Spit Roasting

[Miyagi]

Celt Ginger,

A tutorial would be a great idea if you could?

I've never attempted spit roasting a chicken out in the cuds but would love to learn.

Cheers,

Liam

 

[Toddy]

You could have a try at the Comriecroft meet up

Me ? I'm a housewife, boiling the bird first not only cooks it safely and keeps the meat moist, but it gives a starter stock for soup especially if you put the giblets in with the bird to cook.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Miyagi]

You could have a try at the Comriecroft meet up

Me ? I'm a housewife, boiling the bird first not only cooks it safely and keeps the meat moist, but it gives a starter stock for soup lespecially if you put the giblets in with the bird to cook.

cheers,
Toddy

A Housewife? You don't do yourself justice.

Toddy, every time I interviewed folk for a vacant post as a Kitchen Assistant etc., I always employed;

a) Housewives - the majority had given up work to feed their kids/run the house.
b) Housewives - kids had nearly gown up/at college etc., - kids were still alive/unpoisoned, so meant they could cook.
c) Housewives - they usually had their Gran's/Mother's best recipes (which I'd steal when I could).
d) Housewives - they actually turned up for work on time.

See a pattern here?

True about the stock.

I'm only up at Comrie croft on the Saturday, kindly getting a lift from Jonnytheboy so dunno? Possible...

That reminds me!! Gotta take the Polypore out of the freezer...

Liam

 

[caliban]

Would a steel spit help the cooking by conducting heat?

 

[Martyn]

Some time ago, I fancied one of these, but the import costs killed it for me....

Auspit battery operated electric rotisserie..
http://www.auspit.com/

They are (or were) on ebay pretty regularly, but the shipping is horrific.

 

[Biker]

Is that a battery operated rotisserie? If so, you often get those in cheap bar-b-que self assembly kits. I'm sure with a couple of hours tweaking they could be adapted for an open fire set up.

... but there's always your cordless drill and duct tape

Martyn, I googled the name Burt Gummer from your signature expecting some Custer-like General from history. I laughed at the result. Still chuckling in fact. Nice one mate!

 

[jonnno]

Sounds like the way to go is boiling followed by Spatchcocking.

Celt - do you have any more / bigger pictures?

Try this Jonnno. You can also remove the carcas from the chicken and cook it like a Ponassed fish, similar to this....

if you want, I can post a tutorial on how to bone a chicken.

 

[Baaf]

Hi everybody

I'm reading this forum for a while now and i realy enjoy it. I'm a reenactor from the only real city of sin: Amsterdam. On reenactment festivities I mostly do the cooking. Last weekend I helped with a suckling pig of 14 kilo's,it took 7 hours but is was lovely. Next to that i'm also a part time cook.

Okey Spitroasting: It's a good idea to cook your birds beforehand, it saves time and you have less chance on salmonella or other rawmeat diseases.

1.The fire should be made up of a lot of long glowing hot embers: oak is always my favorite. Try to keep flames down to a minimum

2. The key to roasting on a fire is indirect warmth, never put your meat directly above the fire but always next to it. Otherwise because of the warmth the outer skins burns and the fat of the bird creates loads of flames that will also burn your bird.

3. Give your meat time, even for a cooked bird i would say 15 min minutes each side, do it slowly, let the skin turn golden brown. Feel the meat, when its feels firm its ready.

4. While roasting, smear your roast a bundle of delightfull fresh herbs (rosemary, thyme/ laurel) with oil/fat/honey

5. Always use good meat, not intensive reared meat

I always use metal spits so i don't know about a lot about wood, but make sure you use green wood.

And yes you can also use clay,loam or even dough to cook your meat. Last year in Denmark i prepared a leg of deer wrapped in dough in a hot stone pit.

I Hope it helps

Cheers Baaf

 

[jonnno]

So how different does a bird taste when it has been spit roasted from raw vs spit roasted from boiled?

Also, if you are boiling a chicken how do you know if it's cooked properly - same technique - watch for the juices running clear?

 

[Miyagi]

So how different does a bird taste when it has been spit roasted from raw vs spit roasted from boiled?

Also, if you are boiling a chicken how do you know if it's cooked properly - same technique - watch for the juices running clear?

The chicken will go from pink to white and soft.

Allow to drain and cool it in the fridge.

