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Turtle Soup, to Heat
When turtle soup is bought already prepared from the confectioner, which is the plan usually adopted in private houses, it should be heated as follows. Cover closely the jar containing the soup, put it into a pan of boiling water, and let the soup boil gently until it is quite hot; turn it into a tureen, stir into it a claret-glassful of good Madeira or sherry, and serve immediately. A spoonful of lemon-juice may be added if liked, and if it is not put into the soup, a dish containing one or two lemons cut in halves may be served with the soup, so that the juice may be added at the discretion of the guests.
The method here is nothing more than a bain-marie reheat, but the ingredient it assumes — real turtle soup bought ready-made — is no longer something a cook can lawfully obtain.
- The turtle itselfCommercial turtle soup of this period was made from the green sea turtle, Chelonia mydas, now listed on CITES Appendix I and protected under national wildlife law across most of the world. Buying, importing or serving it is illegal, and no legitimate confectioner or grocer sells it.
- Freshwater substitutes are not a loopholeSnapping-turtle and diamondback terrapin have both been sold as "turtle" at various times; terrapin is protected or restricted in many states, and harvest rules for snapping turtle vary by jurisdiction. This is not a case where a near relative can quietly be swapped in.
- The jar is the other problemThe recipe assumes a jar of soup of unknown age from an unknown kitchen. Victorian shelf-stable meat soups were preserved by processes no modern cook can verify, and reheating in a water bath gives no assurance of a safe temperature throughout, even though the book does say to let it boil gently. If you want turtle-flavoured soup, use a current recipe for mock turtle.
- What a "confectioner" wasIn late Victorian usage the confectioner was a caterer as much as a sweet-maker, supplying ices, jellies, made dishes and soups to households that did not keep a large kitchen staff. Turtle soup was one of the standard bought-in luxuries.
- A claret-glassfulRoughly 4 fl oz, about half a cup, though claret glasses of the period varied and the book gives no exact measure. The wine goes in off the heat, at the tureen, so its aroma is not driven off.
- The lemonThe book offers a choice: acidulate the tureen with a spoonful of lemon-juice, or send in halved lemons so guests can add juice themselves. The latter is a sensible habit generally with rich, gelatinous soups.
Turtle soup was the defining luxury dish of English public dining from the mid-eighteenth century onward, when live green turtles were shipped from the West Indies and kept in tanks by London taverns and City livery companies; a turtle dinner was shorthand for civic extravagance, and aldermen were caricatured for it for a hundred years. By the time Cassell's was compiled the trade had industrialised into jarred soup sold by confectioners and grocers, which is exactly the situation this entry addresses — the private household no longer butchered a turtle, it bought the finished article and only needed to know how to warm it without spoiling it. Mock turtle soup, built on a calf's head to imitate the gelatinous texture, existed alongside it from the eighteenth century and outlived the real thing entirely. Green turtle populations declined, and the dish now survives mainly as a name in old menus.