Depending on the cost of a new setup it might be worth seeing how much the one you found would be to ship. It sounds like fun. You know you need it.

I've been using a Weber kettle with the rotisserie ring for over 20 years. It's an amazing cooker and you can spin all sorts of meat on it. My favorite is a boneless leg of lamb with Jamaican jerk seasoning:

Leg of Lamb
Recipe by Ricky

We've all had lamb chops and some of us have even had a crown roast of lamb ribs, but most of the time we walk right past the leg of lamb in the butcher's case. Here's a real simple recipe I've used for many years for a great leg of lamb. I've listed two different methods of cooking - oven roasting and rotisserie. In all honesty, you can't match the flavor you get from the rotisserie, but not everyone is so well equipped!

Step 1 - have the butcher butterfly the leg of lamb. This will remove the bone and give you a large irregularly shaped piece of meat. Trim none of the fat! You'll burn it off on the rotisserie and lamb is a very lean meat to begin with. Don't have him tie it, just wrap it up and take it home (after you pay for it.)

Step 2 - marinate the meat with a Jamaican Jerk Rub (see below) Make sure you cover both sides of the meat. Cut l stick of butter or margarine lengthwise and place it on the inside surface of the lamb. Add to that 2 or 3 coarsely chopped onions and 3 or 4 chopped garlic cloves. Tie the lamb into a cylinder shape with cotton butcher's twine. Put the lamb in the refrigerator overnight.

Step 3 - take the lamb out of the refrigerator about an hour before you're ready to start cooking to let it come to room temperature.

Step 4 - Let the lamb spin for 1-1/2 to 2 hours over low to medium flame. You'll know that the lamb is done when the juices flowing from it are clear. Rare is 145 degrees, Medium is 160 degrees, Well is 170 degrees.

Step 5 - carve it while it's still tied up. Don't eat the twine! Enjoy...

Jamaican Jerk Rub

• 4 tablespoons Ground allspice
• 4 tablespoons Dried thyme
• 4 tablespoons Ground Scotch Bonnet Pepper
• 2 tablespoons Freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons Ground sage
• 1 tablespoon Ground nutmeg
• 1 tablespoon Ground cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons Garlic powder
• 4 tablespoons Brown Sugar
• 1 cup dried Chives

Pulverize all ingredients in a food processor. Makes about 1 cup.

I have a rotisserie in my main oven, and one on my little barbecue. Either way, with a couple of nicely trussed chickens going ’round, they come out just fine, but it's a huge mess. A couple of upright wire roastering stands will do just as good a job without aerosolizing all the fat and juice. A ceramic ”beer can” baker works the same but they break too easily. Or you can do the real beer can. Again, I find the results pretty much indistinguishable, and much less mess.

My best way, however, is to remove the spine—I don't bother proper spatchcocking with rmoving the sterum, just press it open, after removing the spine (to the freezer for stock) and roast over veg and some liquid/steam. Flat out like that self bastes too, with negligible spatter. Some kind of sauce containing oil and a bit of sugar will crisp up the skin (I've never gotten crisp from a rotisserie).

" We've all had lamb chops and some of us have even had a crown roast of lamb ribs, but most of the time we walk right past the leg of lamb in the butcher's case. "

I've enjoyed lamb for a long time, it was one of my mother's favorites so I had it growing up. Just like beef, different cuts have different flavors. I prefer thick loin chops or a rack (which is what a "crown roast" is made of) but I will indeed walk right past last leg of lamb in a meat case. I don't care for how it tastes.

Unfortunately, most people are introduced to lamb that has been overcooked and that will rarely make a good impression. Overcooking makes it gamey tasting and (to me) unpleasant. Rare or just a tad more is lamb at its best. Charbroiled and with a garlic and salt rub before cooking is how I prefer it. It has a pleasant taste that shouldn't be overwhelmed with too many seasonings.

I believe your comment about medium being 160 degrees is too high by at least 15 degrees.

petalique, rotisseries have a following, but I think with practices that have developed cooking meat by alternating direct and indirect heat, and other than the "hand's off" advantage a rotisserie offers, I don't think it does anything much different. Other than like cooking whole birds in one piece. Which, aside from Thanksgiving, most people don't do as often as they used to.

After reading this article and seeing the recipe I bought lamb shoulder chops to pan grill.

