Broths, Gravies, and Soups
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the turtle
Remove the fins from the turtle, keeping your knife against the breast to avoid breaking the gall.
Cut the breast into four pieces and remove the guts, starting with the liver and cutting away the gall.
Throw away the guts and place the heart, liver, kidneys, and lights in water.
Cut the fins close to the back shell and scrape off any fat.
Cut the calliopash into four pieces.
Boil water in a large pot, dip each fin for a minute, then peel clean.
Repeat for the head, shell, and breast, ensuring all peel and shell are removed.
Make the broth
In the same pot, add clean water, the breast, back, fins, and head; boil until the bones separate from the meat.
Add a large bunch of turtle herbs, bay leaves, and thyme.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Turtle
- Provides the meat and bones that give the broth its body and flavour.
- Turtle herbs
- Add aromatic flavour to the broth.
- Bay leaves
- Add a subtle aroma to the broth.
- Thyme
- Adds a savoury, herbal aroma to the broth.
The step that matters
Keeping the gall intact during removal. If the gall bursts while the guts are removed, its bitter fluid can spread onto the meat and taint the broth, so it should be cut away carefully.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
You might also like
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Yorkshire Pudding264 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.