Been a few years..

[HideHunter]

Dad (he's 90) mentioned a couple times - turtle sounded awfully good.. Sooooo.. dug out a couple nets and put the son and grandson to work.. 18 hours later we had 6.. It was the grandson's first experience and he was a bit apprehensive about the whole "snapping" turtle thing. Then, called my opld turtle trapping buddy from years ago - told him if he'd help dress I'd give him one.. and buy whiskey.. and lunch.. Turtle trapping is a lot like beaver trapping.. It's freaking work - and the only "fun" part is seeing what's in the trap. But - we'll eat good.. got enough meat for a couple good feeds..20210821_200201.jpg20210824_110122.jpg20210824_123533.jpg

[Thumper]

Nice batch'o cooters!

[Penguin]

I'll be. You know I haven't seen someone fix up a batch of that since I was a kid.

How's it taste? Never tried it. ☺

[Thumper]

We used to have a fella down here named Carl Allen who was an old Florida cracker and opened a restaurant many years ago (40's or 50's I think?). We'd go there maybe once a month to eat, but never failed to take out of town guests there for dinner. It was ALWAYS a unique experience for them as Carl always said, " “You won’t find anything on this menu that wasn’t caught, netted, raised, grown, or hatched in this state." Did I say unique? This is just some of what was on the menu:

Rattlesnake, catfish, alligator, chicken, rabbit, armadillo, Nile perch, shark, gopher, mullet, turtle, quail, homemade grits, baked beans, "sweet 'tater" patties, pickled peppers, fried pickles and watermelon soup. I won't even approach the dessert menu, but it was all homemade pies, cobblers, etc. Of course the sweet tea was served in Mason jars.

Ol' Carl passed away a few years back and his widow was too old to keep the place running, so it closed up. I miss that old place as well as Carl, who was a real character and was always there to chat. He'd have a blue grass band come in on Thursday nights and the place would be packed!

Carl Allen

allen's cafe 2.jpg

[Thumper]

I'll be. You know I haven't seen someone fix up a batch of that since I was a kid.

How's it taste? Never tried it. ☺

Tastes like chicken.

[Chicken Dinner]

I'll be. You know I haven't seen someone fix up a batch of that since I was a kid.

How's it taste? Never tried it.

Same here. It’s probably been 40 years for me. Man, that was good eats.


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[DeputyDog]

My neighbor when I was a kid used to trap a few on the lake we lived on. As a kid, seeing the size of some of the turtles he got out of that lake kinda gave you second thoughts about swimming.

Never really liked the taste of them though.


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[BarryBobPosthole]

Larke always talked about them and once told me how to skin one. I’ve tried turtle soup before and the flavor reminded me of how the mud smells on the bottom of a pond. Very fishy.
Maybe the batch I tried wasn’t done well. They claimed to be experts and ate it like it was manna from heaven.

Were you fishing for turtles and caught these or fishing for kitty cats and these made a mistake?
BKB

[Thumper]

Yeppers ...

larke cooter.jpg larke cooter 2.jpg

[BarryBobPosthole]

That guy would pick up anything.

BKB

[DeputyDog]

That guy would pick up anything.

BKB

Are you talking about Larke and critters or Thump and women?


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[HideHunter]

I brown it, then put it in the roaster, or oven until fork tender.. I can't imagine anyone not "liking" it.. Back when we had the bar we would have turtle feeds.. The last year we did it, I contracted 1250 pounds. We'd do 100-125 pounds each feed and sold out *every* time.. .. Oh, makes absolutely the best gravy known to man..

[Thumper]

Are you talking about Larke and critters or Thump and women?

Since I'm the official G/H Treasurer, I may need to look into purchasing a few more tall stools for this place, Most of the ones we have are plumb wore out from use.