Rieker's Meats

For light, brothy, delicious turtle soup without the goop, check out Rieker's Prime Meats.

... But I've recently discovered a more reliable source (an open secret for years in Fox Chase) at Rieker's Prime Meats, the German butcher shop known for its unparalleled line of mettwurst and ravioli-like maultaschen, wieners and imported sauerkraut. The crawl on the electronic sign in the parking lot says "Try Marcus' Famous Snapper Soup!"

I already had (they carry it at the Dutch Country Meats counter in the Reading Terminal Market) which was why I'd come. It is an amber-colored soup, a touch of acidity brightening it, the seasoning traditional, the sherry front and center -- the flavor neither fish nor fowl, but slightly mysterious.

"Marcus" would be Marcus Rieker, son of founding father Walter Rieker. He slogged out of the bratwurst-making room in his white boots to tell me the story: The recipe, he said, came to him from Reinhold Bader, a cook who'd worked with Rolf Stubenrauch, who'd made it at a bygone Schmidt's Brewery tavern.

Instead of a turtle stock, it begins with a stock of beef bones supplemented with pieces of chicken breast. So right off the bat there is a rich, rather untraditional beef-chicken broth.

The flavor is built with tomato paste, then the farmed snapper meat from Maryland, shredded chicken, carrots, celery, garlic, a house-ground blend of clove, allspice, bay, savory and coriander seed. Then hard-cooked eggs, a pour of sherry, a little cornstarch, then at the end, more sherry so its flavor is pronounced.

It is an extraordinary soup, wholly delicious, though purists may debate its authenticity.

To those I would note that turtle soup was once made with sea turtles, then marsh-dwelling terrapins, and only when those grew scarce, the ornery, lowlife snapper.

Turkey has long been an extender. Or even halibut cheeks. So it is not a soup that stands on ceremony. Nor need it be, as Marcus Rieker again has proven, a soup in which one can stand a spoon.