How to Make Decorative Frills for Turkey or A Crown Roast From Napkin and Foil

        I am going to share the technique of how to make beautiful and at the same time, practical and useful frills to cover the end of bones of a turkey, chicken, lamb, and veal cutlets, crown roast bones, bones in steaks, or dish with handle served hot (see examples photos below). All kinds of frills we can make with this technique from small to large, from napkins or from paper. My decorative frills technique is very flexible and doesn’t need additional supplies, just cooking foil.

       I remember I was working as a cook and we had on the menu chicken Kiev (stuffed chicken breast with a small bone in it). We make chicken leg frills in advance when we were not busy. We served this dish as presentable and very attractive because we cover the bone with frills. I know, someone going to say, old fashion way… Personally to me, it looks classic and neat. Frills much better look than bare bone on the plate or covered bone just with foil, as some restaurants do cover the bone. I always was thinking about the easy solution when serving my husband, for example, stuffed chicken drumsticks. One day I came up with the idea, I wish I knew it many years ago when was working at the restaurant!

I suggest don’t use tape or staples to hold together the frill! Easy but not safe to serve with food.

        In restaurants in Russia, we had strict rules on how to serve food with frills and when. We can’t use tape on it when I was working and leaving there. The reason is very simple, the tape or glue from the tape can get into the serving food. Using staples never even cross my mind but I saw online some people use them in relation to food, so I mention them. Steples are so small metal pieces and if it will be lost in the food it can bring a big disaster.

       We can use paper chicken booties not only for decorative purposes. If we carve birds on the fancy holiday table looks much nicer and less messy, if we hold the bird with a napkin frill instead of bone directly. Another important reason to use frills, protect our hands from the heat of the bone. Of course, the visual effect is the reason to use frills too. For example, chicken or lamb chop served with frills keeps memories of the festive meal for years!

In the photo above, the Baked rosemary lemon chicken recipe

*We can buy online premade frills to dress up our table for Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, and other holidays. Search for “regency chop frills decorative holders for chops and chicken legs” or “white paper chop holders”. However, homemade alternatives are so much better because we can adjust to custom sizes easily and make them from any desired color or design.