Poultry should have flexible breast bones and plump firm breasts. The skin should be white and unbroken. This method given below for trussing is suitable for chicken, duck, geese and turkey for roasting, pot roasting, boiling and poaching. When pot roasting or poaching poultry the legs should be folded back onto the side of the breast and trussed; when roasting the legs should point forward. When trussing duck, geese or turkey, the legs should be removed at the first joint. In addition, guinea fowl should be barded with bacon fat or speck when trussed.
(1) Singe the bird and remove any feather pins with the tip of a small knife. Wipe clean with a cloth.
(2) Leave the center claw on but cut off the tip. Remove the claw on either side.
(3) Dip the leg as far as the scales into boiling water for a few seconds and remove all traces of the scales with a cloth. Care must be taken not to over-blanch the legs as this will cause the flesh to come away from the bone. (This is rarely practiced today.)
(4) Make an incision through the tendon on the underside of the leg.
(5) Expose the wishbone by carefully scraping around the bone with a knife. Remove the wishbone completely taking care not to cut away the surrounding flesh.
(6) Cut off the winglets at the first joint end and fold them underneath.
(7) Push the trussing needle through the center of the leg between the thigh bone and the drumstick in a straight line through the bird, entering the center of the opposite leg and out through the other side.
(8) Pass the needle through the winglet bone in a straight line through the flap of neck skin and again through the second winglet. Tie the two ends of string together and cut off the excess.
(9) Pass the needle through the thigh flesh in a straight line through the chicken and out the opposite side, then pass the needle over the top of the drumstick through the surplus skin under the breast flesh taking care not to pierce the breast. Tie the ends of the string.