Best 8 Best Turtle Soup Recipes

MOCK TURTLE SOUP

Steps:

• Heat a 4 quart soup pot or Dutch oven over medium heat (dry - no oil in the pan). Add the beef and brown thoroughly, chopping up the clumps as you go (a potato masher works great for this). The meat should be fine, not clumpy.
• While the meat browns, place the ginger snaps in a heat-proof bowl and pour 2 cups of very hot water over them. Set aside to soak.
• When the meat has cooked, examine the pot and decide if you need to drain the fat. Depending on the cut you use, you might not have to. If there's a pool of orange fat in the pot, I would skim at least some of it off. It's up to you, though.**
• Add the onions. If grating, you can grate the onions directly into the pot. Stir to mix with the beef.
• Pour in the ketchup and Worcestershire sauce. Season with the black pepper. Pour in the ginger snaps with their liquids and stir well. The mixture should be thick at this point, and look like sloppy joe sauce.
• Add water, one cup at a time, until the soup has thinned, which will take 4 to 6 cups of water. It should not be watery, but also more soup-like than sloppy-joe-like, keeping in mind that some of the liquid will cook off. I used 5 cups for the batch in the photos that accompany this recipe.
• Bring the soup to a gentle boil, then reduce heat to low-medium to maintain a tame simmer. Give one more stir to let everything settle.
• Lay the lemon slices over the top of the soup.
• Partially cover with a lid, and let simmer for 1 to 2 hours. Stir every 20 minutes or so to prevent scorching.
• Remove and discard the lemon slices.
• Stir in the sherry and hard boiled eggs.
• Taste, and adjust salt and pepper. If the flavor needs brightening - if it's too sweet from the ginger snaps - add a teaspoon or two of apple cider vinegar or lemon juice.

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.

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.

TURTLE SOUP

Steps:

• Melt 1 stick of butter in a heavy saucepan. Add flour and cook, stirring frequently, over medium heat until the roux is a light brown. Set aside.
• In a 10 quart saucepan, melt remaining butter and add turtle meat, veal and beef. Cook over high heat until meat is brown. Add celery, onions, garlic, bay leaves and oregano and cook until vegetables are transparent.
• Add tomato puree, hot sauce, Worcestershire and black pepper and simmer for 10 minutes.
• Add stock and simmer for 30 minutes. Add roux and cook over low heat, stirring until soup is smooth and thickened. Correct seasoning with salt and pepper to taste. Add lemon, eggs, spinach and sherry. Remove from heat and serve. If desired, at the table add 1 teaspoon of sherry to each soup plate.

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.

BEST BLACK BEAN SOUP

Steps:

• Empty the can of chiles into a blender or food processor. Purée until smooth, scrape into a container, and set aside. Put on a teakettle of water to boil, and keep hot.
• In a large, heavy pot, heat olive oil over medium heat until shimmering. Add carrots, onions and garlic and cook, stirring, until softened but not browned, 5 to 8 minutes.
• Pour in wine and let simmer until pan is almost dry and vegetables are coated. Add jalapeños and cook, stirring, just until softened, 2 minutes. Push the vegetables out to the edges of the pot and dollop 2 teaspoons of chipotle purée in the center. Let fry for a minute and then stir together with the vegetables.
• Add beans, stock, oregano and bay leaves. Stir, bring to a boil, and let boil 10 to 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook, partly covered, stirring occasionally and adding hot water as needed to keep the soup liquid and runny, not sludgy. Continue cooking until beans are just softened and fragrant, 1 to 2 hours. Add salt and pepper and keep cooking until beans are soft.
• Meanwhile, make the pickled onions, if using: In a bowl, combine sliced onions, lime juice and a sprinkling of salt. Let soften at room temperature until crunchy and tart, about 30 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water. Squeeze dry in paper towels and refrigerate until ready to serve. If desired, chop coarsely before serving.
• Adjust the texture of the soup: The goal is to combine whole beans, soft chunks and a velvety broth. Some beans release enough starch while cooking to produce a thick broth without puréeing. If soup seems thin, use an immersion blender or blender to purée a small amount of the beans until smooth, then stir back in. Continue until desired texture is reached, keeping in mind that the soup will continue to thicken as it sits.
• Heat the soup through, taste and adjust the seasonings with salt, pepper, drops of red wine vinegar and dabs of chipotle purée.
• Serve in deep bowls, garnishing each serving with sour cream, pickled onions, cilantro leaves, sliced chiles and avocado as desired.

TREME (MOCK) TURTLE SOUP

Steps:

• On the stovetop, sauté the sirloin, celery, garlic, and onion in butter until meat is brown and veggies are translucent. Add to the slow cooker.
• Add tomato puree, chicken broth, beef broth, flour mixture, Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, hot sauce, bay leaves, thyme, salt, and pepper to the slow cooker. Stir.
• Cook on low heat for 4 hours.
• Add lemon juice, parsley, and eggs 30 minutes before serving.
• Immediately before serving, remove bay leaves, add sherry to taste, and garnish with lemon slices.

BOOKBINDER'S PHILADELPHIA SNAPPER SOUP

Steps:

• Place turtle or beef in stock pot with 1 1/2 quarts water. Bring to a boil. Skim during cooking. Simmer for 2 hours or until meat is tender.
• Strain meat from stock. Dice meat into 1/4 inch pieces. Set both aside.
• Cook vegetables in butter until onions are translucent. Add beef stock.
• In a small bowl, mix 1/4 cup water into paprika and flour until smooth. Add tomato purée and spices.
• Stir into beef stock until well blended. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, cover and simmer for 2 to 2 1/2 hours.
• Strain soup.
• Place vegetables into food processor or blender and purée.
• Mix cornstarch with remaining water and blend until smooth. Add to soup and cook 15 minutes, stirring, until stock is thickened.
• Add meat and vegetable purée.
• Remove from direct heat. Add sherry right before serving.