Comments on: How To Truss a Chicken

By: allen

allen — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 12:36:16 +0000

Lets not forget how to truss a turkey, from the great Andrea Martin as Edith Prickly:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpTf6TVmN_0

By: allen

allen — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 08:26:21 +0000

Like my Mom always says, never truss a skinny chef!
She truss me, boy howdy. I like simplicity, like how you skinned that deer with an atv on the No Reservations show. My simple method is to cut an incision on one leg where the tendon is leaving the tendon intact and put the bone of the other leg through the incision, the joint holds it in place. I just did a corish game hen brined with star anise, clove bay leaf white wine – (they fit in a 1 quart yogurt container perfectly and requires less brine than a large container), stuffed with lemon wedge, rosemary, fleur de sel, garlic and onion. Rosemary, butter, lemon zest s&p minced and pressed under the skin – easy to seperate with the back of a butter knife. Rosted over thin sliced yukon gold potatoes – it held together just fine and the flavors were great, less fuss and all the good flavor and moisture. The crispy potatoes with all the drippings are the star of the dish.

By: ruhlman

ruhlman — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 15:53:07 +0000

thanks for the comment chef!

others, Schneller is the author of a couple great meat books, fyi: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1428319948/ref=nosim/ruhlmancom

By: Chef Tom Schneller

Chef Tom Schneller — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 14:10:02 +0000

I teach the meat class at CIA and this is EXACTLY how I teach it (sans the musical reference!) Basic, fast and simple. Thanks for posting it. It will now be homework to view this.

By: luis

luis — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 03:00:29 +0000

Brian’s technique is great and I will try it soon. But tomorrow is World cup Sunday and It’s all about Spain the Netherlands and tapas for us.
Next week I will get down to Normans and pick up one of their Organic chickens and I will truss it… maybe????… Hell my favority way is to butterfly it, then roast it in a really hot oven. Get it nice and crispy…I know… I am a bit of a maverick….Still I will roast a properly trussed chicken with potatoes properly prepared and have a feast of it. Cooking sure beats most everything else….

By: Nancy B

Nancy B — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 23:37:35 +0000

Michael,
Nothing to do with trussing…but I had to comment. Just finished reading The Making Of A Chef. (Yeah, I’m a bit behind the times!) Never thought I’d find a book about THAT CIA a page turner, but it was. Thanks!

By: Murvet

Murvet — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 17:19:49 +0000

Chuckled right through it. But one advantage of trussing was not mentioned: Preventing the bird from looking like an obscene slut.

By: Baydog

Baydog — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 06:12:37 +0000

What’s LeBron’s favorite wine? “I want to go to Miaaaaami!”

I hope Cleveland wins the title this year, although it’s not likely.

By: bill

bill — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 01:11:10 +0000

How do you truss LeBron?

By: George

George — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 20:57:45 +0000

Great video, great instruction. But I couldn’t help imagining Julia Child doing it in exactly the same words. Minus dropping the chicken, of course.

By: JW

JW — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 20:30:00 +0000

Trussing and buying whole birds has completely changed the way I view chicken. The transformation of taste in indescribable. I began purchasing whole birds about 2 years ago for the sole purpose of making stock (thanks Michael, the small batches simmering in a 190 degree oven was a breakthru for me) and I also discovered that bird on the bone was definitely the way to go!

Carving a chicken is actually quite easy and there are several methods, I prefer to breakdown into 8 pieces where the wing is attached to a portion of the breast. My advice to everyone is practice…even if you “butcher” your butchering, the taste will be the same.

By: Dean E.

Dean E. — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 20:12:28 +0000

This is super-wonderful but for what it’s worth I prefer methods that pull the wings close to the body so that they don’t overcook or require removal prior to the rest of the bird. However I don’t see why that couldn’t be easily incorporated into Chef Polcyn’s method. Thanks for sharing the very entertaining video.

By: Chuck Shaw

Chuck Shaw — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 19:44:22 +0000

That was a great video and helpful. Cutting edge sense of humor and nice giggling in the background Michael.

By: Susan

Susan — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 17:37:44 +0000

Fun video. The only time I do a full body truss on a fowl is when I want to rotisseree the birds on the grill. Otherwise, I just truss the tail and pull toward the cavity, loop it over the legs and tie them together, then tuck the wings. It’s easier…to me anyway! When I buy chickens, I ask the butcher for some string. They are nice enough to their regulars to share a nice length!

By: Internet Tasting : July 9 2010

Internet Tasting : July 9 2010 — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 16:52:48 +0000

[...] How to Truss a Chicken. Bob is awesome, and so is Micheal Ruhlman! [...]

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 16:35:35 +0000

I was taught a similar technique. Also was taught this “common sense’ tip: If you’re trussing more than one chicken or something much larger (i.e. pork roast) you can get the twine pretty messy with chicken/pork/beef hands. Either cut ahead of time (assuming you know exactly how long a piece of twine you need [I never do]), or place the twine in a sauce pan. It’ll keep the twine in one spot while you pull off what you need. No more diving with contaminated hands to catch the twine that you’ve just pulled off the counter.

By: Nick (Macheesmo)

Nick (Macheesmo) — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 15:19:30 +0000

“I truss chickens but I don’t truss lawyers…”

Ha. I can think of a few lawyers that need some trussing…

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 14:52:30 +0000

That was a great demonstration. I’d love to see one on breaking down a chicken into parts so I can be done with buying pre-cut birds.

By: Jan

Jan — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 05:31:26 +0000

Thank you for the wonderfully succinct and helpful video, I’ve been waiting for this! All cooking techniques should be so efficient and teachers humorous.

By: luis

luis — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 04:35:21 +0000

Good job. Very good technique. But the ultimate urban cook… Everything comes in pieces for the sake of convenience. But it kinda as someone suggested make you want to get a whole chicken for once and truss it a few times to burn the technique into the brain.