“Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all.”

Harriet Van Horne

I recently discovered that I have contracted Alpha Gal. For those who are not yet familiar with this term, it is a tick-borne allergic condition where the body reacts to a sugar molecule called alpha-gal, found in most mammalian meats (beef, pork, lamb, etc) and some other products derived from mammals such as dairy products and gelatin. Even the fumes from cooking mammalian meats can trigger some people with Alpha Gal. Symptoms can range from mild to severe, including hives, GI symptoms, and anaphylaxis. There is currently no cure, and management focuses on strict avoidance of alpha-gal containing foods and products. 

I seem to be fine with dairy products (thank you, Jesus!) because I don’t know what I would do if I couldn’t have my delicious farm fresh milk and other dairy products. However, I have never had food allergies before so I am not accustomed to diet restrictions or food substitutions and this has opened up a whole new opportunity to experiment with different sources of protein and new recipes. In the process, I have discovered some new foods and recipes that I really enjoy!

For example, just yesterday I made Pineapple Turkey burgers and used my Honey Oatmeal sourdough as “buns” and honestly, I have never enjoyed a burger so much! It was delicious! My 4 year old twins really liked them as well! It is always gratifying to hear them say, “This is the best food ever – you better save this recipe!” So, here it is:

Another simple, yet delicious, recipe I have discovered is Oven Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Chickpeas. While my daughter inhaled the sweet potatoes and left most of the chickpeas behind, my son and I thought the entire dish was absolutely mouthwatering and just the three of us ate the entire pan straight out of the oven. My husband doesn’t even realize what he missed out on yet. I will definitely be making this one again:

There is one recipe that I haven’t been able to fix since I contracted Alpha Gal. In fact, I haven’t been able to fix it in several years. It requires an ingredient that you can’t just go get anywhere. An ingredient that many people don’t even realize is edible. Not just edible, but delicious! And it is one of the few meats that I am still able to eat because it does not come from a mammal. I am talking about the common snapping turtle.

The common snapping turtle can be harvested year round in Missouri and has been one of our family’s favorite meats since we first tried it. It DOES have to be done correctly though. I have heard that it can be awful when handled incorrectly. The way we have done it is to capture mature snapping turtles ALIVE. Make sure you are confident in your identification because Alligator snapping turtles are protected. It is only the common snapping turtles that are legal to harvest. Once you have your mature common snapping turtle, put it in a big tank with some water and make sure it has some shade available if it is hot out. You will want to keep them in there, alive and happy, until they flush out. We kept ours for a minimum of 3 weeks and one we had for about 6 weeks (because we couldn’t seem to get around to processing him). At first, you will need to drain the water often, probably daily, because the whole point of keeping them is to flush them out and the water will cloud up quickly in the beginning. The longer you have them, the more flushed out their system will be and the less often you will need to refresh their water. Just make sure the water is staying pretty clear.

While the turtle is flushing out, you can feed them kitchen scraps or stuff you clean out of your freezer, etc. They are opportunistic omnivores so they will eat just about anything they can get in their mouths. Once the water in their tank is staying clear, and you are ready to process them, it is time for the next step. (Trigger warning: if you don’t like home butchering, you will want to stop reading now.)

You will want to be careful with the next part because snapping turtles can and will bite hard and fast. The conservation department will tell you that you can just cut the turtle’s head off to start the process. I would advise against this in the interest of helping you keep your fingers. They may seem almost domesticated after keeping and feeding them for weeks but in the interest of safety, I will share our process that we have used several times with good results.

We start by shooting the turtle in the head so the end is instantaneous and we don’t get bitten. Then, using pliers on the mouth to stretch the neck out, cut the head off as close to the back of the skull as possible because the neck is good meat that you will want to save. Hang upside down to bleed out for several hours. {*Note: Just so you aren’t taken by surprise like I was the first time, turtle hearts can continue to beat for HOURS after they die, even without their head. Their body can also move after death as well which is why you want to remove the head using pliers even after shooting it (so you don’t get bitten). It is disconcerting but it is just the way their nervous system operates.} Once it is bled out, start with skinning the legs and then use a knife to cut the bottom shell (plastron) away. You can then easily gut it and then cut all your meat out of the top shell, cutting away the yellow fat. We leave the bones in and soak in salt water overnight. It can then be cooked straight away or it will keep well if frozen in water, which was our chosen method. Are you ready for a tender, flavorful recipe?

Now, I realize turtle isn’t a common dish these days, but turtle meat has been consumed in some cultures historically and continues to be a delicacy in certain regions even today. I don’t really understand why more people don’t eat them, to be honest. Common snapping turtles are easy to catch when they are on land moving between bodies of water. And while I think they have every right to be here and they are an important part of our ecosystem, there are plenty of them around and I know a lot of people who kill them, just because they don’t want them around. Why not take advantage of a source of melt-in-your-mouth protein that you don’t even have to buy?

So, don’t mind me over here keeping an eye out for big, grumpy turtles while bustling around cooking new and different things with abandon!

What are some of your favorite recipes that may not be mainstream? Tell me in the comments!