France This Way...the blog!!

Last year we had capon for christmas dinner instead of turkey. Capon is extremely common and popular in France, and in fact was also much tastier than most turkey. So we have bought another one this year, as do many French families.

Being unclear what capon is, apart from vague references to ‘male chicken’ I looked it up. I learned that a capon is a cockerel that is castrated when it is a few weeks old – a process known as caponisation.

What I also discovered is that caponisation is illegal in the United Kingdom on animal welfare grounds, although selling capons themselves is not illegal. So it’s alright to import the birds – from France perhaps – and sell them in the UK.

Whether or not I should be enjoying my christmas capon (don’t worry, I will) how does a law like this come about? Either ban it or don’t ban it, I’m not bothered, but to say it’s alright as long as someone else has done ‘the dirty work’ seems illogical. In any case, if you’re interested capon is much less dry than turkey, and tastier, and needs much less basting.

Foie gras is common as a starter, but is my memory deceiving me, or is foie gras also illegal to prepare but legal to buy in the UK? Oysters are apparently eaten ‘en famille’ after midnight mass, but I’m not a big church goer at the best of times…and have never quite seen the appeal of oysters anyway.

Mrs B might make us eat ‘boudin noir’ for breakfast – being brought up in Yorkshire she has a hankering for black pudding, the English cousin of boudin noir. Boudin noir is made from the blood and neck meat of a recently slaughtered pig. Yummy!

The main thing I miss at Christmas lunch in France is traditional Christmas pudding, and I haven’t yet found anything remotely close to take its place, but I’m working my way through the chocolate logs in the hope of finding a suitable substitute. I haven’t started testing the impressive ice cream creations yet, but there are still a few days left.

Still, given the poor state of my teeth, I should be pleased that I don’t have to risk biting on a sixpence that has been hidden in a christmas pudding and watching my fillings fall out on the dinner table.