When boiling, any froth or scum that floats is spooned off and thrown out. As Chefs we used to boil the chicken three times or so, this is unecessary.

Like toddy says keep the liquid for stock/soup.

The boiling softens it, don't boil it till it shrinks and falls off the bone - unless making purely for soup.

You won't lose that much flavour, it's like par boiling spuds when making roast tatties really.

From raw you really are taking a chance, if you get it wrong you'll be ill, plus there's the danger of cross contamination in the cuds. limited hand cleaning outside means you make contaminate other foods, utensils etc.

As Baaf said earlier, cook off to the side so that indirect heat is used.

Spit roasting cooks from the outside inwards, boiling cooks it all at once.

Hope this helps,

Liam

 

[Martyn]

Is that a battery operated rotisserie? If so, you often get those in cheap bar-b-que self assembly kits. I'm sure with a couple of hours tweaking they could be adapted for an open fire set up.

... but there's always your cordless drill and duct tape

Martyn, I googled the name Burt Gummer from your signature expecting some Custer-like General from history. I laughed at the result. Still chuckling in fact. Nice one mate!

My hero...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izJGinb6lFA&feature=related

 

[jonnno]

So we've decided between the dozen of us we should be able to tell if the chicken is cooked so we're going to spatchcock and roast from raw on a spit safe in the knowledge that we can just cook it on the grill if things go Pete Tong.

Burning question now is what is the best way using local available wood to attach a few spatchcocked chickens to a spit so that they can be turned but wont fall off?

 

[Toddy]

Green and peeled

Seriously though, if you're taking kids along, soak some bamboo skewers beforehand. They're clean, sharp and they work fine.

Otherwise, I look for hazel, willow or ash.
Don't use cherry, yew, holly, laburnum.
Pine works but it can taint the taste depending on the tree.

Lots of folks more experienced at this than me though. Bound to be loads of other trees you can use.

I find that a split stick grips better, a thumb thick one split into quarters seems to keep the beast where I want it.


best of luck with it

cheers,
Toddy

 

[jonnno]

We have wooden type BBQ skewers to hold the meat out, it's how to attach it to the spit is the issue.

Green and peeled

Seriously though, if you're taking kids along, soak some bamboo skewers beforehand. They're clean, sharp and they work fine.

Otherwise, I look for hazel, willow or ash.
Don't use cherry, yew, holly, laburnum.
Pine works but it can taint the taste depending on the tree.

Lots of folks more experienced at this than me though. Bound to be loads of other trees you can use.

best of luck with it

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Toddy]

Sorry, still editing

I spread the beast out with the skewers, and then carefully thread the spit stick underneath those.
Basically it stretches the meat out over the spit.

Tbh I keep waiting for it to curl up around the spit but it doesn't seem to.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[jonnno]

So how do you turn it over? Surely the spit would just rotate under the skewers?

Sorry, still editing

I spread the beast out with the skewers, and then carefully thread the spit stick underneath those.
Basically it stretches the meat out over the spit.

Tbh I keep waiting for it to curl up around the spit but it doesn't seem to.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Toddy]

No, because it's so tightly held in place. Spread out like that it really only has two sides, so it's up or down that's getting roasted. It's just turned over not spun around.

Am I making myself clear ?

When spit roasting the bird in the round it's easier to use two spits to keep them in place.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Celt_Ginger]

Johnnno, clamp the split spit stick over the chicken AND the skewers. It won't fall off that way and you can rotate it. I wouldn't use Ash for the split stick as Ash burns green almost as well as it burns seasoned. Willow or Hazel are good woods to use.
PM me your number and I'll give you a ring and explain it as it's easier than trying to write it all down.

 

[Toddy]

You're right about ash, but I used it and it was fine. I think I like it because it's 'clean'. Sycamore's good too.
Did someone not start a safe woods to cook with thread ?

cheers,
Toddy

 

[jonnno]

Cheers Celt, unfortunately I didn't get time because we had to go but we'll have to catch up sometime.

Johnnno, clamp the split spit stick over the chicken AND the skewers. It won't fall off that way and you can rotate it. I wouldn't use Ash for the split stick as Ash burns green almost as well as it burns seasoned. Willow or Hazel are good woods to use.
PM me your number and I'll give you a ring and explain it as it's easier than trying to write it all down.