Our Italian Thanksgiving – We Skipped the Turkey and Opted for Capon

Up until I got married, it was traditional in our Italian home to cook a capon rather than turkey on Thanksgiving. .

Capon

For your information, a capon is a castrated young rooster.  Since the capon gets a more diverse feed including free range forage, it is fatter and develops more flavor than a turkey. Being fatter, it is very moist, with very white meat and, best of all, it is self-basting. My parents preferred capon over turkey.







Giblet and liver stuffing for Capon - Cappone Ripieno

Ingredients
½ cup olive oil
1 onion finely chopped
1 cup cooked giblets and livers
1 cup celery chopped
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 teaspoon sage chopped
1 teaspoon thyme chopped
½ cup Parmigiano
½ cup blanched almonds

Cooking Giblet: Simmer the chicken giblets, allowing 1 hour for gizzards and 10 minutes for livers. Chop coarsely and measure. Follow procedure below.

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When my children were old enough to understand, we switched from a capon to a turkey and we also adjusted the stuffing to satisfy everyone’s taste.

Sausage stuffing for Turkey

1 lb. sausage meat
1/4 cup olive oil
1 onion finely chopped
1 cup celery chopped
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 teaspoon sage chopped
1 teaspoon thyme chopped
½ cup Parmigiano

Heat oil in a large skillet, add onion and cook until soft, add broken chunks of sausage meat and brown lightly. (or substitute cooked giblets). Add celery and cook for 10 minutes in low heat. Remove from heat, add egg and Parmigiano and mix well.

Roasted turkey