Capon Freamunde style

Capon Freamunde style gastronomic week

The gastronomic week started in 2006 and it has the support of several county restaurants. It has been extended to two weeks due to massive demand.
One of the week’s highlights it is on 12th December with the Capon Freamunde Style Gastronomic Contest / Dinner.

Capon Freamunde Style Gastronomic Contest / Dinner.

The competing restaurants submit their capon to the jury appreciation. The winner is announced later during the dinner and presented with the corresponding prize. In the Gala Dinner participate a large number of leading figures in wide-ranging fields, who seize the opportunity to taste such a dear delicacy.
It is also a highlight for the promotion of the dish that charms connoisseurs. The product is currently been submitted to IGP (Protected Geographical Label) process.
The popular saying states that “Do frango capão a perna, e da galinha o peito – From capon the
leg and from the chicken the chest. It is excellent roasted, both with or without stuffing and it has been gathering famous connoisseurs. The writer Camilo Castelo Branco, author of Amor de Perdição (1862) (Love of Perdition) recommended it slightly blazed with aged brandy and also a crunchy crust.

Capon’s history

Capon’s origin goes back to roman times. The word is that Consul Caio Canio was sleep deprived due to the rooster’s crowing. Hence he managed to pass a law in senate prohibiting the existence of these animals within city limits.

Once the people were deprived of the satisfaction of eating this type of poultry meat, they soon came up with an ingenious way of turning the situation around – castrating the roosters. The capon began to emerge, a sapid eunuch which nobility and refinement became comparable to pheasant, partridge and woodcock.
It is said that castration brought crowing to an end, however to compensate they started eating compulsively and fattening. Yet when they were butchered they proved to be sublime delicacies. Romans realized though that a sooner castration would improve the meat’s flavour.

From Romans until today this tradition and process enriched the region’s gastronomy by adding a new sublime delicacy.
Several authors referred the capon as a “King’s feast”, as it is the case of Gil Vicente, D.Francisco Manuel de Melo, Camilo Castelo Branco and Eça de Queirós.
Nevertheless to indulge yourself with a sublime royal banquet it must be prepared “à Freamunde” (Freamunde Style).
Along with nutritional richness and a delicate flavour, capon’s origins belong to the region’s heritage.


Capon’s Fair / Saint Lucy’s Fair

On 3rd October 1719 King João V founded the fair through royal provision, “registered at the Major Chancellery of the Court and Kingdom in the register of trades page forty-eight; Western Lisbon, November Second, Sixteen Nineteen (…)”
Some historians make reference to the fact of it taking place in the XV century. Nowadays the Capon’s Fair still happens in Freamunde on 13th October, the very same date of the catholic festivities of Saint Lucy, protector of sight. The alleged drive of thousands of outsiders to Freamunde is the purchase of capons as well as the faith and devotion to Saint Lucy at Saint Anthony chapel, same precinct as the fair.
For the bohemian tradition dictates them to be the first customers at the well-known stand of the “Festas Sebastianas”(major city party held in July in honour of Saint Sebastian) to have “Rojões”(fried chops of pork loin), pork steaks and the new red“verde”wine, a naturally sparkling wine from the latest harvest of the nearby vineyards.
The fair holds the election of the best “Living Capon”. It is another approach to the poultry’s promotion and its particularities. If the capon doesn´t show its defining characteristics, it means that he hadn´t been correctly castrated, and it is pejoratively called “Rinchão”.

Partners

AJAF- Associação Juvenil ao Futuro

Foundation: 14th July 1992
Aims: Promote social and cultural initiatives. It is important to point out that AJAF was the mentor of the Gastronomic Contest / Gala Dinner and the first major booster of the event.

Associação de Criadores de Capão de Freamunde (Freamunde Capon Farmers Association)

Foundation: 29 October 1999
Aims: Promote and advertise capon’s authenticity.
The association battled for the Process of Capon’s Certification as IGP (Protected Geographical Label), completed in January 2011. Beyond Animal Identification by the farmer at the castration time, the association also takes responsibility in maintaining the livestock tracking records updated.

Brotherhood of the Capon

Foundation: 13 December 2001

Apparel: It consists of a black ribbed burgundy cape and a hat in the same colour with a capon’s feather.

Insignia: A large yellow ribbon with a zipper containing the brotherhood’s medallion.

Aims: Defend and publicize the authenticity of the real Capon Freamunde Style recipe not opposing though the evolution of other variants.