Turtle soup is a great delicacy in Louisiana.
The flavor of the turtle meat is both delicate and intense; there are supposedly seven distinct flavors of meat within the turtle.
Commander's Palace Restaurant, in New Orleans' Garden District, is famous for its turtle soup -- it's a dark, rich, thick, stew-type dish, filling enough to be a meal in itself.
More often, though, it's the first bookend of a great meal that's finished by a fantastic dessert.
Recipe Source: Commander's Palace Restaurant, in New Orleans' Garden District
Turtle is generally not available in supermarkets around the country. Reasonable substitutes would include lobster, shrimp, crab, or even alligator meat.
For clarity, the turtles used in Turtle Soup are farm raised terrapins and not sea turtles.