Skip to main content
STEWED WATER TURTLES, OR TERRAPINS
Photo: Kevin McCutcheon

STEWED WATER TURTLES, OR TERRAPINS

7 ingredients 1 steps gutenberg
Share this recipe

Estimated Nutrition (whole recipe, rough)

32
Calories
1g
Protein
2g
Fat
5g
Carbs

Counts 5 of 7 ingredients — the other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and contribute nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume — 5 portions →
Ingredient Portion assumed kcal
Nutmeg 1 tsp ground (2.2g) 12
Chili 1 tsp (2.7g) 8
Cayenne 1 tsp (1.8g) 6
Black Pepper 1 tsp ground (2.3g) 6
Salt 1 tsp (6g) 0
Currant not in our table 0
Mace not in our table 0

Totals for the whole recipe, adding one typical portion per ingredient — listed above. Quantities in the recipe are not counted, so this is a rough guide only — not suitable for medical or dietary planning.

Ingredients

  • a gill of currant jelly
  • a pinch of cayenne pepper
  • salt
  • nutmeg
  • mace
  • cayenne
  • pepper

Directions

1

Select the largest, thickest and fattest, the females being the best; they should be alive when brought from market. Wash and put them alive into boiling water, add a little salt, and boil them until thoroughly done, or from ten to fifteen minutes, after which take off the shell, extract the meat, and remove carefully the sand-bag and gall; also all the entrails; they are unfit to eat, and are no longer used in cooking terrapins for the best tables. Cut the meat into pieces, and put it into a stewpan with its eggs, and sufficient fresh butter to stew it well. Let it stew till quite hot throughout, keeping the pan carefully covered, that none of the flavor may escape, but shake it over the fire while stewing. In another pan make a sauce of beaten yolk of egg, highly flavored with Madeira or sherry, and powdered nutmeg and mace, a gill of currant jelly, a pinch of cayenne pepper, and salt to taste, enriched with a large lump of fresh butter. Stir this sauce well over the fire, and when it has almost come to a boil take it off. Send the terrapins to the table hot in a covered dish, and the sauce separately in a sauce tureen, to be used by those who like it, and omitted by those who prefer the genuine flavor of the terrapins when simply stewed with butter. This is now the usual mode of dressing terrapins in Maryland, Virginia, and many other parts of the South, and will be found superior to any other. If there are no eggs in the terrapin, "egg balls" may be substituted. (See recipe.)

By F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann · Recipe sourced from gutenberg

Curious what else pairs well?

Use our flavor tools to explore molecular pairings, find substitutes, and discover novel combinations.