Chicken Recipes

Appetizers & Soups Recipes  |  Midweek Meal Recipes  |  One Pot Meal Recipes Salads & Barbecues  |  Pastries & Pies Recipes  |  Hot & Spicy Recipes

Choosing a Chicken  |  Chicken Parts  |  Trussing Chicken  |  Roasting Chicken  |  Cutting Up Chicken
Boning a Chicken  |  Butterflying Chicken  |  Making Chicken Stock  |  Making Chicken Sautes
Poaching, Casseroling & Braising Chicken  |  Chicken Stuffings

Trussing a Chicken

Trussing holds a bird together during cooking so that it keeps a neat, attractive shape. If the bird is stuffed, trussing prevents the stuffing from falling out. You can truss with strong string or poultry skewers.

An alternative to the method shown here is to use a long trussing needle and fine cotton string: make two passes, in alternate directions, through the body at the open end, from wing to wing, and tie. Then pass the needle through the pope's nose and tie the string around the ends of the drumsticks.

Remove trussing before serving.

1. For an unstuffed bird: set it breast down and pull the neck skin over the neck opening. Turn the bird breast up and fold the wing tips back, over the skin, to secure behind the shoulders.

2. Press the legs down firmly and into the breast. If there is a band of skin across the pope's nose, fold back the ends of the drumsticks and tuck them under the skin.

3. Otherwise, cross the knuckle ends of the drumsticks or bring them tightly together. Loop a length of string several times around the drumstick ends, tie a knot and trim off excess string.

4. For a stuffed bird: fold the wing tips back as above. After stuffing the neck end, fold the flap of skin over the opening and secure it with a skewer, then fold over the wing tips.

5. Put any stuffing or flavorings (herbs, lemon halves, apple quarters and so on) in the body cavity, then secure the ends of the drumsticks as above, tying in the pope's nose, too.

6. Or, the cavity opening can be closed with skewers: insert two or more skewers across the opening, threading them through the skin several times.

7. Lace the skewers together with string. Tie the drumsticks together over the skewers.

STUFFING TIPS
Only use stuffing that is cool, not hot or chilled. Pack it loosely in the bird and cook any leftovers separately. Stuff poultry just before cooking. Do not stuff the body cavity of a large bird because this could inhibit heat penetration, and thus harmful bacteria may not be destroyed.