Skewer and roasting question

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MarkinLondon

Nomad
May 17, 2013
325
1
Bedfordshire
I found a lamb roast in the freezer that's rolled and tied into a perfect three inch diameter tube that's filled with stuffing. it has a good thin layer of fat around the entire outside. The stuffing is about 1.5 inches and runs right down the centre of the roast. My guess is that after it defrosts I can push out the stuffing, leaving a perfect hole for a thick wooden skewer, and spit roast it over a fire.

My question is really about the skewer. If the roast were in the oven, it would take over an hour to finish cooking. Would a thick piece of green wood last that long over a fire before drying out and bursting into flames?? Would you shave the bark off to keep it reasonably clean, and would that also make it more flammable? My sense is that it would. Perhaps I could simply shave the bark off the part that touches the meat.

Does anyone else spit-roast meat like this??
 

Macaroon

A bemused & bewildered
Jan 5, 2013
7,209
362
73
SE Wales
I've roasted meat on a spit for donkey's years, and I do it in a very simple way. I use either Hazel or Birch to do it and I strip the bark off entirely, point one end and push it through; leave the stuffing and just work the skewer in through the hole carefully, you'll only lose a bit. If you have the meat and skewer near enough to a fire hot enough to make the skewer burn
you will have burnt the meat long before the wood, so it's self-regulating. for the best result you want to roast slowly, so the meat cooks through without the outside burning, and the skewer will easily cope with these temperatures :)
 

dwardo

Bushcrafter through and through
Aug 30, 2006
6,451
475
46
Nr Chester
One thing usually over looked is stopping the meat spinning whilst you try to rotate the skewer. Various ways to solve this with wire or lateral mini skewer sticks.
Much easier to pre think this than try to do it when its red hot ;) Heat reflectors work well. Adjust cooking times depending on the weather and fire.
 

atlatlman

Settler
Dec 21, 2006
750
0
ipswich
I found a lamb roast in the freezer that's rolled and tied into a perfect three inch diameter tube that's filled with stuffing. it has a good thin layer of fat around the entire outside. The stuffing is about 1.5 inches and runs right down the centre of the roast. My guess is that after it defrosts I can push out the stuffing, leaving a perfect hole for a thick wooden skewer, and spit roast it over a fire.

My question is really about the skewer. If the roast were in the oven, it would take over an hour to finish cooking. Would a thick piece of green wood last that long over a fire before drying out and bursting into flames?? Would you shave the bark off to keep it reasonably clean, and would that also make it more flammable? My sense is that it would. Perhaps I could simply shave the bark off the part that touches the meat.

Does anyone else spit-roast meat like this??

I have never used wood to roast a large piece of meat. A few years back me and a couple of friends chipped in together to buy a whole loin of pork to cook on our camping trip. We were also wondering the same thing. So in the end we persuaded some bloke on a near by building site to give us three of those steel spikes with a little U shape at the top. You often see them sticking out of the ground on construction sites but I can't remember what they are called. We kept two as they were and the third we pointed on a grinder and on the opposite end we put a wooden handle. It worked a treat, with the meat roasting in the middle and two long trench fires either side.
 

VANDEEN

Nomad
Sep 1, 2011
351
1
Newcastle Upon Tyne
So in the end we persuaded some bloke on a near by building site to give us three of those steel spikes with a little U shape at the top. You often see them sticking out of the ground on construction sites but I can't remember what they are called.

They call them "road pins" or Sometimes "fencing pins"

The advantage of using a metal skewer through the middle is that it conducts the heat so you're cooking from the inside as well as the outside. I've got some nice little aluminium rods for doing baked spuds, I recon it halves the cooking time in the oven.

Toilet digger did a very slow smoke/roast leg of something using some fencing wire we scavenged one day up at . It must have been suspended above the fire for a good 4 hours & it was tender as anything.

He reconned the main thing was to try and get the outside to seal & don't keep stabbing it & letting the juices out.
 
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atlatlman

Settler
Dec 21, 2006
750
0
ipswich
Thanks for that Vandeen. It's been doing my nut in not remembering what they are called. Like you say it cooks the meat in the middle quicker. Still took about three hours to cook, mind you it was a large piece of pork.
 

atlatlman

Settler
Dec 21, 2006
750
0
ipswich
Here you are Mark.

mxc-2pcA1wrWb46xIrWEKSQ.jpg
 

andyc54

Settler
Dec 28, 2010
601
0
44
durham
They call them "road pins" or Sometimes "fencing pins"

The advantage of using a metal skewer through the middle is that it conducts the heat so you're cooking from the inside as well as the outside. I've got some nice little aluminium rods for doing baked spuds, I recon it halves the cooking time in the oven.

Toilet digger did a very slow smoke/roast leg of something using some fencing wire we scavenged one day up at . It must have been suspended above the fire for a good 4 hours & it was tender as anything.

