Capon Recipe
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Recipe type: Holiday meat dish
Cuisine: French
Serves: 8
Ingredients
  • 1 capon, around 3 kilos (6-7 lbs)
  • 2 tablespoons melted butter
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • salt, pepper, and Herbes de Provence for seasoning
  • 1 cup white wine
  • 2 cups water
  • Stuffing:
  • 50 grams bacon (4-5 pieces)
  • 120 grams white bread, toasted
  • enough milk to wet the bread
  • 200 grams ground sausage (.25 lbs)
  • zest from a lemon
  • 1 shallot
  • 1 onion
  • 20 grams parsley
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tablespoon cognac (I used 2 tablespoons alcohol-free white wine)
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon white pepper
  • 8 chestnuts
  • Cream - ⅛ or ¼ cup to make the gravy
  • A needle and thread
Instructions
  1. Take the capon out of the refrigerator 2 hours in advance. Cut the strings.
  2. A half-hour before you're ready to serve, massage the capon, inside and out with butter and olive oil, then salt and pepper generously, and sprinkle with herbes de Provence.
  3. Preheat the oven to 170°C or 325°F and make the stuffing.
  4. Fry the bacon and toast the bread.
  5. Crumble the bread (I used a Cuisinart).
  6. Pour enough milk to wet the bread - a couple tablespoons should do it.
  7. Mince the onion and shallot and add those and the cooked bacon to the bread crumbs.
  8. Add to the bread mix the raw ground sausage, chopped parsley, 2 eggs, cognac or wine, salt and pepper, lemon zest. Mix that thoroughly with your fingers.
  9. Add the 8 chopped, cooked chestnuts. (Canned is fine).
  10. Stuff it inside the capon and sew the opening shut.
  11. Add a cup of wine and 2 cups water to the bottom of the pan.
  12. Cook at 170° for one hour.
  13. Then cook at 150°C (300°F) for 2 hours.
  14. Throughout the three hours' cooking, take the capon out every 20 to 30 minutes to pour the juice from the bottom of the pan over the top.
  15. When it's done, snip the threads you used to sew the capon shut and remove them.
  16. Take all the drippings from the pan and mix about ⅛ or ¼ cup heavy cream. Heat in a saucepan to form a gravy, 5 minutes or so.
Recipe by A Lady In France at https://aladyinfrance.com/capon-recipe/