Gilded Capon: The Recipe
Crystal is a teacher and an author whose writing is fueled by a love of history and a passion for the food, language and culture of Italy.
This recipe is featured in Gilded Capon
Gilded Capon is a simple and delicious glimpse into our Renaissance past. A capon is an old chicken, and will have a bit of a gamier flavor than a regular chicken. They are not always available (but you can ask your butcher) and chicken is a perfectly good substitute. This recipe for Gilded Capon would also work equally well with other types of fowl. You can adjust the recipe fairly easily depending on the size of the bird.
Ingredients
For the bird:
- 1 capon or chicken
- Salt and pepper, as needed
- 1 shallot, quartered
- 1 large lemon, quartered
- 1 handful fresh thyme
- 1 handful fresh tarragon
- Edible gold dust/powder
- Olive oil to drizzle
For the sauce:
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- Juice from 2 ½ lemons (not from the lemon you stuff the bird with)
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 4 tablespoons pine nuts*, toasted and very finely chopped
- 340 grams (12 ounces) chicken stock
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 2 teaspoons chopped tarragon leaves
*Avoid pine nuts sourced from China, which tend to have an unpleasant aftertaste. Nuts from Turkey, Greece, Italy, or Spain are more expensive but worth the price.
Preparation
- For the bird: Preheat oven to 190°C (375°F). Meanwhile, sprinkle salt into the cavity of the bird and stuff with shallot, lemon, and thyme, and tarragon. Truss (tie up) the bird with kitchen string.
2. Place the bird in a cast-iron skillet or low-sided roasting pan. Salt and pepper the top of the bird, then drizzle olive oil over the skin. Sprinkle with edible gold dust. Tent the bird with foil.
3. Roast for 90 minutes or until the thickest point of the thigh reads 74°C (165°F) on a meat thermometer. After the first hour, remove the foil for the last 30 minutes to brown the skin.
4. Remove the bird from the oven and pan but leave the drippings. Let the bird rest before carving, 10-15 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the sauce.
5. For the sauce: In a small bowl, combine the sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon, and pine nuts. Set aside for the sugar to dissolve.
6. Add chicken stock and butter to the pan of drippings and place over medium-low heat. Simmer until reduced by half. Add sugar/lemon mixture, raise heat to medium, and cook for a few minutes until the sauce begins to thicken. Add the chopped tarragon. Cook for another minute, then remove the pan from the heat. Carve the chicken and serve with the sauce.
Crystal King
Crystal King is the author of In The Garden of Monsters, a food-laden retelling of the Hades and Persephone myth, told from the point of view of a model Salvador Dali brings to Italy’s Sacro Bosco garden in 1948. She is also the author of food-centric novels The Chef’s Secret and Feast of Sorrow, which was long-listed at the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize and designated as a MassBook Awards Must Read. Crystal’s writing is fueled by a love of history and a passion for the food, language, and culture of Italy. You can find her at crystalking.com.
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