They're cooked to medium-rare, about 135° to 140°.

https://food52.com/blog/10594-a-lesson-in-lamb-chops-3-cuts-3-tips

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchen/pan-grilled-lamb-shoulder-chops-recipe-3361507#google_vignette

We had a rotisserie when we had a gas grill on our deck. I didn't use it too much, but I loved when I made an eye round roast. I would cut slits in it and insert slivers of garlic, or bits of prosciutto, then dry rub the outside . That was quite a few years ago, but I can still taste it.

My neighbor has one of these plastic, sits on your kitchen counter set ups. She's had us over for rotisserie chicken. It was delicious! Moist. Tender. She said it takes an hour, then dinner is ready.

Just thought I'd throw THIS out there. Everyone needs another kitchen gadget to store. 😏

(I'm currently hung up on boneless, skinless chicken fried in a pan)

“Unfortunately, most people are introduced to lamb that has been overcooked and that will rarely make a good impression.”

I tend to agree. We frequently grill lamb and have had guests comment how different it tastes compared to what they‘ve had in the past. That being said, there are those who simply don’t like lamb no matter how it’s prepared. No rotisserie involved, but a favorite is a butterflied, grilled leg of lamb that’s been marinated as follows.

1 cup dry red wine

3/4 cup soy sauce

4 large cloves garlic, crushed

1/4 cup chopped fresh mint

2 tablespoons slightly bruised fresh rosemary

1 tablespoon coarsely ground black pepper

I seldom roast a whole, trussed up chicken any more. I always spatchcock or debone, season, then roast or grill it flat, turning once. Advantages: the meat gets browned, the seasonings are on the meat not just the skin, the chicken cooks more evenly and faster.

When I want a whole cooked bird, I get a rotisserie chicken from Costco. It is less expensive than I can buy a raw broiler, no effort assuming I’ve something else to do there like fill the gas tank, and honestly it tastes much like what I produce myself.

Once a long time ago, I was studying at Sciences Po so we spent a summer in a little flat in Paris, on Rue de Grenelle in the 6eme. We’d wheel little DD to the shops on the Rue de Bac and pick up a rotiesserie chicken from the boucherie. A French chicken, roasted in a little local shop to the high standards of Parisian shoppers. I can’t honestly say the Costco chicken is all that different.

Chicken doesn’t vary terribly much in flavor, whether it’s an organic chicken from some high-zoot shop in California or a mass market bird from Costco. It’s the brining, cooking, herbs, sauces, etc that make 90% of the difference. At least to my palate, which is not perhaps the most discerning.

I do think the organic chickens are healthier for us. As I get older, I care less. If something isn’t going to kill me in the next 25 years, it is getting less relevant.

I disagree about taste. The pasture raised, heirloom and heritage organic chickens taste better and are worth the price. But that's the chicken, cooked however one pleases.

Air chilled chicken hands down tastes MUCH better than 90% of chicken sold soaked in chlorinated water. No comparison. The premium brand we prefer here is Mary's.

For a chicken to have the right texture and flavour, it needs to have been running around a field. Those cheap, sad chickens are mushy. The meat isn't the same. At least that's what it's like here. At our local market, the guy does cheap chicks and free-range chicks. There's a big difference in price and taste.

After that, there are so many ways to get a delicious chicken..... a rotisserie sounds fun!

We had some of a rotisserie cooked chicken last night. It's amazing how moist they are. I find it incredibly easy to get ours at the local big box store. But then I am not 'yearning' for something more to do! For under $4 we have chicken for a few meals. As far as th quality of the meat, well I have always felt blessed God did not make in me a discerning palate!

A friend of mine has one of those that sits on a counter top and she really likes it. She has had it for a long time and likely that a new one might not be as well made as this one is. It, of course, is electric.

Why the need for one that cooks outside with gas or charcoal? It is only roasting the meat on a spit and doesnt produce the mess and smoke associated with a grill or outdoor cooking. It doesnt have to be an outdoor thing, at all. It can make your house smell like something good is cooking.

There is some merit in some of these counterotop appliances and Ithink that they can be very efficient and be of good service. Unfortunately , so many are such cheap and awful things that they just are not real durable goods.

With an electric countertop roaster you can use it all year around and anytime you want with no real prep or mess outside. Sure, it could be fine to have one in your grill or whatever you use for your outdoor cooking. But doing it that way seems more about theatre than it does about really roasting on a spit. If you want real function that is always accessible, you might consider a countertop electric one. It will do the same thing, but probably better.

