Last week I ventured into the unchartered territory of mock terrapin soup. Now you might be asking what exactly is mock terrapin soup, and who would eat it? Well, I can tell you what it is, but I am still not sure if I can find anyone to eat it.
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| Our mock terrapin- beef (what is not for dinner tonight) |
Apparently terrapin soup was very popular in the 19th century. So popular in fact that terrapins (turtles) were severely over-hunted.
Without terrapins, those crafty folks turned to a mock terrapin soup. Mock terrapin in our case is a lean beef, but I found an ancient NY Times recipe that called for beef liver and other recipes call for brains, so I guess it could be worse. If you google mock terrapin soup, you will also come upon some beautiful terrapin soup bowls. The terrapin soup was so popular that a whole silver genre grew up around it. I will take some of these.
Not some of that....
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| adding my butter to my beef |
Lewis Carrol based the mock turtle on the soup. "'Well, I've never heard it before', said the Mock Turtle, 'but it sounds uncommon nonsense'." -Lewis Carroll. That sums up how I feel about the soup.
How would I describe this soup. In one word: nasty. Based upon the ingredients, which consists of an odd mixture of boiled beef, butter, cream , milk, flour, mustard, and nutmeg (substituted for mace), I thought I was not going to like it. Thankfully I halved the receipt. Another problem with the receipt, I would let the beef stock cool down quite a bit before you add the milk. As could be predicted, my milk curdled. I should have foreseen that, but I was just following the vague instructions provided. I don't think this soup could have been grosser. Thank goodness Andrew is a another brave taste tester. He confirmed my thoughts of gross! Maybe I should look for some real turtle for the cooter soup recipe! Perhaps that is what this recipe is missing. I did have a friend stop by while I was cooking and I explained I was making mock terrapin soup, and he laughed and said he grew up eating turtle soup during his childhood in Tennessee. Apparently, there are some terrapins around to eat, and some people still willing to eat them!
On another note, Mrs. Alston Pringle dominates the soup section with her contributions of mock terrapin soup, calf''s head soup, white soup, and onion soup. And don't get your hopes up, I am not Johnny Knoxville, I will not be trying calf's head soup. Mrs. John Simonds (Frances Rees) put above the receipt this quote about Mrs. Alston Pringle, "Mrs. Alston Pringle's reputation as a fine cook was so well established that it is still spoken of almost reverentially. In fact, a colored cook who worked in her household once remarked, 'When she puts in de buttah, ah turns ma back'."
Luckily for us this receipt just contains 1/4 pound of butter and 1/2 pint of cream.
So here is my usual dorky history research about the person behind the receipt. I was curious as to who this revered fine cook, Mrs. Alston Pringle was. A quick google search brought up a Mary Motte Alston Pringle, who lived from 1803-1884 and who was married to William Bull Pringle. I believe Mary Motte Alston Pringle was the daughter of Mary Brewton Motte and Col. William Alston and granddaughter of Rebecca Brewton Motte, who is perhaps the most famous woman of the Revolutionary War in SC. At first I thought Mary Motte Alston Pringle must be our woman. But than I realized if it is a Mrs. Alston Pringle, perhaps it is a daughter in law of Mary Pringle, since Mary Motte Alston Pringle had 13 children and also since a 19th century lady would be known by her husband's name, and not her own. Regardless of the mystery, below is summary of the Alston-Pringle matriarch. It makes me want to read the book. And to further solve my cooking mystery.
To quote from the website about Richard Cote's book on Mary Motte Alston Pringle, Mary's World: Love, War, and Family Ties in 19th Century Charleston by Richard N. Cote
"Born to affluence and opportunity in the South's Golden Age, Mary Motte Alston Pringle (1803-1884) represented the epitome of Southern white womanhood. Her husband was a wealthy rice planter who owned four plantations and 337 slaves. Her thirteen children included two Harvard scholars, seven world travelers, three socialite daughters, a U.S. Navy war hero, six Confederate soldiers, one possible Union collaborator, a Confederate firebrand trapped in the North, an expatriate bon vivant in France, and two adventuresome California pioneers. Mary's World illuminates in lavish detail the world and psyche of this wealthy, well-educated, well-intentioned woman and her family in the antebellum South."
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| Mary Pringle's grave. This woman was was rich, had 2 children at an ivy league, war heroes, socialite daughters...whew....I am feeling quite inadequate! And maybe she or her daughter in law was an excellent cook! |
The Alston-Pringle families owned the famous Miles Brewton home. Mrs. Rebecca Motte inherited the mansion when her brother died at sea and it was passed on through her grandchildren to the Pringle family. If you have ever been past the house, you will surely recognize it.
His sister, Mrs. Rebecca Brewton Motte, resided here during the Revolution, when it became the headquarters for Sir Henry Clinton and Lords Rawdon and Cornwallis. Tradition says Mrs. Motte locked her three young daughters in the attic while the British were in the house. Another tradition says a British officer etched Clinton's profile and the picture of a full-rigged ship on one of the marble mantels. Mrs. Motte's three daughters married, respectively, John Middleton of Lee's Legion (see 14 George St.), Gen. Thomas Pinckney (ditto), and Capt. William Alston of Marion's Brigade. Alston bought the house after his marriage and made it his town residence for nearly 50 years. He raised thoroughbred horses at his Waccamaw plantation, which was visited in 1791 by President George Washington. The house was inherited by Alston's daughter Mrs. William Bull Pringle, during whose ownership the house was occupied in 1865 as the headquarters of Union Generals Mead and Hatch. The house has continued to be owned and lived in by members of the related Brewton-Motte-Alston-Pringle-Manigault families. (Simons & Lapham, Early Architecture, p. 36-50; Chamberlain & Chamberlain, Southern lnteriors, p. 104-106; Iseley & Cauthen,Charleston Interiors, p. 48-50; Smith & Smith, Dwelling Houses, p. 93-110; Deas, Early Ironwork, p. 40-41; Whiffin, American Architecture, p. 7; Rogers, Charleston in the Age of the Pinckneys, p. 69-70; Ravenel,Architects, p. 49-53; Severens, Southern Architecture, p. 66-68; Stockton, DYKYC, Feb. 17, 1975; Stoney,This is Charleston, p. 61.)
If anyone has a tip as to which Alston Pringle this receipt refers to, let me know! hope you enjoyed your history lesson and your warning to stay away from those mock terrapins!
xoxo
christine
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