How to Clean a Snapping Turtle for Soup
- 1). Put on a pair of leather gloves before you start cleaning the snapping turtle. Use leather gloves instead of cloth to protect your hands from the turtle's claws and beak.
- 2). Grab the bottom of the turtle's mouth with a pair of pliers or vice grips and extend the head as far as it will go. Next, cut the head off at the base of the jaw with either a sharp knife or a hand saw. You may need to twist the head a little while cutting it. Make sure you put the head where kids can't get to it because its beak will open and close for a while after its dead.
- 3). Grip a long piece of wire with the pliers and poke it through the turtle's tail. Hang the wire from a tree limb and leave the turtle hanging upside down for a while so the blood will drain out. When there's no more blood coming out of the turtle, take it down and rinse it with water. You can also just hold the turtle upside down or lay it where its neck is pointing down to let the blood run out.
- 4). Remove the feet by cutting through the leg joints, like you'd cut a chicken up and then cut off the tail. Remember to be careful of the claws on the snapping turtle's feet. You can dip the turtle in a pot of boiling water and scrub it with a brush to get some of the dirt off of it.
- 5). Cut the skin all the way around the shell with a sharp knife, separating the turtle from its shell. On the underside of the turtle is a belly plate outlined with gristle. Follow the gristle with a sharp knife and cut the belly plate loose. Next, you can remove the turtle from its shell or leave it there while you skin it. Your snapping turtle is now ready for turtle soup.
Source...