What`s trussing? A term usually applied to poultry, it is a procedure used to tie meat into a tight bundle. Trussing a fowl properly, I learned during a stint at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, is a challenge not unlike a Middle Ages joust.
You thread a sword-sized needle with enough string to trip over, then attack the fowl. It may be dead, but it`s hardly docile. Somehow, until you`ve practiced a while, it manages to turn so the needle hits bone instead of sliding through the leg, or escapes entirely and somehow ends up on the floor. It is enough to make one desperate to find a simpler way, and eventually I did.
But why do cooks truss birds in the first place? Because once legs and wings are tightly affixed to the carcass, the fowl will cook more evenly and, during long cooking, should retain more of its juices. The breast is the chief beneficiary.
There is a school of thought, you may be glad to hear, that contends there is no need to truss the relatively small, young, unmuscular chickens sold in supermarkets unless they are to be spit roasted. They cook so quickly in the oven, and are so flabby, some cooks say trussing makes little or no difference.
Others insist it does, and of course it still makes sense to form a tight bundle when the bird has been stuffed.
So here, with a bow to rodeo artists, is a needleless method for trussing a chicken. I`m indebted for it, in roughly equal parts to chef Jacques Pepin and to Tom Stobart, author of ``The Cook`s Encyclopedia.``
1. After chicken has been prepared for cooking, fold outside wing sections underneath to make triangular shapes. Select a 4-foot length of soft cotton string. Make a circle in center of string and loop it over tailpiece for anchorage.
2. Lift string ends on each side of chicken and cross them over the top. Lower crossed string ends and slide them under tip of each drumstick. Pull tight.
3. Bring string along both sides of bird, passing around each wing like a harness. Now pull string ends up and cross them over the breast. Turn bird breast-side down, pulling string tight and tie it. Snip off ends.
4. Season and cook. -