How to Truss a Whole Bird for Roasting
There’s a certain technique to tying up a bird, whether it’s a turkey, chicken, or something else, for roasting. There’s a finesse that is sometimes hard to achieve. In this article, we will teach you how to truss a whole bird for roasting or the rotisserie.
For A Traditional Look
This technique produces a more traditional-looking bird where it is all tucked in and picture-perfect. While this does look perfect, if you are not careful when cooking, you run the risk of your bird having overcooked breasts and not so crispy skin between the legs and the sides.
Traditional Trussing
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Start by tucking the wings behind the bird’s back. When done right, they will hold themselves against the back of the bird, instead of trying to fly away while you are using the rotisserie.
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Place the bird on its back with the ankles towards you.
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Take a couple of feet of cotton butcher’s twine and divide it in half so that you have the two open ends on one side, and they meet in the middle.
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Wrap the butcher’s twine around the ankles of the bird’s legs pulling the twine tight and the ankles together, finishing with the twine under the ankles on the outside.
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From the outside of the bird, run the twine over the outside of the legs firmly pulling it over the leg and running it along the sides of the breast.
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Flip the bird over and cross the twine over the back of the bird and around the wings to hold them in place (just in case).
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Flip the bird back over and bring the twine back up the sides of the bird to tie off at the ankles.
Not as Traditional Looking
While not as traditional looking, this technique for trussing a bird to roast on the grill or when using the rotisserie will produce even better results than you have ever had. The breasts are picture-perfect thanks to using twine to hold the skin in place during cooking. Although the legs are sticking up and out, this will produce even browning and cooking on every surface. It just looks… a little less than traditional.
It Works! Truss- me
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Start by tucking the wings behind the bird’s back. When done right, they will hold themselves against the back of the bird, instead of trying to fly away while you are using the rotisserie.
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Place the bird on its back with the ankles towards you.
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Take a couple of feet of cotton butcher’s twine and divide it in half so that you have the two open ends on one side, and they meet in the middle.
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Pull the twine under the back in the middle (between the wings and the legs) of the bird, keeping it even on both sides, then pull it up under the armpits.
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Cross the string across the front of the breasts ensuring that you have the skin around the neck pulled tight under the twine.
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Run the twine back down the sides of the bird and cross the ends, again, under the crown – the pointy bit at the end of the breast right above the cavity opening.
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Loop the string under the legs from here and pull tight.
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Flip the bird – the meat – over and tie off the twine under the tail so that the legs come up and out.
Both of these techniques will produce delicious results and they are perfect for pretty much any type of poultry that you are cooking. How do you cook a whole bird on the BBQ? Do you use the rotisserie or prefer to just straight-up roast on the grids? Tell us using the hashtags #RotisserieBird or #RoastBird and #NapoleonGrills on our social pages like Facebook and Instagram.
Happy Grilling!