Spit cooking is similar to stick cooking, the only difference being that larger amounts of food can be cooked on a spit. As in stick cooking, food is placed near a heat source and rotated until cooked.
For spit cooking, a large fire is required so that you can have an adequate number of coals available all the time. You'll also need a crossbar of some type to place the food on and supports to hold the bar evenly balanced over the coals.
Improvised Spits
Wooden dowels make convenient spits, but the wood is usually slick and smooth. In that case, you should drill holes through the dowel so the food can be wired on and held steady. If you don't wire the food, it will tend to flop to the heavy side and not cook evenly. Dowels come in many different diameters, so you're sure to find one that suits your needs.
Support for Spits
You can make supports for spits in a variety of ways. One of the easiest is to use a few bricks or cement blocks, preferably the types that have holes in the center. Place the bricks on opposite sides of the coals where the spit is to be supported and then suspend the spit across the middle. Place two sticks vertically through two holes in each brick to keep the spit from rolling off.
Again, you can control the temperature easily by removing or adding bricks. To raise the heat, remove a brick. To lower the heat, place another brick underneath, raising the food higher above the coals.
Another method of suspending the spit is to place flat rocks on top of each other to form supports above the coals. Or use two 2 x 2s, hammering nails at an angle so that a dowel spit can be suspended on the rungs formed by the nails. Place nails every two inches so the stick can be raised or lowered as the temperature needs to be adjusted. A similar spit can be made from two metal pipes by welding small rungs or ledges onto them so the spit can be suspended from the rungs. You should plan to weld at least two or three rungs or ledges to each pipe so the stick holding the food can be raised or lowered. You're now ready to prepare beef, ham, or pork roasts, whole chickens, game birds, and other larger meat cuts.
WEB SITE: www.dianthomas.com
E-MAIL: diantv@aol.com