I caught a turtle today and I have him in a 50 gal drum with water an inch above his shell and I was plannning on eating him when I don’t have to change the water anymore cause it’s clean, what’s some good recipes? I was thinking creole frying him but I’m not sure, my dad says there’s dark and light meat on a turtle, that true?

I fry the meat up in a cast iron skillet with butter,, some garlic,,salt,, pepper and mushrooms and onions.Turtle stew is also good.Tons of recipes

Alright thanks

You might have to blow these up but here are a couple I found in an old cook book.

Head can still bite even after you chop it off so dont mess with that.

I mix wild rice ,brown rice,onion, garlic, cayenne pepper, wostersire, salt,pepper and a chucked up turtle in a large roasting pan with a tight fitting lid. Cover with chicken stock and bake on about 250 until the rice is done.

The neck meat is white and the other meat is ur regular red

My mom would season the meat, coat with flour and pan fry for 5 minutes a side. Put the meat is an oven roaster and bake till done. Meat is delicious!

I dont have the recipe but Andrew Eastwood (on here) smokes it. Best turtle I ever ate.

The legs and tail are dark meat. The neck and the spine attached to the shell are white. You can use a wide chisel to remove the part attached to the shell. IMO, that's the best meat. Although all turtle meat is good.
I've eaten turtle soup, baked turtle with gravy, and deep fried turtle. All are delicious eating.

Anyone have a good soft shell recipe, or do you cook them same as snappers?

It's said there's 7 kinds of meat on a turtle. I never really could tell a difference.

I always pressure cook it to tenderize it, then fry it crispy brown in a frying pan. I love it like that and never tried any other way. Don't kill many these days, but when I was younger I grabbed every snapper i could lay my hands on. That was before the state put a season and size limit on them though. (July 15th through Sept 15th....13 inch minimum carapace length).

Don't go out and catch a bunch of diamondback terrapins to eat. The Man will throw you under the jail

I’ve only messed with snapper, and always followed a Justin Wilson cookbook recipe, which I think was the recipe used by the Hotel Montelone, in New Orleans.

I mostly make a chowder, with them, I make it for our trapping meeting, it the best attendance at a meeting all year

I boil the turtle meat in chicken bullion water for half hour to 45 minutes to soften the meat then I either fry it or as Danny mentioned I cook it on the smoker. For the smoker I season the meat with creole seasoning, cajun seasoning, and lemon herb, This all goes in a pan with a stick of butter sliced up and spread evenly over top. I put it on the smoker at 225 in an open pan for a few hours then cover until time to eat.
For what it is worth I never bother leaving the turtles in water to "clean" anymore unless I just have a better day to butcher. Leaving a turtle in clean water does nothing but make him hungry and his guts empty, I don't eat the guts anyway.

Can you offer advice on how to get them from a snapper with it's head shot off, to kitchen ready?

I cut the bottom plate off first , then removed the legs and tail, and neck, they will keep moving for a while so be ready, I don't remove the head I nail it to a pole and hang the turtle, if I'm going to fry it, I just clean up the parts, if I'm making soup, I debone it all,

Give em a whack on the nose like you do a coyote. They will stretch their head and neck out. Pruning shears right behind the head.