A capon (from Latin: cāpō, genitive cāpōnis) is a male chicken that has been castrated or neutered, either physically or chemically, to improve the quality of its flesh for food, and, in some countries like Spain, fattened by forced feeding.
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Vsauce! Kevin here. Go to a restaurant - look at the menu - and then eat it. Molecular Gastronomy is an innovative way of cooking that combines culinary arts with science. As food is prepared and combined -- in what's called a "colloidal system" -- ingredients go through physical and chemical changes. Chefs utilizing Molecular Gastronomy use their artistic and technical abilities to influence the food's transformations. These techniques turn boring, traditional cuisine into a modern sensory experience. By looking at food simply as states of matter - in different types of colloidal systems - foam, solid foam, gel, emulsion and solid emulsion - molecular gastronomists prepare unique dishes like this deconstructed baby corn or this creative take on lemon chicken. And they bring unique tools into the kitchen such as hypodermic syringes for spherification - which involves liquid-filled beads that create gel equivalents of foods ranging from caviar to ravioli, the vacuum machine is used to suck out air from a bag in order to use a technique called sous vide - which slowly cooks the food in heated water to retain moisture or another important tool that they use liquid nitrogen. Robyn Sue Fisher, founder of Smitten Ice Cream in San Francisco wanted to make ice cream as fresh as possible that didn't require a bunch of chemicals to preserve -- and her solution was liquid nitrogen. It's Nitrogen at an extremely low temperature in a liquid state, first liquefied at the Jagiellonian University in 1883 by Polish Physicists Zygmunt Wroblewski (ro-bleh-ski) and Karol Olszewski. By using Liquid Nitrogen, Fisher found that she could rapidly freeze ice cream, allowing her to make each serving fresh right when a customer orders. Chef Homaro Cantu at Moto Restaurant in Chicago makes edible menus. This "bread and butter" menu was one of their first. Cantu's masticable menus include one printed on a salad roll - which after reading the menu, the customer just rolls it up and eats it. For the printing they use a modified inkjet printer with cartridges filled with food-based ink like juiced carrots, tomatoes and purple potatoes. One of Moto's most innovative courses is a play on fried chicken in which noodles and biscuits are made with dehydrated freeze--dried chicken ground into a powder. If you want to experiment with Molecular Gastronomy yourself - the youtube channel Molecule-r Flavors has tutorials anyone can follow with the right ingredients -- like this frozen chocolate wind that uses soy lecithin, which is a natural emulsifier that changes watery solutions into an air-like substance. Or these surprise bubbles that uses calcium lactate and sodium alginate, derived from brown algae, to create spheres. You can also check out their website that offers kits with everything you need to try Molecular Gastronomy techniques at home. Enthusio chefs is another great channel featuring videos like this reverse spherified poached egg that uses xantham gum, a mixture of two calcium salts called gluco, and egg white powder to recreate just the whites of a poached egg. They also make powdered ice cream inside candy strawberries and Milk Milk Milk, where they use milk to make cheese and foam and create this... While to some Molecular Gastronomy could be considered a novelty it does combine science, technology, creativity and sustenance in exciting ways. And really I just kinda want to try strawberry spaghetti - what about cheeseburger spaghetti...? Pizza spaghetti?! And as always thanks for watching.
History
The origins of caponised chickens are contested. They were known in ancient China as well as in ancient Greece and ancient Rome.[1]
An early record of caponisation is found under the Roman Republic: the Lex Faunia of 162 BC forbade fattening hens to conserve grain rations, so the Romans instead castrated roosters, which resulted in a doubling of size.[2]: 305 It was also practiced later throughout medieval times, with gastronomic texts describing capons as preferred poultry since the ordinary fowl of the farmyard was regarded as peasant fare and "popular malice crediting monks with a weakness for capons."[2]: 309
In the early 20th century, France was internationally renowned for maintaining a strong caponisation tradition with widespread and established industries throughout the country.[1]
William Shakespeare mentioned capon in the famous "All the world's a stage" monologue from his play As You Like It (written c.1600). He similarly describes capon as a food of the wealthy. The monologue describes human life as consisting of seven stages, and the fifth stage is a middle-aged man who has reached the point where he has acquired wisdom and wealth. The monologue describes the fifth stage as: "The Justice, In fair round belly, with a good capon lin'd". In addition his character Sir John Falstaff is described as or implied to be fond of capons.
