Nanette, this note of yours sent me on a quest through all my folders of printed out recipes, and favorite cookbooks.
I made a mock turtle soup a few years ago that was just delicious, using round steak. I can't seem to find the recipe, but I'm not done looking. The only one I stored on my computer, (which means I have it on my website - which usually means I've tried it... or it looks so good that I want to try it...) is this one:
(but I know I have never made it with actual turtle meat and for sure I've never used one cup of bacon fat in ANYTHING!)
Turtle Soup
Mike Baskind is the chef at the Rivershack. He was featured on the show Diners, Drive In's and Dives with that guy, Guy. One of the dishes he served was Turtle soup. Well the Food Network has posted his recipe fo it. Here it is and keep in mind, it calls for a cup of bacon fat!:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/dine ... index.html
1 cup bacon fat
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 pound turtle meat (see your seafood specialty store), silver skin removed and cut into 1-inch pieces
1/2 pound ground beef
1 cup chopped bell pepper
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped onion
3 tablespoons chopped garlic
1 cup diced canned tomatoes
4 hard boiled eggs, peeled and diced
3 cups chopped baby spinach
2 cups white wine
1 cup cream sherry (plus more to finish soup table side)
2 cups chicken, pork or beef stock (or broth)
4 tablespoons hot sauce
2 tablespoons Worcestershire
4 large bay leaves
6 lemons
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 tablespoons chopped green onions
3 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
Sherry and lemon wedges, for garnish
For the roux:
Take 1/2 cup of the bacon fat and in a thick-bottomed pan cook the flour slowly stirring constantly to a brownish-brick red color. Set aside carefully and cool.
For the Soup:
In a thick-bottomed pot, heat the remaining bacon fat and brown the turtle meat and ground beef thoroughly. Add the bell pepper, celery, onions and garlic and sweat until translucent. Add the tomatoes, eggs, spinach, wine, sherry, stock, hot sauce, Worcestershire and bay leaves and simmer 1 1/2 hours.
Using a microplane and cut-resistant gloves, remove the yellow zest from the lemons avoiding the white pith; add to the soup. Cut the zested lemons and squeeze juice into the soup.
In a bowl, add the cooled roux, then ladle some of hot soup into the bowl whisking with a wire whip until a smooth paste is formed; add one more ladle to the bowl, then add the contents back to the soup. Season to taste with salt and pepper and simmer for 1 hour.
Note: this soup is best the next day; if doing so, cool the soup as quickly as possible and reheat slowly when you wish to serve it.
Before serving, remove bay leaves.
