• by Filippo Bartolotta 22.12.2011 featured in Italian here: http://www.gazzettagastronomica.it/2011/il-cappone-in-galantina-la-ricetta/

After assisting Benedetta Vitali of the famous Florentine restaurant Lo Zibibbo  with a long and intense day of pre-Christmas cooking, I was left with this traditional recipe to share. Its worth mentioning that the preparation time is fairly lengthy,  but in saying that – the level of expertise required is actually not so high.The hardest part of the preparation is the deboning, which you might prefer to delegate to your butcher! Preparation of the broth, including the filling, tying and cooking processes requires around three hours. On top of  this is the 12 hours fridge time required to compact the cappone and give it the right form. The result however,makes an afternoon’s work well worth it!

PS: If you do a quick online search for chicken or cappone in aspic you will pull up some shocking atrocities, with recipes that instead of tying the cappone will recommend that you put it in a tube of oil! I’m curious to see the result if anyone has tried this technique … without the can of course!

Cappone Benedetta Vitali

The Broth

In a large saucepan filled with cold water add all the herbs: celery, carrots, tomatoes and parsley. Cook the onions on high heat, burning them slightly. Add cloves and cinnamon. Add the Veal leg, the beef bones and those of the cappone. Add salt and peppercorns that have been crushed with a meat pounder.
The Filling
With a sharp knife cut the flesh from the inside of the cappone breasts, which are in general quite big. Of this, a part will be ground  up along with other meat for the stuffing and some will be used to make cappelleti (in cappone broth, of course.)

Grind the breast meat together with sirloins of beef, pork fillets and sausage meat.
Meanwhile, mix the ground meat with a slice of mortadella cut into small cubes and add the bread crumbs soaked well in milk. Mix everything with a whole egg, parmesan reggiano cheese, a pinch of nutmeg, some pistachio nuts and slices of black truffle. Don’t forget the salt in the dough!

Il Cappone

Place the ready cappone filled, tied wrapped on a napkin, and closed with string into the already boiling broth so that the temperature closes the cappone on the outside and it does not lose moisture. Let it cook for 35 minutes. Remove from the broth and allow to drain for about 1 / 2 hour. When the liquid is completely drained place the cappone on a baking sheet and put a weight on top that will compact it nicely. Leave overnight in the refrigerator with the weight on top.

The Jelly

Strain the broth, put it back in a steel pot and when it boils, pour in the  white of  a beaten egg constantly whisking it. The egg will thicken capturing all the impurities and residues of the broth, making it transparent and clear. Now remove the white with a skimmer. Wait for it to cool and keep it in refrigerator in small molds or containers that will allow you to cut it into cubes or slices as you like. The foot should ensure a good jelly which is necessary to serve the ‘Aspic of Cappone’, but if you want a more aesthetically appealing result in extremis add 3 sheets of gelatin soaked in cold water and squeeze for every liter of broth still hot.

When the Cappone is cold and compact, slice finely and garnish with  gelatin cubes. Before serving let the Cappone come down to room temperature. Decorate with some grated black truffle!

Ingredients:

• 1 Whole Capon 3kg
• 200g minced beef
• 200g minced pork
• 1 slice mortadella
• 200ml Milk
• 1 Italian Sausage Skinned
• 8 slices Bread
• 100g Grated Parmesan Reggiano
• 1 Egg
• 1/8 teaspoon Grated Nutmeg
• 50 g toasted pistachio nuts
• Salt and pepper
• black truffle

For the Broth

1 Veal foot( broken in half)
Beef bones
1 kg meat cuts for soup
4 red onions
3 carrots, 3 sticks of celery, 3 cloves

Cinnamon stick

5/6 tomatoes

Parsley

Tags: Benedetta Vitali, cappone, famous chef Florence, food Tuscany, Lo Zibibbo, traditional italian recipe, Zibibbo Restaurant