226 ANIMAL FOOD RESOURCES OF DIFFERENT NATIONS, 



to be excellent when, after having eaten, one is obliged 

 to rest with the mouth wide open, and cool the fevered 

 palate with Madeira or port. So that, to appreciate this 

 fiery soup, the taste has to be acquired. 



The plastron of boucaneered turtle is made by mincing 

 the flesh fine, and cooking it in its own shell. Here is 

 a receipt given for preparing and cooking it: — "The 

 plastron or buckler is the shell of the belly, on which is 

 left three or four inches of flesh, with all the fat, this 

 being green, and of a very delicate flavour. The plastron 

 is placed in the oven. It is seasoned with lemon juice, 

 capsicum or cayenne, salt, pepper, cloves and eggs beaten 

 up. The oven must not be too hot, as the flesh of the 

 turtle being tender, it should be cooked slowly. While 

 it is baking the flesh should be pierced from time to 

 time with a wooden skewer, so that the gravy may 

 penetrate all parts. It is sent up to table in the shell, and 

 the meat carved out from it. I have never eaten anything 

 more appetising or better flavoured." This is not the 

 receipt of a royal chef de cuisine, or of an ordinary cook, 

 but of Father Labat, a Dominican monk, and we know 

 that in all that relates to the table, and especially the 

 food of fast days, monks are good authorities. The old 

 buccaneers from whom this dish was named, having no 

 ovens, cooked their turtle in a trench covered with 

 lighted charcoal, and this mode of cooking was said to 

 be preferable. But in whatever manner dressed, all agree 

 that the flesh of the turtle is an excellent and palatable 

 food. 



Griffith, in his " Animal Kingdom," says : " It would 

 be quite superfluous to dilate on the enthusiastic venera- 

 tion in which turtle soup is held by our wealthy and 

 discerning citizens." 



Dried turtle and the dried flesh for soup is now prepared 

 in America and the West Indies. A manufactory at Key 

 West, Florida, puts up in airtight cans for exportation 

 200,000 pounds yearly, and employs ten vessels and sixty 

 men in collecting the turtle. It is sent to England and 

 Cuba chiefly, At Jamaica some factories are also doing a 



