For a lot of people, cooking has been a healthy hobby for them. It may be somehow therapeutic because they can get creative, plus it will make others happy as well. We developed many ways of cooking, how we plan meals, and what ingredients we should use.
If you plan to cook a meal suitable for two, or a dinner get-together of 10, and are in a dilemma of choosing between chicken or turkey, then this article about capon is the one you’re looking for.
Get to Know What a Capon is
Here is a quick guide to discuss what is a capon and show some tips on how to cook them to add to your recipes.
Forget about your traditional choices between chicken or turkey and go for something extravagant by going for the capon as an alternative. Capon is a more conventional choice as it is best cooked roasted.
Capon is a meatier and tender type of chicken. A capon is a rooster, castrated before reaching sexual maturity and then fed with porridge and milk. It takes a long time to raise capons, and the procedure of raising capons might take a lot of effort to improve the quality of its flesh for food. Capons are pricier than regular chickens and turkeys because of the procedure and cost of the longer time to feed them.
The reason why capon meat is tender and the juicer is because of the absence of sex hormones that causes a difference in terms of taste and texture. The lack of sex hormones allows more fat to focus on the bird’s muscles, making them tender and flavorful. Castration makes capons less aggressive comparatively. You don’t have to stress about pairing chickens together with capons as they are friendly and less energetic than other poultry.
How to Easily Cook Capon
Typically, capons are suitable for roasting. Due to their large size, roasting a capon would be the perfect way to cook it, although you can prepare a capon like any chicken or turkey dish. You can easily have your capon well seasoned and slide them right to your griller. However, the roasting time of the capon might take longer.
If you aim for a sophisticated recipe with a capon, braising it would also be one of the best ways to cook it. The capon’s meat is tougher than any poultry meat, which is also a good cooking technique in preparing capon.
Easy Roast Capon Recipe That You Should Try
Capons are roasted to perfection as it is all-natural, free-range poultry that has been fed with a rich diet of milk and porridge without added antibiotics and growth stimulants. Roast capon is also one of the best recipes for your holiday dinner parties. Here are some steps on how to prepare and roast capon:
- Before roasting, store your capon to room temperature.
- Season the capon well and stuff it with aromatics with any choice that you want, like parsley, onion, and garlic.
- Truss your capon with your choice of kitchen twine.
- Liberally rub the capon’s skin with your choice of olive oil and sprinkle it with salt and pepper.
- You may now start roasting the seasoned capon at 450°F. To avoid the capon getting burnt, lower the heat to 350°F and baste it with your choice of sauce or oil every 10 minutes.
- Let rest before carving or serving.
Why You Should Prefer Capon Over Other Poultry Meat
We all know that the best poultry served during occasions such as Thanksgiving would be chicken and turkey. However, many people are missing out on purchasing and cooking capon with its health benefits and qualities.
Capons are more tender and flavorful than other poultry because of the high-fat content that they retain even after roasting. Due to caponization, the stored-up fat can keep meat juicier thanks to the hormonal changes made. Capons are also larger in size compared to an average chicken. When a capon reaches maturity, it usually weighs around 6 to 15 pounds – imagine the size of that when roasted! A 7-pound capon can be carved and served to a minimum of 6 and a maximum of 8 servings.
Typically, average chicken meat becomes hard when you overcook it. It does not retain the flavor of the chicken, especially when poultries are stimulated with growth stimulants and antibiotics.
If you plan on cooking your freshly purchased capon, you should refrigerate it overnight before roasting. Take it out 30 minutes before roasting so that you won’t have a hard time seasoning and stuffing the capon. Always check for the expiry date of the poultry before buying for you to cook your capon fresh and efficiently flavorful.
Conclusion
Your family and loved ones will definitely love this recipe that we shared. Now that you know capon is much meatier and tender compared to an average chicken, you will most likely cook capon on your fancy meal every once in a while. Treat yourself and your loved ones to a fancy dinner of roasted capon during this pandemic and follow our easy steps!