Cappy's grand finale

This post is a tribute to Cappy the Gold Laced Wyandotte, hatched 20 January 2015.  For a cockerel who had absolutely no future in the breeding pen, he has had quite the good life!  I attempted to caponize him back in April ... in fact, I truly thought he was my first capon.  As a believed-capon, he was nanny to two batches of cockerels.  It was only last month that his hormones returned in full force, and it was obvious he was a slip.  So, Friday morning we slaughtered him.  We let his carcass rest in the back refrigerator, then brined him all day and night Sunday.  Hubby lit the smoker firebox yesterday afternoon while I seasoned: a light sprinkle of salt, black pepper, a very light sprinkle of cayenne pepper, then slices of a zested orange.

By 5:30 PM the smoking was rudely interrupted when the sky opened up into what Lynn described as "a monsoon" when she stopped by to pick up Maria's eggs to sell.  We put Cappy in the oven at 350F, but all we had last night were the wings, as the wonderful aroma was just about driving us crazy.  Great, most excellent flavor, but the meat had not cooked quite long enough.

Today I snapped a pic before covering Cappy up with some foil and putting him back into the oven, this time at 250F for a couple hours.

Cappy the capon slip,
smoked and seasoned and ready for the final roast

The breast meat was a tad dry, but that was probably because we didn't baste him.  Hubby thinks we should use the drippings for either a gravy or a sauce.  The flavor is fantastic!  We have more slips, so we can experiment to see if it's a matter of the smoking, the seasoning, the bird being older, or a combination of those things.  We'll also vary cooking factors like basting or wrapping in foil longer.

We are really hoping Uno is a full capon, because we both want to roast a fine capon for one of the winter holidays!