After working in professional kitchens for years, I'm a firm believer in both trussing and brining whole chickens. Below is a youtube link to a 1:25 video of Chef Brian Polcyn showing how to properly truss a whole chicken. Chef Polcyn teaches charcuterie for a local culinary program here in Michigan. His textbook, "Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking and Curing" is a great resource. For the brine, I use 1 gallon of water, 3/4 c Kosher salt and 1 cup of sugar. I brine prior to trussing, so all parts make contact with the brine and I like to cut the kitchen twine off the bird once the bird is about 3/4 of the way cooked, so the skin-on-skin areas are not rubbery. This brine recipe is very basic, but if you are smoking the bird, it does the job great, while allowing the smoke flavors to be the prominent flavor. Some folks like to add 1/2 cup of bourbon, 1 tbl of black or cayenne pepper and various other spices. I save the bourbon for a glass and the pepper for the potato salad, but to each their own.
Anyone else prefer to truss?
Anyone else prefer to truss?
