A glass of Madeira.
2 onions.
Bunch of sweet herbs.
Juice of one lemon.
5 qts of water.
Chop up the coarser parts of the turtle-meat, with the entrails and
bones. Add to them four quarts of water, and stew four hours with the
herbs, onions, pepper, and salt. Stew very slowly, but do not let it
cease to boil during this time. At the end of four hours strain the
soup, and add the finer parts of the turtle and the green fat, which
has been simmered for one hour in two quarts of water. Thicken with
browned flour; return to the soup-pot, and simmer gently an hour
longer. If there are eggs in the turtle, boil them in a separate
vessel for four hours, and throw into the soup before taking it up.
If not, put in force-meat balls; then the juice of the lemon and the
wine; beat up once and pour out. Some cooks add the finer meat before
straining, boiling all together five hours; then strain, thicken,
and put in the green fat, cut into lumps an inch long. This makes a
handsomer soup than if the meat is left in.
For the mock eggs, take the yolks of three hard-boiled eggs, and
one raw egg well beaten. Rub the boiled eggs into a paste with a
teaspoonful of butter, bind with the raw egg, roll into pellets the
size and shape of turtle-eggs, and lay in boiling water for two minutes
before dropping into the soup.
_Force-meat balls for the above._
Six tablespoonfuls turtle-meat chopped very fine. Rub to a paste with
the yolks of two hard-boiled eggs; tablespoonful of butter, and, if
convenient, a little oyster-liquor. Season with cayenne, mace, and half
a teaspoonful of white sugar. Bind with a well-beaten egg; shape into
balls; dip in egg, then powdered cracker, fry in butter, and drop into
the soup when it is served.
Green turtle for soups is now within the reach of every private family,
being well preserved in air-tight cans.