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What is Kitchen Twine?

Michael Pollick
Michael Pollick
Michael Pollick
Michael Pollick

Kitchen twine, also known as butcher's twine, is a thick cotton string often used for trussing or tying meat and other ingredients, such as stuffing, together. The meat may be wrapped with cheese to form a roll, for instance, or it may be sliced open and stuffed with a prepared filling. In order to keep the entire preparation together during the cooking process, a cook will often use lengths of twine to bind it. After the meat dish has finished roasting or broiling, the string is usually cut off with a knife or kitchen shears before carving and serving.

The string used for kitchen twine is almost always made from linen or cotton, never plastic or other synthetic material such as polyester or nylon. It must be a non-toxic food grade material, since it will be in such close contact with raw foods. Synthetic yarns and twines could either melt under the heat or leech dangerous chemicals into the food. A thick natural cotton twine is usually threaded onto a large spool and sold in cooking supply stores.

A classic use for kitchen twine is to truss a chicken with herbs before roasting.
A classic use for kitchen twine is to truss a chicken with herbs before roasting.

There are several different ways that twine is used to truss meats. One of the easiest methods involves cutting several lengths of string off the spool and looping each one around the meat, approximately 1 inch (2.54 cm) apart. The individual loops can be tightened down with a simple half-loop at the top, much like tying a shoelace, then locked off with a second loop or square knot. The excess twine can then be trimmed off with a knife or kitchen shears and the trussed meat dish can then be put into the oven.

A kitchen.
A kitchen.

Another way to use kitchen twine is called a butcher's knot, and this is usually the preferred method of professional chefs. The twine is pulled off the spool and is threaded over one end of the meat. The cook then forms a loop at the top by overlapping the first section of twine and then starting a second loop a short distance away. The first loop can be cinched tightly around the meat and the process continues until the entire meat dish has been trussed. This method does require a learning curve, but the meat dish should hold together well during the cooking process.

Kitchen twine is a sturdy cotton string used to tie meat and ingredients together.
Kitchen twine is a sturdy cotton string used to tie meat and ingredients together.

Kitchen twine can also be used for trussing meat with a method that is a bit more complicated. The cook can use special meat-trussing needles to pin both sides of a split piece back together. These needles have open loops on one end, and twine can be threaded through these loops much like laces on a pair of shoes. Once all of the needles have been threaded, the tightened string should keep the trussing needles firmly in place while the dish cooks.

Michael Pollick
Michael Pollick

A regular DelightedCooking contributor, Michael enjoys doing research in order to satisfy his wide-ranging curiosity about a variety of arcane topics. Before becoming a professional writer, Michael worked as an English tutor, poet, voice-over artist, and DJ.

Learn more...
Michael Pollick
Michael Pollick

A regular DelightedCooking contributor, Michael enjoys doing research in order to satisfy his wide-ranging curiosity about a variety of arcane topics. Before becoming a professional writer, Michael worked as an English tutor, poet, voice-over artist, and DJ.

Learn more...

Discussion Comments

anon163738

I need food-grade colored butcher's twine in six different colors that will not bleed. They are for tying tamale husks and I cannot have the colors bleed onto the corn husks.

parmnparsley

@ Glasshouse- If you use meat-trussing needles, you can seal your roast without leaving twine marks wrapped around it. If you do a quick search you should be able to find a video that will show you how to do this.

Glasshouse

Is there a kitchen twine substitute that will allow me to hold a stuffed roast together without leaving the twine marks around the meat?

sputnik

Twine is very helpful when preparing stuffed roast for example, like tenderloin. Holding the roast together with twine will make sure the roast is uniformly cooked.

The twine can be tied in several different ways. Probably the easiest and most basic knot to use is surgeon's knot. The single pieces of twine are double tied every few inches apart. There is also another type of knot called half-hitched knot where the knots are made along the continuous string.

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    • A classic use for kitchen twine is to truss a chicken with herbs before roasting.
      By: Lilyana Vynogradova
      A classic use for kitchen twine is to truss a chicken with herbs before roasting.
    • A kitchen.
      A kitchen.
    • Kitchen twine is a sturdy cotton string used to tie meat and ingredients together.
      By: img85h
      Kitchen twine is a sturdy cotton string used to tie meat and ingredients together.
    • Kitchen twine can be trimmed using kitchen shears.
      By: Igor Kovalchuk
      Kitchen twine can be trimmed using kitchen shears.