Turtle Soup

Ingredients

• the flesh of the turtle
• its head and bones
• enough water to bring the whole to 50 quarts
• salt in the proportion of one oz. per every five quarts
• twelve carrots
• a bunch of leeks
• one lb. of parsley stalks
• eight onions with ten cloves stuck into them
• two lbs. of shallots
• one head of garlic
• four strips of lemon-peel
• a bunch of herbs for turtle
• four oz. of coriander
• two oz. of peppercorns
• a port wine glass of very old Madeira

Method

1. 1

   Put into a stewpan the flesh of the turtle and its head and bones.

2. 2

   Moisten with the cooking-liquor of the carapace and enough water to bring the whole to 50 quarts.

3. 3

   Add salt, set to boil, skim, and garnish with carrots, leeks, parsley stalks, onions, shallots, garlic, lemon-peel, and herbs.

4. 4

   Boil gently for eight hours.

5. 5

   An hour before straining, add the lemon-peel and herbs.

6. 6

   Strain the soup, add the reserved pieces of flesh, and keep in jars.

7. 7

   When serving, heat, adjust seasoning, and finish with Madeira.

As published

This recipe was extracted from A guide to modern cookery (1909) by A. Escoffier, page 128. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

Turtle Soup.—There are two modes of procedure, though their respective results are almost identical. 1. Make a broth of the flesh of turtle alone, and then add a very gelatinous beef consommé to it, in pursuance of the method employed when the turtle soup is bought ready-made. This procedure is practically the best, more particularly if the soup has to be kept some time. 2. Make an ordinary broth of shin of beef, using the same quantity of the latter as of turtle. Also include half a calf’s foot and one-half lb. of calf’s shin per 3 lbs. of the beef. Add the flesh of the turtle, or, in the event of its being thought necessary to clarify, which operation | do not in the least advise, reserve it for that purpose. The condiments and aromatics being the same for both methods, I shall now describe the procedure for method No. 1. The Ingredients of the Soup.—Put into a stewpan of con- venient size the flesh of the turtle and its head and bones. Moisten partly with the cooking-liquor of the carapace, and complete the moistening, in the case of a turtle weighing 120 lbs., with enough water to bring the whole to 50 quarts. By this means a soup of about thirty to thirty-five quarts will be obtained at the end of the operation. Add salt in the proportion of one oz. per every five quarts; set to boil; skim, and garnish with twelve carrots, a bunch of leeks (about ten bound with a head of celery), one lb. of parsley stalks, eight onions with ten cloves stuck into them, two lbs. of shallots, and one head of garlic. Set to boil gently for eight hours. An hour before straining the soup, add to the garnish four strips of lemon-peel, a bunch of herbs for turtle, comprising sweet basil, sweet marjoram, sage, rosemary, savory, and thyme, and a bag containing four oz. of coriander and two oz. of pepper- corns. 222 GUIDE TO MODERN COOKERY Finally, strain the soup through a napkin; add the pieces of flesh from the carapace and plastron which were put aside for the garnish, and keep it until wanted in specially-made sandstone jars. The Serving of the Soup.—When about to serve this soup, heat it; test and rectify its seasoning, and finish it off by means of a port wine glass of very old Madeira

Cook this with the app: pantry check, scaling, and the assistant.