cleaning turtles for food

[Tim_T]

i guess i forgot step one, when i catch turtles i keep them in a plastic 50 gallon drum filled half way with water and i add clean water evry couple of days for a couple of weeks, it is amazing how much moss/mud/scum is purged from the turtle doing this, the meat is much cleanrer and less muddy pond tasting.
this is for hard shell snapping turtles,never ate a soft shell so i dont really know anything about them.
i usually dont have a butchering session until i get 10 turtles, usualy takes about 30-45 minutes to do all 10 turtles using the above method, its easy just messy.

This is the key imo to better tasting turtle. At my friends we have a big metal tub that we use just for this purpose and we change the water every day.

You clean yours the same way we do, but we are definitely not as fast as you are. It takes me 30 minutes or more to do one turtle.

[stripernut]

i do cut the top shell away from the bottom.
whack the turtle on the nose = 10 seconds
cut the head off with a hatchet = 15 seconds
stick the hose in the turtles neck and blow up= 1 minute
cut the shell= 30 seconds
break away the front and rear attaching joints= 30 seconds
the key here is-
turn the bottom shell so it is sitting with the bottom on the ground just as it would be if the turtle was still alive.

then step in the middle of the bottom shell and grab each leg by the hip joint and pull.

pull all the way to the toes (it will be very hard to pull when it gets to this point.

do all 4 legs and then place the turtle on the chopping block and whack the leg off at the toes. each leg takes about 15 seconds - 15 seconds X 4 legs = 1 minute

this is an approximation of the time....but its real close

i throw the turtle quarters in a plastic wash pan i use for soaking fillets and add lemon juice and sea salt and soak the meat over night , then i fillet the meat off the bone , its much easier when it is chilled .

no kidding, i would be glad to show anyone who is interested how i do it, not saying its the best way, its just the way i do it.

[olgreenboat]

There should be some youtube videos on turtle cleaning..