One of the best investments I ever made was in a rotisserie attachment for my grill.
Roasts are cheaper then cuts, for the most part and by roasting off a top round or a trussed turkey breast, I can make my own “lunch meats” for the kids to make sandwiches for pennies on the pound compared to deli style lunch meats. In addition, I can spit roast a chicken in the summer without having to heat up the house and have half for dinner one night, meat for our traditional summer salad bar nights and then save the carcases for stock. My family is not big on dark meat, so the thighs and legs get cut up and put in the freezer for soups, casseroles, pot pie or chicken and dumplings.
The only regret I have is that my grill is too small to roast 2 birds at a time.
Oh, and it makes the best pork roast for S. Carolina Pulled Pork that I have ever had.
Here is the chicken I the other night:
Say hi to chuckles.
I took out that stupid pop up timer. Those things are worthless.
When you cook a chicken, you go by the temperature of the thickest part of the thigh, why would you put one in the breast? By the time that thing pops up, your breast meat is saw dust. Bye-Bye Belly button.
This is what I put in that guy. A lemon, Sage and thyme form my garden, parsley, garlic cloves peppercorns, and some coarse sea salt.
He looks pretty full, huh?
Then I trussed this baby up. Julia Childs would not be too impressed with this job, but he wasn’t cooperating. We truss him so his parts don’t flop all over the place. Consider it a poultry athletic supporter. I would hate to have to watch him doing jumping jacks as he rotated in there. Just thinking about it is a bit disturbing.
I put chuckles on the spit and put the spit on the grill. In order to get him to fit with a drip pan, I have to remove the grates and out the pan right on the drip diffusers. I have a 3 burner grill so only the two outer burners are on. This creates an indirect heat and when the lid is closed it works like an oven. In pan, I put some water (so it doesn’t burn) a bit of lemon, garlic and some wood chips I had soaked. When the water cooks out, the wood chips will add a bit of a smokey flavor.
This picture does not do it justice. Two hours later and the skin was a nice golden brown and this guy was ready to take off and rest.
I don’t have any pics of him carved up; the tribe was restless for dinner. I went to reach for the camera and I got a collective moan.
I am now very hungry and want a new grill and a rot!
How long does this usually take to cook? I was thinking of getting a “set-it-and-forget-it” rotisserie, but this may be a more affordable option!
Michelle, this chicken was about 7 lbs and took under 2 hours. I would figure the general rule of 20 min per pound just like in the oven. It will all come down to how hot the grill is when closed and how often you open it to check on it. I had mine set at an average of 350 degrees by setting my 2 outer burners on almost high. when you figure I paid under 30.00 for my rotisseries attachment, it was well worth the cost compared to you-know-who’s. And if you add some soak wood chips… MMMMmmmmm
Hola thumbs up for the cool entry.
Nikki,
You keep referring to the chicken as a Him. A chicken is definitely a ‘Her’. Unless you found a place that sells roosters.
I am sure it is a her, but I may have been imagining spitting and roasting another “him” at the time. LOL! You’re next!