Have You Ever Heard Of A Cappon Salad?

What Is Cappon Magro ?

Cappon Magro is an elaborate Genoese salad of seafood and vegetables over hardtack with is arranged to decorate a pyramis and is dressed with a rich sauce.

What does Cappon Magro mean ?

It means Fast Day because the dish contains no meat which is the rules of traditional Catholic fasting.

They are used for traditional Catholic fast days for instance Christmas Eve.

Capon could be a dry reference to the term poultry capon, a traditional dish on Christmas Eve, or it could be a reference to chapon a french word referring to a slice of bread rubbed in garlic.

It could refer to one of the many fish called cappone.

What is a Capponata ?

A Capponata is a similar form of cappon but is much less elaborate.

What are the common ingredients in a Cappon salad ?

tomatoes
cucumbers
bottarga (cured fish)
lettuce
dried tuna
hard boiled eggs

All of this dressed with olive oil

Cappon magro means ‘fast-day capon’. As the dish contains no ingredients considered meat under the rules of traditional Catholic fasting, it is a suitable meal for the traditional Catholic fast days, including Christmas Eve. ‘Capon’ may be a wry reference to the poultry capon, a traditional dish for Christmas. Or it may refer to the biscuit base, comparable to the French ‘chapon’, a slice of bread rubbed with garlic which is placed in the bottom of a soup or salad bowl.^[2] It may also refer to one of the many fish called ‘cappone’ (perhaps a gurnard or red mullet).^[3]