Rotis? I let Costco do it ... $5 chicken. Works for me.

I know those store roasted chickens are popular, but I find them to be darned well off putting. The last one I bought at Costco, I just took out and buried in the back yard. I swear that is had an awful memory of some kind of chemical that seemed like some manner of disinfectant or wash of some kind. Then they shoot that bird full of chemicals with lots of salt.

I have also come to a point where I just dont choose to buy most grocery store chickens. Those poor little birds taste of a short and brutal life . It is not that they are meat. I eat meat, just not these poor little poultry house birds laden with chemicals.

You can brine your own chicken and roast it.

I understand that the one at the store is handy and all ready to go, but after a few tries and after that last one , I gave up on them.

I also would never order chicken out at a restaurant unless it was , maybe, the thing that that they specialize in , maybe. Of course, it is sometimes necessary to put aside your preferences and enjoy the social occassion and just go along with it. I certainly wouldnt carry that dislike to a dinner table, as a guest.

Lonejack, Do you roast that pig this way?

We haven't done a pig roast for 20+ years and then it was always cooked in a pit. When we buy a whole pig now we have it processed at the Amish butcher into chops, bacon, ham steaks, sausage, etc.

I agree with those that suggested just doing a beer can chicken rather than a rotisserie.

It is not all about long term effects of eating these chemical laden chickens .It is also about the culinary value of them and there are overall concerns about chicken farming, in general.

I have chosen to put my food dollar towards better quality chicken, and, all meats. If you take any piece of meat and put so darned much seasoning and flavors and spice mixes of all kind to it, that is what you taste.

A good quality piece of meat, however, does not need all of that. The meat has culinary value and can stand on its own and does not need a supporting cast of added flavors.

A good, clean, well raised chicken stewed up will be evidence of the difference between it and one that came in a plastic bag from the store. You will never get that full flavored broth and meat form a scrawny store chicken with yellow fat. I have tried the organic ones from Costco and decided that they still lack in quality. The last Costco organic chicken that I bought I ended up discarding, mostly, just as I did with a roasted one that I had bought some time ago. I wont buy them anymore.

So where do I get chicken? Either I get if from someone I know who raises them or I buy from a local halal butcher that is supplied by a local farm. Not everyone can do that. I understand. In that case I would buy and eat chicken very infrequently. There are other choices and other things to have for dinner. I do shop at a local co op that carries meats and that would probably be my second choice.

Of course, if you are lucky you can raise them yourself and let them pick out in the yard until you are ready to eat them. A small live chicken is natures own packaging!

I have a friend who raises a few chickens for eating and for sharing with friends. She said that it costs her about $15 per chicken, which includes the processing at a local processor. She rasises enough chickens to warrant taking them to a local place to be processed.

Several farms around here have realized taht the halal market is lucrative and this one place closes off general processing one day a week and just does halal chickens. The same is true of some of the other processing places around here. They raise and process meat for that market. The beef from that butcher is also very good.

I use very little seasoning of any kind, as the flesh of the animal stands on its own very well. By the time some get it all seasoned up, they might as well not have bothered with buying quality. It becomes a mere vehicle for sauces and salts and fats, over all.

My toaster oven has a rotisserie, and I've maybe used it twice in ten years. But being a toaster oven, the size of what I could fit inside was very limiting. Still, I agree with those who choose to buy a rotisserie chicken already cooked. I did this a lot in Mexico City, especially when I stayed with friends in Colonial Condesa, who lived across the street from a deli that sold rotisserie chickens through a window, although I usually went inside and also visited the fantastic bakery that was next door.

I do not cook lamb or whole pigs, although I've been to parties where this was done, and the pig was in a pit, as LoneJack described.

I do not feel the need for a rotisserie in order to cook chicken, but I will say that I do notice the difference in flavor from the cheap chickens to the free range chickens.

With an electric countertop roaster you can use it all year around and anytime you want with no real prep or mess outside. Sure, it could be fine to have one in your grill or whatever you use for your outdoor cooking. But doing it that way seems more about theatre than it does about really roasting on a spit. If you want real function that is always accessible, you might consider a countertop electric one. It will do the same thing, but probably better.

"...no real prep or mess outside."

