[Sca-cooks] RE: capon

[Weems, Lora]

No, a capon is a gelded bird, and most of the roasting birds nowadays
are either hens or cross-bred young cockbirds, bred for quick weight gain.

The testicles of a chicken are inside the cavity, between the lungs
and kidneys.  To caponize a rooster you make a small incision in the
mid-part of the back and take a special tool to remove the testicles.

This is done to both make the bird bigger, fatter, and more flavorful,
like a hen, and less aggressive.  The Romans were the first to caponize
birds
on a regular basis, because it was not legal to butcher young hens.

A capon can be the size of a small turkey.

You can get them in specialty shops, but they are not common anymore.

Leofwynn

Message: 12
Date: Sun, 28 Apr 2002 18:03:15 -0400
From: A F Murphy <afmmurphy at earthlink.net>
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] RE:capon-neck sausage
Reply-To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org

Wouldn't your basic roasting chicken be a capon? We just don't usually
call it that any more. And they come with the neck in the giblets, don't
they? (Haven't roasted a chicken for a while, getting fuzzy on what is
included.)

Anne