Diamond-Backed Tarrapin

First catch your terrapin. This requires a golden hook if you are not an expert angler in the waters of Chesapeake bay, for the diamond-backed terrapin is an aristocratic denizen of those waters and worth almost his weight in gold to the epicures of the fashionable cafe. This value set upon the terrapin, says the Detroit Free Press, prevents the edible reptile from becoming food for the masses, his scarcity enhancing his worth and making him a more toothsome tid-bit of the ennuled digestion of the professional diner-out.

The diamond-back terrapin is only another name for a small species of turtle, and time was when the colored people of Maryland ate them after roasting them in their shells, and never dreamed of their value as food for a royal menu. Now a terrapin farm is a mine of wealth to its possessor. A true story is told of a poor negro fisherman who chanced upon a nest of diamond-backs near Tangier Island in 1893.In four hours he took out twelve hundred dollars worth and stopped only when too exhausted to work.

Terrapins "in pound" present an interesting but by no means an appetizing appearance. The pound is a place where the fishermen keep the turtles until they are shipped to some city to the markets. There is a prejudice in the minds of the dealers against pound terrapin as losing some of their delicacy when kept from salt water, but only the epicure could distinguish a difference. The farms where they are cultivated are flooded with sea water, so that the little object preserves its delicatessen qualities unimpaired.

There are certain rules understood by those who purchase terrapin. They are careful to observe that the extreme tip or muzzle of the head is not injured, that the head is prettily shaped, small, thin and pointed, and the eyes brilliant. The feet should be small and slender. Those who have seen these same diamond-backs crawling over each other in the windows of fish stores did not perhaps appreciate their great worth. As a Virginia darkey remarked: "Yo' mus' be brung up with 'em to think a heap of 'em." And an old Maryland fisherman said: "Thar ain't nothin' in this world can take the shine out of a real terrapin; still if you ain't got none of them nice critters, you can manage to make a shift with a calf's head. Though it ain't like real terrapin, it's good all the same."

Cooking terrapin properly is such an art that only a chef or a Marylander should be permitted to give instructions. To begin with, the first rule is a challenge to the humane society. "Plunge the terrapin alive into boiling water." Then "boil until the skin and toenails come off." When the rudimentaries and vitals are disposed of the rich sweet meat which is better than chicken or canvas-back duck, or frogs' legs, is stewed and prepared with an affinitive sauce, and a "dash of Maderia" or "a little good sherry," and in one recipe "a pint of pale brandy to which a match shall be set when it is turned over the terrapin," are added to make the delicacy complete.

It is rather hard on the epicure to be told that unless the small bones of the terrapin are left in he will not know whether he is eating the genuine article or not. But it is absolutely true that the only people who can cook it as it demands are the Maryland cooks who learned from the colored people, and their secret of success is to handle it as little as possible, and to serve it from the dish in which it was cooked, thus preserving its native juices and aromas. The dash of wine is an innovation of art.

On the terrapin farms of the Chesapeake a peculiar sport is indulged in by the men called "terrapin racing." The turtles are let loose in a large room, here at one end a hot fire is blazing, protected by a guard. They all begin a scramble for the light and warmth, the men betting on particular ones. They have no continuity of purpose and are likely to branch off in a dozen devious routes, but the terrapin that first puts its nose against the fire guard wins the race.

Terrapin are rated according to their value with a family pedigree tag, which simply gives the name of the state whence they come. First on the list for its terrapin is Chesapeake bay. Next comes Long island. Then Virginia, Charleston and Savannah, Florida, Mobile and the gulf follow. Mississippi and North Carolina and other points south furnish excellent terrapin.

Now for prices. Eighty dollars a dozen is not considered high for choice terrapin at certain seasons and on special occasions. A modest housekeeper saw one crawling over some lobsters in a fish market and out of curiosity inquired the price.

"What time is it?" asked the marketman looking at his watch. "You may have it for $3, but if it was 6 o'clock tonight and I only had that one I should have to charge you more. I expect some in any moment."

The season is just beginning, but it does not reach its height until November and the days of festivity. It lasts until May.