Food Friday: Colonial Dames Turtle Soup

From the collection of Gena Philibert-Ortega

 I'm very fortunate. Readers and others know of my interest in community cookbooks and offer gifts to me from their own collections or ones they find on their book buying trips. Reader Jackie has gifted me a fabulous community cookbook entitled, To a King's Taste. Recipes collected by The National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the State of Louisiana. Originally printed in 1952, this edition is from the seventh printing in 1963.

So maybe you are asking, "who are the Colonial Dames?" You can read more about their society and how to join on their website. (Just as a side note, they have a great page about American samplers on their site.) You can also peruse a 1902 membership directory and much more from the Society on Google Books.

To a King's Taste is a wonderful  example of how great community cookbooks are. Names? Oh, there are names. Just take a look at this two page list of names of Mardi Gras Kings and Queens starting in 1872 and ending in 1963. Notice that the women's maiden names are followed with their married names.

From the collection of Gena Philibert-Ortega

From the collection of Gena Philibert-Ortega

So since this is a Louisiana cookbook and there were many interesting recipes, I decided to spotlight one of the Turtle Soup recipes. Notice that the recipe below it is for the "mock" version.

From the collection of Gena Philibert-Ortega