He reconned the main thing was to try and get the outside to seal & don't keep stabbing it & letting the juices out.
That lamb was fantastic still remember it now and the pork mmmm, first time my daughter had tried it now she loves it and a great way to recycle a bit of fence wire :)
Enjoy it something about cooking a joint of meat over a real fire can't be beat
 

MarkinLondon

Nomad
May 17, 2013
325
1
Bedfordshire
So the entire "fencing wire" suggestions is simply to wrap the joint TIGHTLY around the skewer? You know, I've been camping for many years and have never tried doing this :)

And I'm liking the duelling trench fires…. perhaps it's a smaller version of the Swedish long log fire… hmmmmm. This is going to happen.
 
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andyc54

Settler
Dec 28, 2010
601
0
44
durham
So the entire "fencing wire" suggestions is simply to wrap the joint TIGHTLY around the skewer? You know, I've been camping for many years and have never tried doing this :)

Wrapped it around the meat then hung from a stick we had no way to cook it as it was to big for the Dutch oven.it was a inspired idea, then we just cut off chunks of meat with our knives no veg or owt all in a very primal fashion lol
 

atlatlman

Settler
Dec 21, 2006
750
0
ipswich
So the entire "fencing wire" suggestions is simply to wrap the joint TIGHTLY around the skewer? You know, I've been camping for many years and have never tried doing this :)

And I'm liking the duelling trench fires…. perhaps it's a smaller version of the Swedish long log fire… hmmmmm. This is going to happen.

I didn't wrap fencing wire around mine, the road pin held it in place. The loin did slip at the beginning but after it shrunk it stopped slipping. I did wrap mine in silver foil though for the first couple of hours and removed it for the last hour or so, just to crisp it up. The idea behind the two trench fires was so we didn't have to cook directly over the fire and scorch the meat.
 

atlatlman

Settler
Dec 21, 2006
750
0
ipswich
I've picked up a few tips off these guys over the last few years. I can't stop watching their vids.:)

[video=youtube;SUKwIpAfHnI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUKwIpAfHnI[/video]
 

Blaidd

Nomad
Jun 23, 2013
354
0
UK
Heard of them, first time watching.. Thanks for the link! I'll keep an eye on them!

via Tapatalk mind control.
 

crosslandkelly

A somewhat settled
Jun 9, 2009
26,265
2,212
67
North West London
I've done chicken like this, so it should work for Lamb.

P1010077.jpg P1010078.jpg

The end of skewer sitting in the larger fork is squared, and sits in a squared notch in the fork, so turns 90degrees at a time and locks. The small skewer is pushed through the chicken and a pre made slit in the main skewer.
 

atlatlman

Settler
Dec 21, 2006
750
0
ipswich
I have been meaning to make a parrilla grill for the last couple of years but have never got around to making it. One day.:)

345px-Preparing_the_Asado.jpg
 

atlatlman

Settler
Dec 21, 2006
750
0
ipswich
Drooling and tapping my feet at the same time. That's a new one for me.:)

[video=youtube;EdYEZKj96i4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdYEZKj96i4[/video]
 

mrcharly

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jan 25, 2011
3,257
44
North Yorkshire, UK
Slightly off-topic, but old bicycle spokes (stainless ones) make really good skewers. I've used for BBQs, camping, in the kitchen oven . . . They are highly corrosion-resistant stainless steel and anyone who has worn out a bicycle rim has 32 or so of them.
 

atlatlman

Settler
Dec 21, 2006
750
0
ipswich
Slightly off-topic, but old bicycle spokes (stainless ones) make really good skewers. I've used for BBQs, camping, in the kitchen oven . . . They are highly corrosion-resistant stainless steel and anyone who has worn out a bicycle rim has 32 or so of them.

Or you could keep them on the wheel to rotate the meat. :)
 

Quixoticgeek

Full Member
Aug 4, 2013
2,483
23
Europe
One small point that is often overlooked, or atleast misunderstood.

You don't roast meat over a fire. You roast it next to the fire.

Build the fire so it is as long as the meat on it's spit. Get it up with a good bed of hot embers, keep this ember bed going, feeding the fire all the while. Turning the meat as it cooks. You want the juices that come out the meat to drip next to the fire, not onto it where flames then come up and this will scorch the meat, rather than cooking it through.

Hope this is of use.

J
 

MarkinLondon

Nomad
May 17, 2013
325
1
Bedfordshire
One small point that is often overlooked, or atleast misunderstood.

You don't roast meat over a fire. You roast it next to the fire.

Build the fire so it is as long as the meat on it's spit. Get it up with a good bed of hot embers, keep this ember bed going, feeding the fire all the while. Turning the meat as it cooks. You want the juices that come out the meat to drip next to the fire, not onto it where flames then come up and this will scorch the meat, rather than cooking it through.

Hope this is of use.

J

Good advice…. I suppose that it's not much different from a BBQ. Drops cause flareups, and that's a bad thing. My sense is that a second cooking fire is required, perhaps to the side or adjoining the main fire. As the wood burns down to coals, I'll simply shift them over (and next to the meat.)
 

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