National Poultry Day

We suspected fowl play when we first discovered March 19 is annual National Poultry Day when we celebrate our national love affair with poultry. We scrambled to figure out how to celebrate poultry without bias because we are biased; chickens rule the roost when it comes to poultry. We are just going to have to wing this one.

HOW TO CELEBRATE NATIONAL POULTRY DAY

1. Try a bird of a different feather

   Pheasant, duck, quail, goose, and game hens are all poultry not often found on American dinner plates but popular in other cultures. If these are too exotic for your taste at least treat your palate to a capon. A capon is a rooster that is castrated before sexual maturity. The lack of testosterone and a special diet produces exceptionally tender, juicy, and flavorful meat that is superb compared to regular hens. Capons were considered a luxury and the poultry of choice for holiday feasting among wealthy families during the early nineteenth century. Capons are not easy to find these days, but once you taste this bird, you will never again say anything else “tastes like chicken.”