Prepare and cut up a turtle. Put the pieces of shell in a saucepan over the fire
with sufficierit boiling water to cover them, and boil for two or three hours, or until
the outer edges of the shell are soft. As the water boils away add more, always
keeping the shells entirely covered. Cut the soft parts of the shells into pieces about
one-half inch square, place them in an earthenware bowl, cover over with a wet
napkin, and keep in a cool place until wanted. Place the hard parts of the shells
again into water in which it was boiled, put in also one-eighth of the first weight of
the turtle of beef bones, and one-sixteenth of the weight of veal bones, or of calf’s
feet and head as directed for soup, skinning the calf’s head. On the top of these ingredients
lay the neck and fins of the turtle, and the cushions or rounded muscles at
top of the turtle fins, unless part of the latter is to be reserved raw for broiling as
steaks ; add enough water to cover all, together with two tablespoonfuls of salt, and
allow all to boil gently for two hours or more, or until the bones of the fins separate
easily from the flesh. Remove any scum which may rise, and keep the soup kettle
closely covered. When the fins and cushions are tender, take them out of the stock,
separate the flesh from the bones, keeping it in good sized pieces, and put it aside, in
a cool place until wanted, in an earthenware vessel covered with a wet cloth. Return
the bones to the stock, add to it the proportions usually employed for soup stock, of
carrots, turnips, onions, parsley, sweet herbs, whole cloves, mace and peppercorns,
and boil gently for five or six hours, keeping the pan closely covered. After the
liver, legs, fat and intestines have been soaked in cold water boil them in the stock,
the intestines being turned outward like the reversed finger of a glove, and well
washed and scraped. When the stock is boiled it should be strained through a
folded towel, laid in a colander placed over a large earthenware bowl, until clear.
All those parts of the turtle which have been cooked and covered with wet cloths
or napkins should now be placed in the bowls and covered with the strained turtle
stock ; all the stock remaining should be saved for soup. Most turtle cooks advise
leaving out the intestines, chiefly because they are more trouble to prepare than they
are worth.
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