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Fricasseed Snapping Turtle
Clean the turtle by throwing him into boiling water. Cut into small dice, sprinkle with pepper, salt, a tablespoonful of mushroom catsup, onion juice, and a dash of kitchen bouquet. Put into a tightly covered saucepan with enough water to cover, and simmer gently for thirty minutes. Then add a tablespoonful of browned flour rubbed into a tablespoonful of butter. When nicely blended together add a glass of sherry and the well-beaten yolk of an egg. Let all come to a boil, then remove from the fire, and turn out into a deep dish.
A late-Victorian fricassee of the sort that turns up wherever snapping turtle was cheap and local. Two things in the original need rethinking before anything else: the cooking time is far too short for turtle, and the finish will scramble if taken at its word.
- Do not boil the egg yolkThe instruction to "let all come to a boil" after adding the beaten yolk will curdle the sauce into threads. Draw the pan off the heat, temper the yolk with a few spoonfuls of the hot liquid, stir it back in and hold below a simmer until it thickens.
- Thirty minutes is not enoughSnapping turtle is dense, sinewy working muscle, closer to shin of beef than to fish. The leg and neck meat needs one and a half to two and a half hours of gentle simmering before it gives; thirty minutes leaves it rubbery. Test with a fork rather than a clock.
- "A glass of sherry"In books of this period a wine glass is usually reckoned at roughly 2 fl oz and a tumbler at about 8; the recipe says only "a glass", so the amount is not certain. Something in the region of 2 fl oz (a quarter cup) of dry or medium sherry suits the quantity here; add it with enough time left to cook off the raw spirit.
- Mushroom catsupA thin, dark, salty mushroom extract, not tomato ketchup. Nothing on a modern shelf matches it exactly; a tablespoon of mushroom soy or a strong dried-mushroom soaking liquor plus a dash of Worcestershire gets the same savoury depth.
- Kitchen BouquetA caramel-and-vegetable browning liquid, still sold. It contributes colour and a faint vegetal bitterness rather than flavour; a dash means a few drops, and it can be left out without harm.
- Browned flourFlour toasted dry in a pan until nut-coloured, then rubbed into butter. It thickens less powerfully than raw flour, so expect a light sauce; toast it before you need it, as it scorches quickly.
- Sourcing and legalitySnapping turtle is regulated at state level in the US, with closed seasons, size limits and outright bans on commercial sale in a number of places. Buy from a licensed dealer or not at all, and be aware that turtles accumulate mercury and PCBs, which is why several health departments advise against frequent eating.
- Killing and cleaningDispatch by immersion in boiling water is inhumane, and in some jurisdictions may fall foul of animal-cruelty law. Have the animal killed and dressed properly; scalding is for loosening the skin on an already-dead turtle, not for killing it. Turtles commonly carry Salmonella, so treat the raw meat, board and water as you would raw poultry.
- YieldThe recipe gives no quantity. A dressed snapping turtle will yield only a modest proportion of its weight as usable meat, so the yield depends on the size of the animal; served with rice or toast, a couple of pounds of meat will stretch to about four.