Effects of caponisation
Caponisation is the process of turning a cockerel into a capon. Caponisation can be done by surgically removing the bird's testes, or may also be accomplished through the use of estrogen implants. With either method, the male sex hormones normally present are no longer effective. Caponisation must be done before the rooster matures so that it develops without the influence of male sex hormones.
Capons, due to the lack of the male sex drive, are not as aggressive as normal roosters. This makes capons easier to handle and allows capons to be kept together with other capons since their reduced aggression prevents them from fighting.
The lack of sex hormones results in meat that is less gamey in taste. Capon meat is also more moist, tender and flavorful than that of a cockerel or a hen, which is due not only to the hormonal differences during the capon's development but also because capons are not as active as roosters, which makes their meat more tender and fatty.[3]
Capons develop a smaller head, comb and wattle than those of a normal rooster.
Capons are fairly rare in industrial meat production. Chickens raised for meat are bred and raised so that they mature very quickly. Industrial chickens can be sent to market in as little as five weeks. Capons produced under these conditions will taste very similar to conventional chicken meat, making their production unnecessary.
Specialised production
Capons are produced in France, in several provinces, notably the Gers and Jura regions. They are a speciality of Bresse (Chapon de Bresse), where they have their own appellation to differentiate them from capons from other regions. In Bresse, they are exclusively produced from the Bresse blue foot breed (patte bleue), and fed a certain diet which makes it even more tender than from other regions and breeds, making it a desirable meat.
Capons are also produced in many regions of northern Italy, such as Piedmont, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Emilia-Romagna, and Marche. In the early 20th century, capon was commonly eaten for the main family feast on Christmas in Tuscany and northern Italian regions, which was a rare treat for peasant or working class families.[4][5][6]
In the gastronomy of Spain, capons are usually eaten during the Christmas season in the northern regions. Capons of Vilalba and Lugo are particularly famous and are sold all over the country.
In China, capons are often raised specifically for consumption during Chinese New Year.
Legal status
In the UK physical caponisation was made illegal in 1982 via The Welfare of Livestock (Prohibited Operations) Regulations 1982. This was reinforced in 2007 by The Mutilations (Permitted Procedures) (England) Regulations 2007 which made castration of all domesticated birds illegal. It is not illegal to import castrated animals and capons are available for sale in the UK.[7]
Gallery
See also
References
- ^ a b Rob. R. Slocum; United States. Dept. of Agriculture (1911-05-22). "Historical Sketch". Farmers' Bulletin. Capons and Caponizing. Vol. 452. Animal Husbandman in Poultry Investigations, Bureau of Animal Industry. University of Minnesota: U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 5.
- ^ a b Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat (2009). "The History of Poultry". The History of Food. Translated by Anthea Bell (revised ed.). John Wiley & Sons. pp. 305–15. ISBN 978-1444-30514-2.
- ^ Mrs A Basley (1910). Western poultry book. Mrs. A. Basley. pp. 112–15.
- ^ Carole M. Counihan (2004). Around the Tuscan Table: Food, Family, and Gender in Twentieth Century Florence. Routledge. p. 61. ISBN 9781135939632. Retrieved December 15, 2014.
- ^ Edward Giobbi; Eugenia Giobbi Bone (2005). Italian Family Dining: Recipes, Menus, and Memories of Meals with a Great American Food Family. Rodale. p. 232. ISBN 9781594861260. Retrieved December 15, 2014.
- ^ Linda Civitello (2007). Cuisine and Culture: A History of Food and People (2nd ed.). John Wiley & Sons. p. 265. ISBN 9780471741725.
- ^ "Capons, a traditional alternative to turkey, are banned from the UK for cruelty". 5 December 2021.
External links
Media related to Capon at Wikimedia Commons- "Easy-On" Caponizing Set Surgery instructions from a home kit, published for Sears, Roebuck & Co.
This page was last edited on 15 April 2024, at 10:56