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Technique

Trussing

3 dishes across 3 chapters · 0 marked cooked

From the Lexicon, Butchery Verbs: Frenching, Butterflying, Tying

FRENCHING: scraping rib bones clean (racks of lamb, tomahawks, crown roasts), pure presentation, honest theater. BUTTERFLYING: splitting a piece horizontally almost through and opening it like a book: even thickness for fast cooking (chicken breasts) or a canvas for stuffing (roulades, porchetta). TYING: butcher's twine at intervals to hold shape. Even cooking, clean slices. SILVERSKIN: the iridescent membrane that never renders; strip it from tenderloins with a knife-tip and a pull. These verbs are where cooking begins before heat exists; a chef who butchers understands the animal a recipe can't teach.

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A chosen film Jacques Pépin Techniques: How To Truss a Chicken for Roasting KQED Food Watch for: His hands and the single length of string: the legs are drawn in tight against the breast so the bird cooks as one compact shape, and there is no knot-tying fuss to memorise.

French

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