How to truss a chicken

Trussing a chicken is one of those old-school cooking techniques that you need to know. It’s a relatively simple thing to do, but it is important to do it before you put your bird in the oven.

Why truss a chicken?

Because a chicken has an uneven form, if you just bung the bird in the oven as it is, you will burn the legs and the wings, because they cook at different rates. Also, the cavity of the chicken will fill with hot air and the breast will dry from the inside out, leaving you with a dry chicken, with burnt or very dry wings and tough, dry legs. Trussing a chicken keeps the mass of the chicken together, allowing it to cook slowly and uniformly.

How to truss a chicken

Method one

First, you should remove your chicken from the fridge and allow it to sit, to bring it up to room temperature. Slide the wings behind the back of the chicken, as if you were arresting the bird. This will support the chicken while it roasts and lift it slightly off the roasting tray. The wings will later be used for making your gravy, so they can be soaked in the juices that run from the chicken while cooking.

For trussing a chicken you will need to use a piece of unbleached kitchen twine, known as butcher’s twine. Cut the twine to about 50cm and place it just under the chicken’s tail, the part known as ‘the Pope’s nose.’

Next you will create a horizontal figure eight, or infinity sign, over and under the legs. Pull the twine tight to bring the legs together and to pull them close to the breast.

Pull the two parts of twine that you have in your hands close to the body of the chicken and flip it over. Then bring the two ends up towards and under the neck bone. Loop both ends around the neck bone and tie with a simple slipknot.

Method two

The team at ChefSteps have an alternative method that differs from the traditional one. Why mess with the tried and tested? Well as explained in the above video, if the legs are pulled in tight to the body of the chicken, it may prevent the heat from penetrating right into the hip area of the bird, meaning that by the time the full chicken is cooked, the outside may become overcooked.

The ChefSteps method leaves the trussed chickens legs sticking up in the air, while the body is pulled in tight and plump.

The string goes down the centre of the back of the chicken and is then looped over the wings. Cross it around the front and use the twine to pin down the flap of skin at the tail end. This will stop the skin from shrinking and retreating to expose the meat underneath, which would dry out.

Pull the twine back over the top of the bird and cross it underneath the crown. Pull it nice and tight. Then loop the twine under the legs and come around back over the top of the legs or hip area. Flip the bird over and cross the twine three times to keep it in place. Tie it tightly and trim the extra twine.

While there is a traditional way to truss a chicken, there is no reason why you can’t experiment and develop you own method. The important thing to remember is that trussing is a way to bind the bird together so that it cooks more evenly. Maybe you prefer to have some part of the chicken cook faster than others, in which case, they can be kept away from the body. It’s also worth remembering to properly remove the twine with care when the bird has rested. Cooking can degrade the twine and it can be easy to leave a piece attached to your chicken. Apart from the obvious dangers of this, it is never pleasant to have to remove twine from a piece of chicken on your plate.