By: Sarah Steffen, Community Relations Coordinator
Every year, St. Paul’s Home resident JoAnn, makes her way down to the baking kitchen to chop up loads of celery, onions, and carrots. The next day, she starts her day at 8 a.m. with the help of our Activity Director, Mandy, to make two 6-quart pots of her famous Mock Turtle Soup. She does it all over again the next day to make a total of four pots. As some of you might know, this is a top seller at our annual Christmas boutique held in November every year. The quarts and pints of mock turtle usually sell out within the FIRST HOUR of the boutique!
JoAnn’s version of mock turtle is a family recipe that was passed down through generations. She inherited the recipe from her aunt but she explained the recipe had been in her family for over 60 years. The recipe:
Mock Turtle Soup
3 lbs ground beef, ground turkey, or ground chicken thawed
3 carrots
3 sticks celery
2 medium onions
3 lemons (rind and all)
40 oz. catsup
3 T. pickling spices
2 quarts water
6 ginger snaps
3 hard-boiled eggs
Chop all the vegetables and place them in a blender with entire lemons. Use 6 qt. pot, add 2 quarts water, veggie/lemon blend, meat, catsup, and pickling spices. Use hands to make sure meat is separated. Cook slow for 3 hours. Place 6 ginger snaps in about ½ cup water and blend until smooth, set aside. In the last half hour grate eggs into soup and add the ginger snap blend.
Tips from JoAnn herself include…
> The recipe is too lemony, so de-seed the lemons, simmer the lemons in the soup, then remove the lemons, and squeeze any juice back into the pot at the end.
> The recipe calls for 2 quarts of water, but only do 1 quart to keep it a little more thick.
> Bag the pickling spices so you can remove them easily after soup simmers.
> Buy pickling spices from Findlay Market. It will not taste the same without authentic pickling spices.
We are lucky that she has decided to share her recipe with us, but make sure to stop by in November for the original version that started it all. We all know it is never the same when you make it yourself!
From our Kitchen to Yours: The Famous Mock Turtle Soup