Turtle meat! Canned and nuggets!

[Tripplebeards]

Well I finally got around to canning the two turtles I caught the summer before last. They’ve been frozen in three one gallon zip lock bags full of ice like a woolly mammoth. I have only made soup in the past and batter fried once. The batter fried was from fresh, uncooked turtle at the time. It was very good but a few pieces were a little chewy like Alligator. These were the two guys I caught.



I left them in my cooler for two weeks and flushed the water out daily till they stopped blowing out rotten gray colored fish out of their systems.

I then quartered both turtles up and froze them in solid in water. I’ve never canned turtle before and did not come from a family of cooks. After a lot of internet research and only coming up with two people brave enough to post about it I went to town. After a weeks thaw in my fridge they still were in ice. I washed the rest of the ice off and boiled the turtles quarters and neck water with a little salt for about 10 minutes till most of the what’s foam on the top was removed and didn’t resurface. I then filled two croc pots with turtle along with a container and a half of chicken broth and some seasoning salts. I cooked on low heat for 8 hours. After 8 hours the meat fell right off the bone in big tender chunks. Ninety nine point nine percent of it is as tender a chicken. I can say it didn’t smell great in the house the last hour of cooking and you don’t want to use or drink the broth! I was honestly afraid to test the meat with the the river bottom smell and the taste of the broth, but the meat tastes great! The crocking must have cooked out all the smells and rotten tastes out of the meat and into the broth. It Had the same texture and chicken and turkey...and tastes the same. In the past I normally cut all the turtle meat off the bone before cooking. I have now seen the light and realize I have wasted a lot of turtle meat in the past by doing so. I saved a few large chunks to try batter fried. They came out great and tender. I dipped them in some BBQ and honey! The rest of the two turtles I filled in jars. I added beef broth and a 1/4 Tsp of canning salt. I then water bathed them in boiling water for 35 minutes once it came to a boil. I will refrigerate the jars and use them up in the next couple months.


Both turtles not going to fit in my croc pot after blanching...




After 8 hours and separating from bones...




Canned up...




And my nuggets...




The ones that look brown I added egg in the batter.

[rancher1913]

you need to come for a visit and trap the big guy we got here, nobody has been able to catch more than a glimpse of him. the road guy were working on a bridge and saw him, according to them he was bigger than the 3 foot bucket on their track hoe. I have only seen him once and he quickly slipped underwater.

[GregLaROCHE]

I love snapping turtle soup. When I was a kid, we would go into the swamp and if we were lucky enough to catch one, the local restaurant would pay us five bucks for it. That was a lot of money for kids back then. However, we paid the price when it came to picking off the leaches.

I never cooked snappers myself, but later while spending time in the Caribbean, I would catch and cook sea turtles. Strictly illegal today. I cooked the meat the way the locals did. A lot of garlic, onions, some tomatoes if available and moderate amount of hot peppers. Cooked on low heat for several hours. It was similar to a curry, but no curry. Served with white rice and an abundance of cold beer, it was a meal fit for kings.

[Tripplebeards]

I’m in! I use to catch them when I was a kid. I’d average 13/15 per weekend. I’d fill gunny sacks and take them to the fishery. I’d get fifty to sixty five cent a pound for them in the 70’s and 80’s. I don’t think they pay any more for them today. Most I caught on rod and reel with 17 to 20 pound test line and a small sunfish on a really small treble hook they can swallow but won’t straighten out.
To many rule and regs on today on them. Now there is a season and shell size. No one cared how many or what size year ago back when I was a kid. I can’t believe the price of turtle meat now a days! It’s close to $25 a pound or more... ridiculous. I saw a monster yesterday that popped it’s head out to look at me while I was fishing. I figured he was telling me to cook his relatives up. There are snappers here like flies. It’s fun to wind one in on a pole and try to grab them by the tail while they are four fisting the shore. I wadded up to my waist in my creek a few years ago to grab a 26 pounder by the tail. I had it hooked on 6 pound test and wasn’t going to loose it. It made some great soup. Never made pasties before I think I might try it with canned turtle.

[Moleman-]

Uncle boils the meat, breads it like chicken and fries it. Very good.

[harm]

My father used to poke them with a shovel handle until they clamped onto it, then hoist them into the trunk of the car and drive them over to the back of the restaurant around the other side of the lake. That'd be around 40+ years ago. Never had turtle soup myself, but always been curious about it.

[gbrown]

As a kid, I ate soft shell turtle Dad got while fishing. Don't know how he got them, I was too little to go along. We ate them fried and in soup. I remember them as big, like 18 inches across, maybe more. Never ate snapping turtle, but have friends that did. Good eats from what I been told.

[gwpercle]

In Louisiana we don't eat the babies ... let em grow up and get some size on them !
The State record snapping turtle is 249 pounds , but 100 to 150 pounders with two foot shells are more common .
Half their diet is from vegetation and the other half ...rotting fish ... !
Good call on the two week purge .
A good Turtle Soup is mighty fine dining .
Gary

[Tripplebeards]

In Louisiana we don't eat the babies ... let em grow up and get some size on them !
The State record snapping turtle is 249 pounds , but 100 to 150 pounders with two foot shells are more common .
Half their diet is from vegetation and the other half ...rotting fish ... !
Good call on the two week purge .
A good Turtle Soup is mighty fine dining .
Gary

No alligator snappers here in WI. Just tons of common snapper that genetically max out to 35 pounds. Tons of soft shell turtles here as well. I thought I over killed the 2 week time period since I normally go a week. I’m glad I waited because they started dead Shad out of their system twice a week and half later. Grey cloudy water and rotten shad everywhere. About the most foul thing you’ll probably ever smell besides a dead carp or animal carcass basking in the hot sun for a good four or five days.