Turtle soup: Difference between revisions

{{aboutShort description|Soup made with turtles}}
{{for multi|the album by The Turtles|Turtle Soup|the album by The Mock Turtles|Turtle Soup (Mock Turtles album)}}

| region = [[China]], [[Malaysia]], [[Taiwan]], [[Japan]], [[Singapore]], [[Indonesia]], and [[United States]]

'''Turtle soup,''' also known as '''terrapin soup,''' is a [[soup]] or [[stew]] made from the meat of [[turtle]]s. DifferingSeveral versions of the soup exist in somedifferent cultures, and areit is often viewed as a [[delicacy]].<ref>{{cite book | lastlast1=Collin | firstfirst1=R. | last2=Collin | first2=R.H. | title=New Orleans Cookbook | publisher=Alfred A. Knopf | year=1987 | isbn=978-0-394-75275-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3evczYLsl5sC&pg=PA27 | language=fr | access-date=January 31, 2015 | page=27}}</ref>

Turtle soup gained popularity in England in the 1750s but declined rapidly about 150 years later due tofrom overfishing.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Clarkson|first=Janet|title=Soup : a global history|date=2010|publisher=Reaktion|isbn=978-1-86189-774-9|location=London|pages=115–118|oclc=642290114}}</ref> According to food historian Janet Clarkson, the dish, which she describes as one of several "noteworthy soups", became a symbol for civic dinners and {{quoteblockquote|From 1761 to 1825 it was never absent from the London Lord Mayor's Day Banquet. It is probably not unreasonable to hold several generations of aldermen and other civic leaders responsible for eating the turtle almost to extinction.<ref name=":0" />}}

[[Green sea turtle]] first became popular in England as "sea-tortoise" circa 1728: "Its Flesh is between that of Veal, and that of a Lobster, and is extremely pleasant&nbsp;... They are frequently brought to England in Tubs of Sea Water, and will keep alive a long time."<ref>''The Country Housewife and Lady's Director'', by Prof. R Bradley, 1728</ref> The earliest English recipes are for roast or boiled turtle, only later being used in a soup. About 1740–1750, it began to be widely imported to England, from [[Ascension Island]] or the [[West Indies]].<ref name=":0" /> Samuel Birch is credited with being the first to serve turtle soup in London, spicing it with lemons and cayennes; it quickly became immensely popular, and Lord Dudley stated, "Of British soup, turtle always takes precedence in the list of honour".<ref>''Soup Through the Ages: A Culinary History with Period Recipes'', by Victoria R. Rumble, McFarland, 2009, page 66. {{ISBN|9780786453900}}</ref> Giles Rose made turtle soup as follows: "Take your tortoises and cut off their heads and feet and boyl them in fair water, and when they are almost boyl'd, put to them some white wine, some sweet herbs, and a piece of bacon, and give them a brown in the frying pan with good butter, then lay upon your bread a-steeping in good strong broth, and well-seasoned; garnish the dish with green sparrow-grass [asparagus] and lemon over it."<ref name="Rumble">Rumble</ref>{{fcnfull citation needed|date=July 2021}} In ''Cookery and Domestic Economy'' (1862), the recipe begins as follows: "take the turtle out of the water, turn it on its back, tie its feet, cut off its head".<ref>''Cookery and Domestic Economy'', Mrs. Somerville, 1862.</ref> By about 1800, a good dinner portion was six pounds{{convert|6|lb|kg|round=0.5|order=flip}} of turtle, live weight, and in London Tavern in August, 1808, 400 men ate {{convert|2,500 pounds|lb|kg|sigfig=2|order=flip|abbr=on}} of turtle in their dinner soup.<ref> name="Rumble<"/ref>{{fcnfull citation needed|date=July 2021}}

According to Clarkson, "It is difficult to overestimate the magnitude of the demand for turtles" during the period of the soup's popularity. As many as 15,000 turtles were shipped live to Britain from the West Indies.<ref name=":0" /> Turtles became viewed as an fashionable and exotic delicacy, ranking alongside [[caviar]].<ref name="obst" /> Because of its popularity, the green turtle population plummeted, and its cost rose correspondingly. [[Isabella Beeton]] noted in 1861, "This is the most expensive soup brought to the table".<ref>''Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management: Abridged Edition'', by Isabella Beeton, Oxford University Press, 2008, page 93. {{ISBN|9780199536337}}</ref> Thus, long before that time, [[mock turtle soup]] made from calf's head was widely adopted as a more economical substitute and became popular in its own right, with the two dishes sometimes being served at the same banquet.<ref name=":0" />

In the United States, the [[common snapping turtle]] has long been the principal species used for turtle soup.<ref>Keith Sutton, [http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2014/aug/03/snapping-turtle-makes-delicious-dinner/?f=threerivers Snapping turtle makes for a delicious dinner]</ref> In this case the soup is also referred to as ''[[bookbinder soup]]'', ''snapper turtle soup'',<ref>[http://www.ichef.com/recipe.cfm/recipe/Snapper Turtle Soup/task/display/itemid/79787/recipeid/79449 Snapper Turtle Soup Recipe] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110713001717/http://www.ichef.com/recipe.cfm/recipe/Snapper |date=July 13, 2011 }}</ref> or simply ''snapper soup'' (not to be confused with ''red snapper soup'', which is made from the fish [[red snapper (fish)|red snapper]]). It is a heavy, brown soup with an appearance similar to thick meat gravy.

Eating the flesh of some marine turtles can cause a type of rare, but possibly lethal, type of [[food poisoning]] called [[chelonitoxism]].<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1016/j.toxicon.2006.12.002 |pmid=17250862 |title=Chelonitoxism: New case reports in French Polynesia and review of the literature |journal=Toxicon |volume=49 |issue=6 |pages=827–32 |year=2007 |last1=Fussy |first1=Agnès |last2=Pommier |first2=Philip |last3=Lumbroso |first3=Catherine |last4=De Haro |first4=Luc |bibcode=2007Txcn...49..827F }}</ref>

* [[SharkTurtle fin soupfarming]]