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Turtle Soup

Before making turtle soup it is necessary to have several large pans and plenty of hot water ready for use. Take a turtle weighing about fifty pounds. Cut off the head, hang the body up by the hind fins, and let it drain all night. Cut off the fins at the joints, and divide the calipash or upper shell from the calipee or lower shell by pressing heavily upon it and cutting round it about two inches from the edge. Let the water, etc., drain from it, and remove and throw away the intestines, carefully preserving, however, any fat that may be near them. Cut the flesh off along the spine, and let the knife slope towards the bones for fear of breaking the gall, which must on no account be allowed to touch the flesh, and which should be thrown quite away as soon as it is found. Cut off all the flesh from the members and let them drain. In cutting up the turtle remember to keep the green fat separate from the rest that its colour may be preserved. It is most highly prized by epicures. Throw the heart, lights, liver, and kidney into cold water. Put the calipash and calipee, the head and the feet, into a large vessel of boiling water, and let them simmer gently for a few minutes until the fins can be peeled and the shell scraped. Boil the back and the breast a little longer till the bones can be taken out. Cut out the soft meat, divide it into pieces an inch square, and place these in a single layer between two dishes to cool. Put the heart, liver, lights, and kidneys with the bones into a fresh saucepan, pour over them the stock in which the meat was blanched, and let them stew gently for three hours. Afterwards pour the liquor off and let it cool. Take a large clean saucepan. Put into it two pounds of lean ham cut small, twelve pounds of leg of veal broken up, and over these the fins, the head, and the inside flesh of the turtle. Pour over them some good stock, and let them simmer gently until the sauce is very much reduced. Push a skewer into the thick part of the meat, and when blood no longer exudes from the flesh add the liquor which was poured off, and simmer all gently together until the meat is tender. Take it out, and set it aside. When the liquor from the bones is put into the stock the following ingredients may also be added. Two large handfuls of parsley, a large bunch of mixed sweet herbs--thyme, marjoram, basil, and savory, an onion stuck with four cloves, three bay-leaves, and half a dozen mushrooms if obtainable. Simmer the soup till it is pleasantly flavoured, strain it, set it aside, or if preferred, rub the vegetables through a sieve. Dissolve half a pound of butter in a stewpan. Mix four table-spoonfuls of flour smoothly with it, and beat it quickly with the back of a wooden spoon over the fire until it is brightly browned. Add the liquor gradually, and let the soup boil. Draw the saucepan to the side of the fire, and carefully remove the fat, oil, and white scum which rise to the surface. Put the pieces of meat, which were set aside to cool, into the soup, let them simmer gently for an hour, and continue to remove the scum as it rises. Take four table-spoonfuls of parsley, four table-spoonfuls of minced shallot, one table-spoonful each of thyme, marjoram, savory, and sweet basil, a whole nutmeg, grated, a blade of mace, a dozen allspice, four cloves, a table-spoonful of pepper and salt, and a pinch of cayenne. Put these seasoning ingredients into a delicately-clean saucepan with four ounces of fresh butter, and let them simmer gently until the butter is dissolved, add a small lump of sugar, a pint or two of good Madeira, and a little stock, and simmer them gently for an hour. Rub them through a fine sieve, and add the seasoning liquor to the soup. Let it boil again until no more scum rises. Put the quenelles, which are used as substitutes for turtles' eggs, into the soup ten minutes before serving, and add the strained juice of one or two lemons just before sending the soup to table. When once turtle soup is made it should not be boiled in order to heat it, as this gives it a strong taste, but it should be warmed in a bain-marie. To make the quenelles for the soup, see TURTLE SOUP, FORCEMEAT QUENELLES FOR. Time, several hours. Turtle soup should always be made the day before it is wanted. Probable cost, 10s. to 15s. per quart. Sufficient, one quart for six or seven persons.