How to Truss a Turkey

Hey! Is that a turkey? Or no, no let me guess it’s a modern sculpture. Poultry, will you know sometime the birds looks better and roast better if the cook shows a little strain, strain yeah now think that. Alright trussing begins with a clean bird pointed away from you. I know I like to use just cotton or even a lemon twine but for the sake of demonstration today will be using a big twelve foot long piece of purple tin rope. Now, make loop right in the middle of this rope and hook that over to little knob where the---- well the turkey’s head use to be installed at the neck there you go. Just right over it, that’s going to be our main anchor point, now bring the rope down either side of the breast and then tie into a nice tight surgeons knot okay, right there a nice and tight. Now, making it tight is going to help to kind of push the breast stuff into a nice kind of blemish ah yeah that’s exactly what you want. Now, I realize that some of you may have never tied the surgeons knot before so here is how it goes. Let’s start like a regular half know like tying your shoe only you are going to add another loop see, go do it again there so you got a kind of a double pass. Now, the rest of the know finishes just like a normal knot there you go. Kind of nice and they call that a hot hitch in the Boys Scout. There you go so before you tying that it would look something like this, when you tying it, it looks well something like that. It won’t slept and it will never let go. So, once you’ve got that done take one of the lines and hook it around one side of the birds leg and up around the breast again, repeat that on the other side. So again, around the legs crossing and back up towards the breast now when you pull that tie is going to pull one drumstick over the other there just like that. Now, the rope goes up in around and right in to the little nabbing there is little things that stick out on the side of the wings, now flip over don’t worry it will come apart and make another half surgeons knot remember not just one pass or half inch but a double. They’re you go, now draw that up tight and don’t worry it won’t slept. Now, bring the line up or rather down towards the backing of the bird, flip again and tie with yes another surgeons knot right over the legs. There is one half knot and then one final knot and once you’ve got that done your finish just trim up that line and you got yourself a nice compact shape that will never let go or fall apart. Of course this compact shape will to guarantee even cooking and eventually simple carving. You don’t have to worry about removing the string because it will come off as you make your slices. Now, mentioning carving well that will have to wait to our next episode.