What Exactly is a Capon?

According to Julia it is a chicken 5 1/2 to 7 pounds. I generally refer to those as simply a large chicken. I have tried to make her recipe for roasting one before but was stymied by the fact that the chicken I had intended to roast turned out to be cut-up, meaning it could not be trussed, and hence, could not be roasted.

She begins by directing the cook to remove the wishbone, but I couldn't figure that part of it out, so I proceeded to the "first thrust". This involved inserting the huge trussing needle, in this case a carpet needle, through the carcass under the knee and out the other side. This is followed by turning the wings 'akimbo' (wasn't sure exactly what that meant) and spearing both of them plus the neck skin and ending up where you originally started at the first knee, then tie the two ends together. The next and final thrust begins at the ankle end of one leg, proceeds through the end of the breast bone and continues on through the other ankle, circles back through the tail and then is tied with the beginning end. In both cases the intent is to close cavity openings and secure the chicken's limbs to his body to prevent those parts from drying out during the roasting.

Next the skin is massaged with butter and then and put into a 450 degree oven, breast side up. After 10 minutes turn him onto his right side and salt. In another 10 minutes baste and then turn him onto his left side. Ten minutes later baste again and lower the temperature to 350 degrees. In another ten baste again and ten later toss into the bottom of the pan a chopped onion and carrot while you are basting. In ten more return the guy to his original position, salt, baste, and continue basting every ten minutes until his thighs are tender when pressed, legs move easily in their sockets, and his juices are yellow when he is picked up and drained. Then let him rest 20 minutes before carving to allow the juices to retreat back into the flesh. Of course, during his rest period you should throw a tablespoon or two of diced shallots into the roasting pan and saute with a half cup each of chicken broth and white wine, letting it reduce while scraping up the goodness left from the roasting. This sauce can be made perfect by adding a couple of tablespoons of butter and served along with the carved bird.

Julia then begins a detailed description of how to properly carve a capon. But by then I had had enough-it was time to eat. Unfortunately she would not allow me to perform my 'is it actually done' test, which is to stab him deep in the thigh with a fork and watch to be sure that all the juices that run out are clear. If I had done that I would have seen that not all the juices were clear and I would have put that guy back in the oven for ten minutes. But Julia would see this as a sacriligious waste of precious juice, and since I am doing a year of Julia, I relied on her testing methods, which are frankly less accurate.

The result was that I felt some of the meat was a bit short of done and I refused to eat it. The Main Eater charged on fearlessly with no ill effects whatsoever.

Beyond that, this was a huge amount of work and fussing for precious little benefit. I believe that a chicken can be washed, salt and peppered in the cavity, baked for an hour at 350 degrees, stabbed in the thigh to confirm doneness, and then eaten. All this trussing, basting, worrying and carving is time that can be better spent doing almost anything else.


The Bottom Line
To Roast a Large Chicken or Capon: Thumbs Down