Sohla El-Waylly's Easy Trick For Trussing Poultry Without The Twine

What could be a more efficient meal prep than roasting a whole turkey? That's an easy 10 pounds of dark and white meat to enjoy the rest of the week if you'd like. It might take a little time to defrost and cook, but for the most part, there's nothing to worry about.

Thought Catalog points out that every year around the holidays when turkey pops up on many menus, it may throw the inexperienced cook into a panic. In fact, Mental Floss reports that every Thanksgiving the Butterball turkey helpline records 10,000 calls on the holiday. The mere thought of prepping a turkey itself might be enough for some to try a vegan holiday celebration instead.

One concept that might throw many first-time turkey chefs for a loop is trussing. It's not going to be the first item on your list of things to worry about when prepping a turkey (that's usually reserved for the defrost time), but it is a valuable tool in making the perfect bird feed yourself for a week, or the family for any holiday gathering. Luckily, celebrity chef Sohla El-Waylly recently took to her Instagram to help out. El-Waylly created a series of reels on her Instagram on "how to roast a whole turkey (that doesn't suck)," and in that series shared a great method for trussing a turkey (that won't suck) without using any twine. 

In the grand lexicon of fancy cooking terms, trussing might be one of the most underused. One of the reasons for this is that it's a cooking practice that is typically only reserved for poultry.

According to MasterClass, trussing is the name of tying the legs of a chicken or turkey together before it is roasted. This process helps to keep the legs and wings pressed in tight to the body of the bird, and helps it to keep a nice uniform shape while it cooks. This will also let the meat cook as evenly as possible, and also help the skin of the bird to cook up nice and crispy.

Culinary Hill says that to truss a turkey, you will want to position the dethawed bird with the end of the drumsticks facing you, and the breast side up. Start by running the string along each side of the breasts, and tucking the wings in underneath the string as you draw it towards the legs. Then wrap the string around the legs, and give it a simple overhand knot. Wrap the string around the end of the legs then as you tighten them together. Then tie a final knot on top to make sure that everything stays secure.

If this all sounds a little too complicated, then don't worry because there is another way to truss a bird courtesy of celebrity chef Sohla El-Waylly. 

Culinary Hill recommends that you only use butcher's twine with the traditional method because it will hold a solid knot, and won't burn in the oven. Not all of us keep a roll of butcher's twine around our kitchen for such an occasion though.

Thankfully, chef and influencer Sohla El-Waylly has an easy solution to this problem. In a recent video on El-Waylly's Instagram, she shared her methods for making a simple roast turkey. One of the best tips she offered up to her followers was how to truss a turkey without the twine.

To follow El-Waylly's lead, all you'll have to do is make sure that you leave the flaps of skin — that look like the tail of the turkey — on the bird. Cut a hole in this "tail", and once you've filled your turkey with aromatics, tuck the end of each leg into the hole. Now all you need to do is roast the bird and enjoy!