Spit roasted meat

Everybody loves succulent spit roasted meat cooked slowly over several hours. So what is the secret to cooking that perfect spit roasted meat?

There are a couple of essential steps to follow to guarantee your spit roasted meat remains the topic of conversation for weeks to come!

Purchasing your spit roasted meat:

Lambs and pigs will need to be ordered 1 week in advance, however other cuts of meat will be readily available from the supermarket or butcher. If you are pressed for time, you can purchase pre-marinated meat, otherwise you can do it yourself. 

Allow 1 kg of meat per person if you are spit roasting a whole lamb or pig, otherwise 300g per person should suffice.

Preparing your spit roasted meat: 

There are hundreds of recipes for spit roast marinades and spice rubs, but I believe it is best to keep it simple. The last thing you want is to add so many flavours over powers the taste of your spit roasted meat. Mix together salt, pepper and oregano and rub around your meat. Make small incisions using a knife and insert slithers of garlic. Allow the meat to sit at least an hour beforehand.

Prepare a basting mixture of salt, olive oil and lemon juice for basting your spit meat while cooking.

Remember if you're cooking a whole animal, it's good to give it a bit of a wash beforehand! 

Our new years day lunch taking its final bath!

Lighting your Charcoal

To give your spit roasted meat that authentic smokey flavour, I recommend using charcoal rather than other fuels such gas or heat beads. While it is possible to cook spit roasted meat using gas or heat beads, I have found that you simply cannot compare the flavour.  

The amount of charcoal you will need will vary depending on the amount of meat you are cooking. Charcoal is generally sold in 5, 10 or 20kg bags. As an approximate guide, allow 1 kg of charcoal for each kg of spit roasted meat.

Do not add all the charcoal in at once, as you will need to top up the charcoal throughout the cooking process. Start off by lighting approximately two-thirds of the charcoal and leave the remaining third for ‘top ups’. For example, if spit roasting a 20kg lamb, you will start out adding approximately 13kgs when you initially light your fire, and save the remaining 7kgs to ‘top up’ when your fire starts to dwindle as required.

Place charcoal in the middle of the tray and spread out to the approximate length of your spit roasted meat. Your line of charcoal should be as long as your spit roasted meat, approximately 10cm in width and 10cm in height. Once you have determined how much charcoal you require, push the charcoal into the middle of the tray and light at least 45 minutes prior to putting your spit roasted meat over the fire. Fire lighters will assist in getting the charcoal to ignite. A charcoal fire starter will also assist you in lighting your fire. Fill the fire starter with charcoal, light 3 fire starters in your spit close together and place the fire starter over the ignited fire starter

 

Once the charcoal is well lit and you are almost ready to place your spit roasted meat over the fire, spread out of charcoal to the length of your spit roasted meat You will need to place more charcoal around the most ‘meaty’ part of your animal i.e. more charcoal is required around the front/back legs compared to the stomach. It is important that the charcoal is not sitting directly under your spit roasted meat because as it cooks, you do not want the juice and fat dripping onto the charcoal. Should the juice or fat drip onto the charcoal, the charcoal may catch fire which may result in part of your spit roasted meat burning. 

Securing your spit roasted meat to the spit

If cooking pieces of spit roasted meat such as gyros, chickens, roasts etc rather than a whole animal, push the spit roasted meat through the pointy end of the skewer and hold into place with a fork/prong on either side. Try to push the spit roasted meat evenly onto the skewer so the weight of the meat is evenly distributed.

If spit roasting a whole animal, insert 1 prong/fork through the back legs and 1 prong/fork through the shoulders and insert a back brace through the spine of the animal and onto the skewer. Legs can either be secured using leg brackets, or stainless steel wire. Once you have seasoned the inside of your animal, use either wire or a thick needle and butchers string to stitch up the cavity.

It is imperative that you balance your spit meat correctly otherwise you will damage your spit roaster motor. To check that your spit roasted meat is balanced correctly, you should be able to put your skewer on the spit (without the motor) and slowly turn the skewer by hand without the load swinging down and dropping to the heavier size. If you are having difficulties balancing your load, a counter balance weight will assist.

Make sure you check the spit roasted at various times during the cooking process. Sometimes the thumbscrews can loosen, or the spit roasted meat may shrink and the forks may need to be adjusted, so keep a clean pair of pliers handy just in case. Always ensure you first switch the motor off at the power source and pull the motor’s plug out of the socket prior to fixing/re-adjusting the load!

Cooking temperature

Your spit roasted meat should be placed approximately 15cm from the coals while cooking and you should be able to hold your hand just under the spit roasted meat for approximately 10 seconds. If you cannot withstand the heat, the spit roasted meat will burn and you need to increase the distance between the charcoal and the meat. Alternatively, if you can hold your hand beyond 10 seconds, your meat will take too long to cook so you need to put your meat closer to the charcoal and add additional charcoal. Note: once you add additional charcoal, the temperature of the fire will decrease until the newly added charcoal is well ignited. It is therefore prudent to add more charcoal immediately once you notice that the charcoal is cooling down.

Basting your spit roast

Basting is an important part of the cooking process to ensure your meat doesn’t dry out while cooking.  Every half and hour is a good guide, however anytime you happen to be walking past should be fine. A typical basting mixture for spit roasted meat is 1 part lemon juice to 1 part olive oil mixed with a tablespoon of salt. This mixture is ideally applied with a sprig of fresh rosemary, however a basting brush will also do the job. Garlic lovers may also wish to add crushed garlic to the mixture

Knowing when your spit roast is ready

Cooking time will vary depending on the diameter and weight of your spit roasted meat, however as a guide: 

• Small roast 15cm diameter - 2.5 hours
• 2kg chicken – 2.5 hours
• Roast 25cm diameter – 4 hours
• 10kg lamb/pig- 4 hours
• 15kg lamb/pig- 5 hours
• 20kg lamb/pig- 6 hours
• 2kg chicken- 1.5hours

Cooking on a spit roast is not an exact science. There are several variables which impact on the cooking times. The best was to ensure you don’t over or undercook your meat is to test the internal temperature of the meat with a cooking thermometer.

Beef and Lamb	Pork	Chicken
Rare  60°C (140°F)	Medium 65°C (149°F)	Minimum    75°C (167°F)
Medium 65°C (149°F)	Well Done 75°C (167°F)
Well Done 70-75°C (158-167°F)

If you don’t have a thermometer, pierce the thickest part of the beast with a skewer or knife. The juices should run clear, without any trace of pink

Happy spit roasting!