Cooking the Soup (Potage Tortue)

Ingredients

• flesh from the inside of the turtle
• the bones
• cooking liquor of the carapace and plastron
• water
• salt
• 6 kilos 500 of leeks
• 1 kilo celery
• 2 kilos onions stuck with 10 cloves
• 1 kilo shallots
• 125 grammes garlic
• 4 lemon zests
• 8 grammes basil
• 8 grammes marjoram
• 4 grammes sage
• 4 grammes rosemary
• 4 grammes savory
• 4 grammes thyme
• 250 grammes coriander
• 125 grammes peppercorns
• the squares of flesh from the carapace and plastron

Instructions

1. Put into a marmite of suitable size the flesh from the inside of the turtle (not the flesh of the carapace and plastron), the bones, the head, and the flippers or fins, the flippers having first been blanched so the shell can be drawn off.
2. Moisten first with the cooking liquor of the carapace and plastron, then top up with water to about 50 litres for a turtle of 75 kilos gross, so as to end with 38 to 40 litres of soup.
3. Salt at 5 grammes to the litre, bring to the boil and skim.
4. Garnish the marmite with 6 kilos 500 of leeks, 1 kilo of celery, 2 kilos of onions stuck with 10 cloves, 1 kilo of shallots and 125 grammes of garlic.
5. Keep the boil slow and steady; the whole cooking time is 8 hours.
6. After 7 hours, an hour before straining, add 4 lemon zests; a small bundle of 8 grammes basil, 8 grammes marjoram, 4 grammes sage, 4 grammes rosemary, 4 grammes savory and 4 grammes thyme; and a bag holding 250 grammes coriander and 125 grammes peppercorns.
7. Pass the broth through a napkin, add the squares of flesh taken from the carapace and plastron, and put the soup away in special stoneware pots.