almost everything from scratch. Ingvildr
irock		#19	[-]
Posts: 182 (07/28/09 5:17 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I know this isn't totally related but I had killed a copperhead back in May, beheaded it, skinned and gutted it and I was washing it in cool water when suddenly the washer kicked in the rinse cycle and 'stole' my cold water. I didn;t think about it much as the water got very warm until this headless, skinless white carcass suddenly sprung back to life and was striking my arm and writhing around in my hand! I think I squealed....
tylertait		#20	[-]
Posts: 5 (08/03/09 12:42 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	yeah what is it with reptiles that makes them do that after ther dead?

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how does one go about eating a turtle?

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