How To Cook On A Rotisserie Barbecue
To see a demonstration of how a rotigrill works, please click on the "play" icon below the video box on your right. You will see a demonstratiion of how to rotisserie, filmed at an outdoor, food fair event. To see the video in "full screen" format, click the icon on the botton right of the video screen (it has 4 arrows pointing outwards. Rotisserie cooking is one of the oldest and most established methods of cooking. It is healthy and ensures that your food remains moist and thoroughly cooked. It is also a very social way of barbecue entertaining . With a traditional BBQ, you have to stand and watch over your cooking, but with a rotisserie, once the food is loaded, you can virtually leave it alone, to spend more time with your guests.
Starting Up
This method can be used with any charcoal bbq. We recommend the use of lumpwood charcoal and not bbq briquettes. Firstly, fill the fire tray with charcoal. Now create a hole right to the bottom of the tray. Drop one section of bbq firelighter into the hole. Now built a pyramid over the hole. Light the firelighter and then place a large, flat piece of charcoal on the top. Gaps in the charcoal create a blast furnace effect and within 15 minutes the firelighter will have burned out. Depending on the size of your barbecue, you may have to create more than one hole. Now rake the coals so that any unburned charcoal is mixed with the burned charcoal. Leave for another 15 minutes and you are ready to use your bbq.
Topping Up The Charcoal
About every 30 to 45 minutes top the bbq up the charcoal. Don't over do it, or you will kill the heat. A reasonable top up is where you can still see the grey of the hot charcoal, through the top up. In hot, sunny conditions, you only have to top up your bbq about every 45 minutes, wheeras in cold and windy conditions, every 30 minutes should do the trick.
Balancing Meat On Rotisserie Skewers
This is probably one of the most important things to do before you start your rotisserie bbq. Unbalanced meat, or meat that is not held firmly onto a rotisserie skewer, will damage your rotisserie motor, often beyond repair. Take the time to balance the meat properly. If this takes several efforts, so be it. Your rotisserie motors will last a long time.
Cooking On A Rotisserie BBQ
Unlike normal bbq's, rotisserie bbq's take the guesswork out of cooking. You can weigh your meat and calculate the exact rotisserie cooking time. With a traditional bbq, it is often the case of burnt and undercooked meat. With a rotisserie bbq, it is difficult to overcook joints. Two things can affect your cooking on a rotisserie or bbq; the amount of heat being generated by the charcoal and the height of the meat above the fire. If you follow the start up procedure above, you will have plenty of heat from the charcoal. If you are cooking something like beef and wish to sear the outside in order to retain juices, then lower the meat for no more than 10 minutes (be careful not to burn the meat). Then raise the meat to its regular cooking height. As a general rule, if a lot of fat drips out and you get "flaring" or flames, then raise the height until everything settles down. During cooking, meat shrinks as the moisture content evaporates. Care needs to be taken to take the meat off your rotisserie so that you can adjust the meat forks so that the meat continues to be held firm. You can also lower the meat towards the end of cooking to achieve really good crackling. Always remember that for the best roasting results, rest the meat for about 20 minutes in foil.. The meat is still cooking during this time and a process of tenderisation is continuing. You will also find that when you open the foil that you will have luscious juices to pour over your meat. At the end of cooking, check that the meat has reached its correct temperature by using a bbq thermometer. Or you can pierce the meat right through with a kebab skewer and see the colour of the juices that flow out. If they are red, your meat is under done. Pink and the meat is medium rare and clear means the meat is well cooked.
Using Kebab Rotisseries
Rotisserie cooking is not just about large joints of meat turning on a spit. Kebab rotisseries enable you to let your imagination go and produce some wonderfully creative dishes. Generally, kebabs take only a short time to cook, compared to the main spit roast. The picture below shows some salmon cooked with orange pepper, which has been sperad with coriander butter.
Kebab cooking usually takes place when the main joint is resting. Either remove some charcoal or push it away from under where the kebab skewers will rest. You do not need intense heat to produce good kebabs. Do not be confused with kebabs that are bought from a catering van. Have a look at some of our kebab dishes, by clicking recipes. TIP: To secure meat on a kebab skewer place a small piece of potato at either end of the food to be cooked. Gently squeeze the potatoes (and the food in between) and your food will remain firm on the skewer.
Barbecue Grill
We do not ignore the traditional grill however and you will find that grilling is an option on most rotigrill models.
The height adjustment on Rotigrills, makes grilling a really sucessful operation. So there's no need to burn or undercook black chicken breasts, sausages or burgers. Most charcoal barbecues do not have this facility.
Rotisserie and BBQ Recipes
We have a number of recipes on this site, (please see below for the link). In general terms, when roating a joint of meat, you will experience an age old method of cooking. Rotisseries retain all those lovely juices that provide flavour. You can also cook the meat exactly as you want it, fast and rare or slow and tender. Recipes for rotisseries include kebabs, which many people find amazing. Marinades and sauces add to the opportunites of rotisserie receipe options
Please click on the following at the top of this page or click on these links:
"Recipes" for more outdoor cooking ideas
"How to Roast a Pig" for cooking a Hog Roast
"Guide To Rotisserie Cooking" for general information on how to cook on our rotisserie bbq products
If you require any specific advice on how to rotisserie, please call us on 01494 511368 or email: ask@rotigrill.com
