Yes-I always have Turtle soup when in New Orleans at Court of Two Sisters.

Ironically enough, I've never had turtle soup.

I ate it when I was a young boy. My dad had a friend who went by the nickname Slug. He was an eastern Kentucky native but had moved to Indiana for work years earlier. About twice a summer he would visit us and he would coax my brothers into going with him up and down various creeks in the county to catch mud turtles. I wouldn't do what he did for anything but he would use one hand and stick it under rocks on the banks of the creek and pull out big turtles. The catch would be placed in large burlap bags, which he called "coffee sacks".

Afterwards he killed and cut them up. I'll not explain his method because I didn't watch very often and his methods were not nice for the turtle, to say the least.

Mom would prepare them for a meal. I tried a few bites but that was it. Not tasted the meat since.

 

Reaching in holes for turtles is a little nerve-wracking, but every single person who does it regularly will tell you the same thing, "Turtles go into their holes head first, and back their way out. When you reach in, you're always going to be grabbing their tail."

 

My concern was always that I would be reaching into the hole and I'd end up finding the Dick Fosbury of the turtle world...

For those of you who aren't interested or willing to try turtle...is there any reason in particular?

I ate plenty of turtle both fired and in soup fashion for many many years when I was younger. Dad was known as the local guy to call when folks had problems with the turtle eating the ducks in their ponds. There were times I remember pulling 10-15 turtles out of a lake in a weekend. Dad had a turtle soup recipe he cut from the paper back in the 40's that he kept in his wallet, and used it for every batch - 3-4 times a year. The rest of the turtle we would fry. Both were so so good. As far as taste of fried turtle, honestly the different parts had a different taste. I was always told that there were 7 different taste but I could not taste that much. I can tell you that my favorite parts were under the shell, then the tail, and then the legs. Each of those three did have a different taste.

 

Dad is too old to catch turtles now, I have often thought about doing it but I remember all the work that was involved in harvesting the meat. I can still remember all the scrapes and cuts that would happen every time we would clean them. Always amazed at how long after they were dead, that they could still inflict pain!

 

Man, after typing this I really had a container of Dad's soup in the freezer right now so I could heat it up for lunch!

I ate plenty of turtle both fired and in soup fashion for many many years when I was younger. Dad was known as the local guy to call when folks had problems with the turtle eating the ducks in their ponds. There were times I remember pulling 10-15 turtles out of a lake in a weekend. Dad had a turtle soup recipe he cut from the paper back in the 40's that he kept in his wallet, and used it for every batch - 3-4 times a year. The rest of the turtle we would fry. Both were so so good. As far as taste of fried turtle, honestly the different parts had a different taste. I was always told that there were 7 different taste but I could not taste that much. I can tell you that my favorite parts were under the shell, then the tail, and then the legs. Each of those three did have a different taste.

 

Dad is too old to catch turtles now, I have often thought about doing it but I remember all the work that was involved in harvesting the meat. I can still remember all the scrapes and cuts that would happen every time we would clean them. Always amazed at how long after they were dead, that they could still inflict pain!

 

Man, after typing this I really had a container of Dad's soup in the freezer right now so I could heat it up for lunch!

 

One REALLY good trick my dad learned from one of the guys in his shop for cleaning them was the "hose clamp method". After you cut the head off, you insert a garden hose into the opening at the neck and use a hose clamp to hold the hose tight in place. Then you turn the hose on full blast, and it will literally blow the turtle up like a balloon and separate virtually all of the skin from the mead.

 

 

I've eaten lots of different things, but can't recall ever having turtle. I'd be down to try it.

Used to eat it once a year on the 4th of July. I'd go fishing with dad and his buddies and we would go back to one of their places and cook the fish and the ladies would join us. One guy always had turtle in a crock pot waiting for us. Necks were the popular meat along with what we called the tenderloin. The strips of meat on the top of the beast.

For the record, I'll eat anything. Muskrat was interesting. I ate it than actually saw one. Yikes.

One food I'll pass on is tofu.

I'll essentially eat or try anything too. I'm still in a little trouble for feeding my daughter squirrel brains when she was 6 months old. :lol2:

I'll essentially eat or try anything too. I'm still in a little trouble for feeding my daughter squirrel brains when she was 6 months old. :lol2:

 

I'm assuming you've learned, but you're not supposed to eat squirrel brains. The brains (specifically just the brains) can carry any number of chronic wasting diseases including mad cow disease.

I'm assuming you've learned, but you're not supposed to eat squirrel brains. The brains (specifically just the brains) can carry any number of chronic wasting diseases including mad cow disease.

 

I've ate them a hundred times or so. Never had a problem.

I've ate them a hundred times or so. Never had a problem.

 

I had an ironworker on one of my jobsites once who said something very similar similar when I told him I would throw him off my site if he showed back up with another angle grinder with the wheel guard removed. He hemmed and hawed about it. A couple of years later I ran across him at a pre-bid meeting...he was down two fingers from the last time I had seen him.

 

It only takes once. And chronic wasting diseases are NOT something to mess with. Mad cow disease is one of them.

My brother makes turtle soup a couple times a year. It's delicious. I've also had it deep fried but it's been awhile.

It also doesn't hurt my feelings at all that turtle meat has fell out of popularity. Many species were hunted to near extinction and the Asian turtle market continues to harm critical species.

One REALLY good trick my dad learned from one of the guys in his shop for cleaning them was the "hose clamp method". After you cut the head off, you insert a garden hose into the opening at the neck and use a hose clamp to hold the hose tight in place. Then you turn the hose on full blast, and it will literally blow the turtle up like a balloon and separate virtually all of the skin from the mead.

 

 

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I had heard of that trick but we never tried. Dad was too old school I guess. Amazed me every time though that two hours after the turtle lost its head, the nerve endings would fire and move the legs when you tried to cut on it and the darn nails would cut you, and once you got to their heart it was still beating a couple hours of their head being cut off. Also don't want to stick your finger in their body less mouth as if you touch their darn tongue, the jaw would still snap shut. Crazy IMO but darn good eating so well worth the trouble.