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Trussing a Bird

Appears in

By Anne Willan

Published 1989

  • About
Trussing not only keeps in the stuffing, it also holds the bird together so that a sprawling leg or wing does not overcook, and the cooked bird sits neatly for carving. When trussing ducks and geese, tuck the legs well back under the breast so that the bird rests flat in the pan. Birds under 1 lb/500 g are simply tied.
  1. Draw the bird. If already drawn, remove the giblets. Thread the trussing needle.

  2. Pull out any pieces of fat located around the tail cavity.

  3. Remove the wishbone, as it prevents the breast from being carved in neat slices. Fold back the neck skin and remove the wishbone using the point of a sharp knife to cut it out. Remove any fat.

  4. Set the bird breast up, and push the legs well back and down so that the ends sit straight up in the air. Insert the trussing needle into the flesh at the knee joint, push it through the bird and out through the other knee joint.

  5. Turn the bird over on to its breast and, if the wing pinions have not been trimmed, tuck them under the second joint. Pull the neck skin over the neck cavity, and push the needle through both sections of one wing and into the neck skin. Continue under the backbone of the bird to the other side. Now catch the second wing in the same way as the first, pushing the needle through both wing bones and pulling it out the other side.

  6. Turn the bird on to its side, pull the ends of the string (from the leg and wing) firmly together and tie them securely.

  7. Turn the bird breast side up. Tuck the tail into the cavity of the bird and fold the top skin over it. Push the needle through the skin.

  8. Loop the string round one drumstick, under the breastbone and over the other drumstick.

  9. Tie the ends of the string firmly together. The bird should sit level on the board.

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