Published on : 17 June 20203 min reading time
Traditionally eaten at Christmas, capon is delicious with vegetables and juice. How to cook a capon? It requires patience and attention to reveal its flavours and remain soft. Here are our tips for perfect baking!
Tips for cooking capon
This young rooster is easily differentiated from the chicken, because it has no ridge on its head. Fertilized for months, it is appreciated for its tender and soft flesh.
Turn to a labelled poultry to find out how long it has been reared.
Before cooking your capon, tie it with string to tie the legs.
If you wish, it is possible to cut off the head.
Baking the capon in the oven
As with turkey, it is important to take the meat out of the refrigerator before cooking it. Here are some other tips for cooking capon in the oven.
Next steps
Remove the capon two hours before and leave it at room temperature.
You can choose to stuff it (for a spectacular version, add foie gras, breadcrumbs, parsley, shallots, walnut kernels and bacon to your ground meat).
Using a brush, cover the capon with melted butter, then place it in a dish with water and wine.
Put your oven on 150°C and put your dish in the oven.
Count 3 hours of cooking time for a capon weighing 3 kilos.
Don’t forget to baste it every half hour to keep the meat tender.
Poaching a capon
Some cooks swear by poached food. It preserves the tenderness of the meat, while exacerbating the aromas. You can choose to poach your capon for half an hour, then finish cooking in the oven. Here are a few recommendations:
Choose a vegetable, chicken or veal broth according to your taste.
Then place the poultry in a cloth or plastic film so that the fat does not escape.
Once this step is completed, put the poultry in the oven at 220°C for 20 minutes, then at 150°C to finish.
Be aware that some purists recommend placing the capon in a broth for more than 10 hours before cooking it to get an extra melting flesh!
How do you know if the capon is cooked?
If it takes an average of 2h30 to 3 hours of cooking time for the capon to be cooked, it is always best to check. There is a very simple trick to do this: Prick the thigh at the joint.
If the juice that flows out is clear, your capon is cooked. If it is pink, put it back in the oven for a few minutes.