Digital GalleryExplore
The Art of Trussing ; or Trussing Game
How to truss a rabbit for roasting from Young Woman's Best Companion, 1770
Courtesy National Library of Medcine
As Jackson explains on the right hand page, to prepare a single rabbit for roasting on a spit a cook needs to 'case' (skin) it, cut off the lower joints of its 'wings' (forelegs), skewer it together in two places, and then pass a spit through its head and body.
Read TranscriptThe Young Woman's Best Companion. 139
Directions for trussing of fowls, &c.
How to truss a rabbit for Roasting.
[Diagram of a trussed rabbit]
Explanation.
Case the whole rabbet, except the lower joints of the fore-legs, and those you should chop oft'; then put a skewer through the middle of the haunches, after you have laid them flat, as at 1, and the fore-legs, which are called the wings, must be turned as at 2, so that the smaller joint may be pulled into the body, through the ribs. This is a single rabbet, has the spit put through the head and body, but the skewer takes hold of the spit to preserve the haunches. But if you truss a couple of rabbets, there should be seven skewers, and then the spit passes through between the skewers without touching the rabbets.
N. B. You may truss it short, in the same manner as for boiling, and roast it.