Truss

Culinary definition of truss:  To bind food (generally poultry) with kitchen string and/or trussing pins into a compact shape before cooking.

C@H FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Trussing a naked chicken (or other bird) seems a violation somehow to many of us - akin to ripping apart whole leaves of lettuce.  However, once you get the hang of trussing, it can be done quickly and without guilt.

• Start with a yard/metre of strong unbleached kitchen twine.  Place the rinsed and dried bird breast-side-up with the drumsticks facing you.

• Fold the string in half and place the fold under the bottom knob of the bird, between the ankles, so that the twine lies horizontally left to right under the bird. 

• Pull the string up across the ankles and cross each end over to the other side. Pull the twine tight so that the ankles meet or fit together snuggly, and tie a single knot.

• Pull the ends of the string away from you and wrap them around the head end of the bird, traversing the fleshy part of the drumstick and catching the wings in as you go.

• Hold the string taught and gently flip the bird over and reverse its direction so that the neck end faces you.  Catch the twine under the stub of the neck and tie securely.

✭ ✭ ✭ Tough stuff.  Consider filling the neck cavity but not the body cavity of trussed birds with traditional dense stuffing.  Bread and/or sausage stuffing is dense and extends cooking time significantly.  More often than not that translates to tough, dried-out meat.

Try this:  Cook traditional stuffin only in the small neck cavity (for the diehards at the table), but the bulk of the stuffing in a covered side dish; then stuff the body cavity of the bird with a loose handful of fresh herbs on the stalk, two or three cloves of smashed garlic, plus several slices of lemon or orange.  use one or two of the citrus slices to cover the cavity opening, before tucking the skin flap shut. 

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