From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  (Redirected from Rotiserie)
Jump to: navigation, search
Rotisserie chicken cooking on a horizontal rotisserie


In medieval and early modern kitchens, the spit was the preferred way of cooking meat in a large household. A servant, preferably a boy, sat near the spit turning the metal rod slowly and cooking the food; he was known as the "spit boy" or "spit jack". Mechanical turnspits ("roasting jacks") were later invented, first powered by dogs on treadmills, and then by steam power and mechanical clockwork mechanisms. The spit could also be powered by a turbine mounted in the chimney with a worm transmission for torque and speed conversion. Spits are now usually driven by electric motors.


Horizontal rotisserie[edit]



Spitted fowl are rotated by a hand crank and basted with a long-handled spoon in this illustration from the Romance of Alexander, Bruges, 1338-44 (Bodleian Library)


The speed of rotation can vary, depending on the type of food being cooked and proximity to the heat source. Large animals, such as whole pigs, are often cooked at speeds ranging from 3 rpm to 1 rpm. Ron Popeil, inventor of the Ronco "Showtime" rotisserie oven, claims that 6 rpm is an ideal speed for cooking a variety of food. Generally speaking, when a whole animal is being spit roasted, it is best rotated faster in the early part of the roasting, to help interior temperature rise without burning the exterior. Once the exterior has started to crust, then the rate of rotation is adjusted down so as to minimize dripping. This allows juices and drippings to stay on, thus maximizing flavor. The latter is particularly important if using a horizontal spit and coals or an open fire, in which case the drippings cannot be salvaged for basting. For a horizontal spit, it is also preferable to keep the roast further away from the heat source in the beginning, which minimizes infrared heating while preserving air convection heating. Later on, the roast is brought closer, thus combining intense convection and radiation heating.

Supermarkets commonly mass-produce rotisserie chickens using a vertical rotisserie that has metal bars to hold the chicken in place through the weakest part of the breast (also which hardly affects the meat itself from the impaling, but still holds the chicken firmly in place) and the densest part of the chicken (located just below the drumstick of the chicken).

Vertical rotisserie[edit]

A vertical rotisserie cooking Döner kebab

Another style of rotisserie is the vertical rotisserie in which the heat is applied directly from the side or, less commonly, convected up from below. In this style of rotisserie, balance of the load is less important than with a horizontal rotisserie; this feature is useful, as the meat is typically shaved off a bit at a time.

Some dishes that are commonly cooked on a vertical rotisserie include:

See also[edit]


External links[edit]