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The Art of Trussing ; or Trussing Game
How to truss goose; how to truss easterlings, ducks, teals, and widgeons from Young Woman's Best Companion, 1770
Courtesy National Library of Medcine
On these two pages Jackson describes how to truss a goose with two skewers, and how to truss smaller birds such as easterlings, ducks, teals, and widgeons with one skewer. In each case the cook must first gut the bird and remove the 'pinions' (the outer wing tips). To truss a smaller bird, in a series of coordinated steps the cook must raise up the legs, twist the feet and bring them toward the body, and insert a skewer between the lower joint next to the thigh and foot.
Read TranscriptHow to truss Easterlings, Ducks, Teals, and Widgeons.
[Diagram of a bird]
Explanation.
When you draw it lay aside the gizzard and liver, and take out the neck, taking care to leave the skin of the neck full enough to cover that part where the neck was cut off. Next cut off the pinions, as at 1, and raise up the whole legs till they arc in the middle. as at 2, and press them between the body of the fowl and the stump of the wings; then twill the feet, and bring the bottom of them towards the body of the fowl, as at 3; and put a skewer through the fowl between the lower joint, next the thigh and the foot, taking hold of the ends of the stumps of the wings, as at 1, then the legs will stand upright, and the point of the skewer will be at 4.