Capon

Our traditional Christmas bird is a pintade - Guinea Fowl. This year we went for something slightly different and had a capon - a castrated male chicken, a practice that enhances their growth and meat quality.

The Janzé capon is a high value product from Brittany, renowned for its tender meat. The IGP rules say they must be free-range birds, raised for a minimum of 150 days on a diet of OGM (genetically modified) free grain, and for the last 3 weeks they are "watered" only with milk. 

The breed has an interesting history: famous in the 19th century but almost extinct by the 1980s. It was revived from individuals in an eco-museum near Rennes and reintroduced to farms. They're good fliers, and since 2016 have been put to work in cider apple orchards as a pest control measure.

As a meal they are excellent - really tasty, and even the white meat is moist. I enjoyed our dinner, but I'm not sure we needed the extra meat a capon gives, although it did make an excellent chicken noodle soup two days later. We'll try a Janzé chicken next time they're on special.