Turtle Soup

Yes, I have made kraut, and it is so much better than anything you can buy in the store. We don’t have the room to grow a lot of cabbage so I don’t fix it now. Thank goodness, there is the refrigerated kraut available now. The stuff out of a can is awful! I’m sure you put some caraway seeds in when you cook kraut, and a tiny pinch of brown sugar makes a big difference.Is there anything better suited to a cold winter’s day than a meal of kraut and polish sausage?

It doesn’t sound too good today. We have been up above 90 degrees for a week or so (yes, Max, I know that it is summer and it is supposed to be hot), so cold salads are just what we want.

In the heat, I, too, have been reading old cookbooks. One of them is my old copy of “Historic Michie Tavern Muserm ”A Famous Tavern of the 1700’s” Cooking Treasures of the Past Compiled by Michael Christy.” We drove by Mitchie Tavern on our Virginia trip, but it was early in the morning so we did not stop to eat.

I have actually, Max, eaten turtle, and I can say that it wasn’t anything to write home about. Too much effort to catch and prepare, but I suppose in the old days most everything took hours to fix, and you ate what you could find. Turtles were plentiful and easy to catch, so people ate them. As I recall Turtle Soup was a gourmet food of the Victorian Period.

Turtle Soup:

1 fresh turtle
4 teaspoons parsley flakes
½ teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon celery salt
1 teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon allspice
¼ cup margarine or butter
1/3 cup flour for dredging
3 medium onions, quartered
2 stalks celery, chopped

Slaughter the turtle the night before, hanging it up to bleed. In the morning, boil 2 qts. Water; add the turtle and scald well. Discard the water. Graze and peel the outer layer of the skin off of the shell. Open up the turtle, being sure not to break the gall. Put the fins, eggs, and other frail parts into a pan and set aside. Smash the turtle shell into pieces add the rest of the turtle, with the pieces of shell, to 2 ½ qts. water. Add the onions, celery and spices.. Simmer over low heat for 6 hours.

Approximately 30 minutes before dinner, cream the butter and flour; add to the broth. Take the fins and other parts and roll in the flour (dredging). Cover and fry for 15 - 20 min. With ½ cup of butter. Add the eggs and fried ingredients to the broth. Simmer over medium-low heat for about 30 minutes. Add one cup of your favorite wine just before serving.

Yield: 8 servings

I guess that if you didn’t “smash the turtle shell” you could save it and have an instant bowl.