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Roasted Capon with Cream Stuffing
Truss a capon for roasting. Boil the liver, and mince it as finely as possible. Pour a little cream over 1 cupful of finely grated bread crumbs. Let them soak for half an hour. Shred finely 4 ounces of suet, 1 teaspoonful of scalded parsley, and 4 or 5 button mushrooms cut small and fried. Mix these well together with a little pepper and salt, and add the yolks of 2 eggs. Stuff the capon with the mixture, and roast in a hot oven, basting continually. Serve with sauce flavored with chopped gherkins. Time to roast, one hour. Sufficient for four or five persons.
A Victorian-style roast with a rich forcemeat stuffing. The main thing to fix is the roasting time, which is far too short for a bird of this size by modern standards.
- The birdA capon is a castrated cockerel, fattened for tender, well-marbled flesh; few butchers stock them now, though they still turn up seasonally. A good 5-7 lb roasting chicken is the practical substitute.
- Roasting time is the hingeOne hour will not bring a capon-sized bird to a safe temperature. Roast until the thickest part of the thigh reads 165F on an instant-read thermometer, which for a 6 lb bird usually means about 1 1/2 to 2 hours, and rest it 15 minutes before carving. Stuffing inside the cavity must reach 165F as well, which is the usual argument for baking the forcemeat separately in a dish.
- "A hot oven"Read this as 425-450F. A common modern approach is to start at 425F for 20 minutes to set the skin, then drop to 350F for the remainder rather than basting continually at high heat.
- SuetFour ounces of beef suet is the fat that keeps this stuffing moist. Fresh suet from a butcher should be shredded on a coarse grater while cold; packaged shredded suet is fine. Cold unsalted butter or ground pork fat will stand in, with a slightly softer result.
- Scalded parsleyThis means parsley dropped briefly into boiling water, then drained and chopped, which sets the color and takes the raw edge off. A teaspoonful refers to the chopped herb, not a bunch.
- Crumbs and creamOne cup of fine dry crumbs takes roughly 1/3 to 1/2 cup of cream to soak evenly; the original leaves the quantity to judgment. The mixture should hold together when pressed, not slump.
- The liverSimmer the liver 5-8 minutes until firm and just cooked through, then cool it before mincing, or it will smear rather than crumble.
- The sauceNo base is specified. A white sauce, a thickened gravy, or the pan juices would all fit the period's usage, with chopped gherkins stirred in off the heat so they keep their bite.
- YieldFour or five as written, which suits a smaller bird; a 6-7 lb chicken will serve six comfortably.