To Dress Turtle

Ingredients

• 1 whole turtle
• 1 pound bacon
• 4 whole onions
• water
• 1 bottle white wine
• 1 gill mushroom catsup
• 1 gill lemon pickle
• cayenne pepper
• salt
• mace
• nutmegs
• cloves
• 2 large spoonsful flour
• 1.25 pound butter
• thyme
• parsley
• marjoram
• savory
• 6 whole eggs
• puff paste
• forcemeat
• turtle liver

Instructions

1. Kill the turtle at night in winter, or in the morning in summer. Hang it up by the hind fins, cut off the head, and let it bleed well.
2. Separate the bottom shell from the top with great care, being careful not to break the gall bladder. Remove the gall bladder cautiously and discard it. Place the liver in a bowl of water, and put the guts and any eggs in separate bowls of water.
3. Cut all flesh from the bottom shell and lay it in water. Break the shell in two, wash it clean, and put it in a pot. Cover it entirely with water, add one pound of bacon and four chopped onions, and set it on the fire to boil.
4. Open the guts, cleanse them perfectly, and remove the inside skin. Put them in the pot with the shell. Let everything boil steadily for three hours, adding more water if it boils away too much.
5. Wash the top shell nicely after removing the flesh, cover it, and set it aside. Parboil the fins, clean them thoroughly by removing all the black skin, and put them in water. Cut the flesh from the bottom and top shell into small pieces, and cut the fins in two. Lay the fins and flesh together in a dish, sprinkle with salt, and cover.
6. When the shell is done, remove the bacon and scrape the shell clean. Strain the liquor and put about one quart back in the pot, reserving the rest for soup. Pick out the guts and cut them into small pieces.
7. Put all the nice bits that were strained out and the cut guts into the gravy with the fins cut in pieces. Add as much flesh as will be sufficient to fill the upper shell. For a large turtle, add one bottle of white wine. Season with cayenne pepper, salt, one gill of mushroom catsup, one gill of lemon pickle, and pounded mace, nutmegs, and cloves to taste.
8. Mix two large spoonsful of flour into one pound and a quarter of butter. Put this into the pot with thyme, parsley, marjoram, and savory tied in bunches. Stew all together until the flesh and fins are tender.
9. Wash out the top shell and put puff paste around the brim. Sprinkle pepper and salt over the shell. Remove the herb bunches from the stew. If the gravy is not thick enough, add a little more flour. Fill the shell with the stew.
10. If the turtle contained no eggs, boil six new laid eggs for ten minutes, put them in cold water briefly, peel them, cut them in two, and place them on the turtle. Make a rich forcemeat (see separate receipt), fry the balls nicely, and put them in the shell.
11. Set the filled shell in a dripping pan with something under the sides to keep it steady. Have the oven heated as for bread and let it remain in it until nicely browned.
12. Fry the liver and send it in hot.