1. Trussing poultry before roasting it gives the bird a neater shape for serving at the table and ensures an even roast.
2. Make sure the wings are opened out.
3. Take a length of kitchen string, roughly 70cm (28in) and tuck under the neck end.
4. Feed the string over the top of the wings, then underneath the legs. Tie 3 times. Lift up the chicken and pull the string tightly until it draws together.
5. Pull the string back under the chicken, then over the top of the legs. Cross over the string. Pull tight, then loop under the parsons nose at the back of the chicken. Tie a knot and pull tight, then tie a couple more knots. Cut off any loose string.6 Tuck the wing tips under the bird. It’s now ready to roast.
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Oak chopping board, Lakeland. Professional 'S' vegetable knife, Zwilling J.A. Henckels.
An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).
