been doing some turtle hunting here lately.
was thinking about smoking some.
any tips on how to go about it.

Hey Big Ed, we love to turtle hunt. However, our turtle dog is slowing down and can't keep up with the quicker turtles.

Smoking turtles? The problem we find is that the CS doesn't do a great job with the shells. Perhaps an offset?

Regards, Mike

Why not just smoke chicken, as I'm sure it tastes the same...

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Why not just smoke chicken, as I'm sure it tastes the same...

Chickens are harder to catch.

Regards, Mike

Jeeze, Louise, Guys, give Ed a break! I suspect that he's serious and we're poking fun at his gastronomic choices! And unless you've hugged a muddy bank and stuck both your hands blindly into a hole searching for something that might take offence and bite the tar outta you, I'm not sure that you can say that turtles are any easier to catch than chickens!

Ed, what little turtle I've eaten (and it was decades ago, so my recollection might be a little off) leads me to believe that you could smoke it in the same way that you smoke chicken parts . . . brine 'em for 12 to 24 hours and then 4 hours or so with a couple two or three ounces of a relatively mild wood like apple. The actual smoking time would be tied to exactly how large the pieces of meat are. Using chicken leg quarters and three to four hours as a standard, you should be able to figure out a reasonable time. I'd start short and extend as needed.

Good luck and let the forum know how things turned out!

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Jeeze, Louise, Guys, give Ed a break! I suspect that he's serious and we're poking fun at his gastronomic choices!

Yo Cog, we poke fun at everything, especially at ourselves. Would bet that Ed was serious. Would hope that we made him (and others here) smile. Q needn't be taken with the seriousness of a funeral dirge...unless, of course, it's bad Q.

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... stuck both your hands blindly into a hole searching for something that might take offence and bite the tar outta you,

And, I'd thought this was a family list.

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I'm not sure that you can say that turtles are any easier to catch than chickens!

Actually, Cog, we haven't a clue. We catch neither turtles, nor chickens. When we want one, we order it.

Regards, Mike

Hey, Big Ed, I'll go further than Cog. I'd say, set the CS unit aside and stick with a
fricassee of turtle prepared in a cast iron pot cooked over hardwood coals. Get your smoke, and a lot of flexibility to boot.
But, you probably been there and done that.
So, as Cog suggests, the key is, how to smoke small chunks of white, lean meat? When you pop open that turtle, there won't be anything the size of J.B.'s goat in there. Even with a big snapper, (you catch snapping turtles or sliders?) you might find a chunk flesh the size of your fist. I don't recall the toughness factor. (?) But, you could pound those chunks into cutlets with a tenderizing hammer, and then brine or rub or marinade and then smoke away. Maybe test 3 ways at once.
(And, Pete, by the way, there is a turtle in Florida they call the Suwannee chicken turtle, so good it is to eat. Well Trained Rednecks have been known to shoot each other over possession of a Suwannee chicken.) acarriii

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...there is a turtle in Florida they call the Suwannee chicken turtle...

So, that's where it comes from...
"Way down upon the Suwannee turtle...."

Hey, all seriousness aside, where does one go to BUY turtles...preferably filleted? Dad used to love turtle soup with a jigger of dry sherry added. If we can find turtle, maybe we'll smoke a bit of it and make some soup.

Regards, Mike

Mike,
Of course I knew y'all were poking fun! Didn't you see my 'razz Graemlin' following the comment? This is the very most friendliest forum that I have ever been on which is why I felt comfortable posting the reply that I did! And anyone who knows me well would tell you that any time I start a comment with "Geeze, Louise . . . " my tongue is so far out into my cheek that I am in danger of auto-amputating the sucker the next time I bite down!

Having said that, I was really hoping to stimulate some response to one of those nifty 'alternate' meat subjects that I was hopin that Smokin' would set as the next contest subject! Alas, even I have secondary agendas, political or otherwise!

By the way, Happy August to everyone on the Forum!

Hey Cog, ..............................

ROTFL...

Regards, Mike

Hey,Ed.....Ignore all those landbound folks....Our family is all from up around Lewis and Rowan county and have cooked a turtle or 12....I was in Mt. Sterling and Frenchburg on Sat. to stock up on 3 gallons of the best sorghum molasses in the world, IMHO ,to use in sauces. ....That turtle will be much more like beef than chicken, it cooks like round steak......I'd probably put the chunks in a shallow pan with a little olive oil and salt and pepper.....Smoke with oak or a fruitwood for 1 hr. at 225�.....Cut into pieces about 1/2 in. and make turtle soup.....Slice the turtle eggs into the soup about 15 mins. before serving....If there were no eggs you can use hard boiled eggs of choice.Hope this helps.

Big Ed,
I get a snapper every now and then, but I have never smoked one. I clean him and pound the meat for what seems like two or three days...more like five minutes per piece. Then flour, salt & pepper and pan fry. It doesn't get much better.

The good thing is you get four or five different color of meats, and they all taste
great.

The draw back is the skinning and cleaning. Boy that hide is tough to pull off.

Hey,Mike.....Our seafood suppliers wholesale it around here in 5 lb. packages.....They will also retail it in 1 lb.....It is frozen freshwater turtle and we just use it for Cajun turtle soups....Mighty tasty on those cold winter nights we have down here.

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.....Smoke with oak or a fruitwood for 1 hr

Hey, Tom: You are obviously a man of tremendous wisdom and experience. So, when you make a remark that sounds contrary, it makes me scratch me head. On two occaisions I have seen you say, overtly or indirectly, that oak makes a "light" smoke, equivalent to the fruit woods (see above). I collect water oak and laurel oak and (rarely) live oak out on the farm. Doesn't seem to be a light smoke at all. Heavy smoke. More potent than hickory, in my humble opinion. So, I'm wondering if you could explain your views on oak. In what sense is oak smoke light smoke?
And, speaking of turtle, are you doing loggerhead this season? acarriii

Howdy,acarriii......To qualify my taste buds, you must remember that I have been raising peppers and making sauces for around 30 years. ....If I were still log burning ,I like the "richness/roundness" that year old white or red oak provides.....I like to give the distintive smoke flavors with variety woods ,pecan hulls or even dried corn cobs.......I typically like about 75 % dried oak and 25 % flavor woods......Although being somewhat of a son of the south, I am known to go 100% hickory on butts and cut it only with a chaser of Kentucky's best known adult beverage. ......As you and I know, the Feds get a little touchy about dining on Loggerheads.