What's the difference between pargiyot/capons/dark cutlets?

ra_mom

Thu, Mar 14 2024, 9:47 am

amother OP wrote:

What's the difference between pargiyot, capons, and dark chicken cultets?
Are they all the same thing?
Why does the store sell all of them then?

Pargiyot and dark chicken cutlets are the same. Boneless skinless cutlets made from chicken legs.

Capons are similar but still have their skin on, and are meant to stuff and roll, leaving the skin outside so it can crisp and keep the chicken moist since it bakes longer.

amother

Rainbow

Thu, Mar 14 2024, 9:56 am

ra_mom wrote:

Here capons are sold whole - as in a whole bird. So not similar to dark cutlets/ pargiyot.

And I have no idea what it means when something is labeled a capon in a kosher store because if you google it, it says they are castrated roosters, and I thought we don't do this to animals.

amother

Bisque

Thu, Mar 14 2024, 10:12 am

amother Rainbow wrote:

It’s a Jewish thing, I assume it originally came from trying to recreate the type of chicken meat that non-Jews had with capons and then just evolved to what it is now (in US, it’s small white meat breasts meant to be stuffed)

But Capons are actually a breed of Rooster known for their tender meat, and yes they castrate them under a certain age, because the lack of testosterone improves the tenderness and flavor of the meat. It’s typically very expensive, sold whole for roasting, and in most countries not sold at all because it’s illegal (the castrating)

I always laugh when I see “capons” sold in frum stores. I guess it’s like a lot of the other things they’ve tried to recreate, like when you see steak labeled filet mignon. Though here it’s funnier because the product they’re selling is nothing like the product they copied, so idk 🤷🏻‍♀️

amother

Rainbow

Thu, Mar 14 2024, 11:40 am

amother Bisque wrote:

But I see them here (FL) as whole birds - look identical to just buying a whole chicken, not cut up. Makes me wonder if they just make these things up so uninformed people will pay more for a chicken.

amother

Thu, Mar 14 2024, 11:42 am

ra_mom wrote:

Ah, thanks for explaining!

amother

Ultramarine

Thu, Mar 14 2024, 9:36 pm

I work in the kosher chicken industry. Pargiyot are boneless leg filets/dark meat cutlets. A capon is a castrated rooster. And no, we are not allowed halachically to castrate a rooster, but if a farm does it, and offers for us to buy them, we can. They are typically larger than regular chickens-averaging about 10-12 lbs. Thay are very moist and delicious.

It's possible that caterers used them to make stuffed chicken as they could ake quite a few out of just one capon breast since it's so big. They would be called capon because that's what it was from. Eventually capon (probably) came to mean stuffed chicken breast because of it's origin.

Interesting fact: capons are only raised a certain time of year-other times they die early of heart attacks. (heard this from my boss in the industry)

amother

Rainbow

Thu, Mar 14 2024, 9:39 pm

amother Ultramarine wrote:

Thank you. This clears a lot up. Smile