Trussing 101
/In prep for the big day, we thought we’d share our Trussing 101 demo, which can be used in cooking any bird, not just a turkey. If you search ‘trussing’ online, you’ll find many variations to this technique, but they all rely upon the same premise: to hold the wings and legs in tight for even cooking and a beautiful presentation. Here’s our version.
(1) Once you have removed the gizzards and have washed the bird gently with cold water and patted it dry with paper towels, measure out 5 ‘bird lengths’ of string. We use an uncoated cotton butcher’s twine.
(2) Find the center of the string and, with the bird oriented with ankles pointing towards you, slide the string behind the back of the bird.
(3) Loop the string under the wings.
(4) Tuck the string under the small wing tips and pull it around to the back. It’s necessary to lift the bird at this point so, if it’s a heavy one, get someone to help you!
(5) Tie the string in a modified surgeon’s knot. This is just like the first step in tying your shoe laces, but instead of going around once, you go around twice.
(6) Set the bird back down and pull the string taut.
(7) Pull the string down over the wing tips and down to the base of the cavity. Crisscross around the bottom.
(8) Loop the string under and around the ankles.
(9) Secure the legs by tying tightly together in another double looped knot.
(10) Finish off in a bow.
(11) Tuck the wing tips in under the strings on each side to help reduce the chance that they will burn.
And now you’ve trussed your bird 💪.
We’d love to hear your tips for prepping your turkey🍗🍗 . And send along any fun Thanksgiving traditions you’d like to share!!