The whole point of summer grilling is to keep the mess and heat outside. Kitchen for side dishes and salads prepped ahead. Clean kitchen before guest arrive. Clean grill grates with a garden hose.

Costco chickens are fine. We used to purchase maybe once a year 10+ years ago. An odd brine that is salty and a thickener, carrageenan (?). Glad they exist for those feeding a large family. So much better than most other processed foods. Tinned beans and vegetables full of salt and sugars.

We like our rotisseries. First one years ago new-in-box at a yard sale. Then came across a couple more for back-ups.

If i was shopping for one today, i would purchase locally and ask about returns. Most of the motors are made in China and may not last long. (my first one died after a couple years but i only paid maybe 5$).

I like that we can set it up and forget it. No real babysitting. Do need to check on it but can do other things nearby.

We can rotis two ducks or three small chickens. Our local farm locked his gate 2020 so i purchased Mary's air chilled, 2 pounders. The farmer is open again. 3 for 20$. Honor system. Minmum three. Pasture raised. His bread and butter is nyc restaurants.

We can use ours year round. I can watch it from my desk inside. Most important is using a commercial grade extension if you need the lenght to an outlet.

Might you lie down with a cool cloth over your eyes and let this pass?

I'm tired just thinking of the greasy mess, but then I'm Eat To Live, not the opposite.

Our Whole Foods has been in a steady decline ever since the Amazon purchase. It's notable in all departments, but especially produce and meat. Still I continued to shop there to get Bell & Evans chicken. Now even that is gone.

I miss a good rotissterie chicken. My parents had a large one and also cooked a roast beef on it.

When I lived on my own, I had a Meal Mart on my way home from the train. They had the best rotisserir chickens.

While I have eaten the Cistco ones or other supermarket versions, the fact that they sit in the bag or container makes the skin soggy. I prefer it crisp.

That's too bad about Whole Foods in your area, Judi. Here, the acquisition seems to have completely transformed its operations in a supercharged way. Better everything, better pricing, better attitudes displayed toward customers.

Before A too many seemed to conduct themselves with an arrogant swagger, like - "yeah, our prices are high. We're not a mass marketer. Either you can afford what we've chosen to sell at the high prices we charge or you're in the wrong place." Now, more sincerely customer friendly, better listening to customer preferences, and a broad expansion of the house label (365) to a lot of good products at fair prices. Very good produce and the best fish counters in the area too.

PS - I find store produced rotisserie chicken hideous. Even at Whole Foods, where they use a better grade of chicken and price it accordingly (not to compete with Costco), it's still lacking. For me, home cooked chicken pieces, whether cooked outside or in the oven, is always better. But not as convenient, I get that.

My folks did rotisserie beef roast too, but after years changed to a V-rack over a drip pan for both beef and chickens. Very similar outcome, though the vertical chicken is a smidge better when I do it.

One of the OP's questions was, ”And doesn’t Rotisserie mean FAT?” Yes and no. Not added fat, except, perhaps, a little ”suntan lotion”. Especially on chickens (maybe orther birds but I haven't tried), a light coating of oil with a little sugar (easy way is salad dressing) will help the skin crisp up.

What rotisserie is supposed to do is make the meat “self baste”. That is, the heat of the fire melts the fat in the meat (bird or mammal) and before it can drip out, the spit turns and the melted fat, via gravity, drips back into the meat. Standard grilling on a wire rack lets the fat drip out. So, yes, you'll end up with more fat in the food. That's where the juiciness comes from (though some of those stores brine their wares, by soaking or injection, so they steam from within rather than baste—that's a way to transform a scrawny bird into nice to eat, but it makes the texture like poached rather than roasted). I know there are health issues in your house, Petalique, and conserving the fat may not be right for you, but it's not that much extra fat, in general, and not really an issue under normal circumstances.

One of the reasons cooking a chicken flattened (butterflied or spatchcocked) is that the same thing happens with a lot less fuss and mess. And no trussing! Most of the fat is under the skin, so it melts and drips down into the meat. Some people don't care about cleanliness of the grill or barbecue and just clean the grate. Given the high heat, that's probably no big deal, healthwise. I hate the spatter from the rotisserie, and the mess. It's not that much, but it's everywhere and smells bad.

That "whatnot" is a deal breaker for some. I've eaten Costco chicken and always wondered how it could be so big and so cheap. Then I did some research.

"You could do a lot worse."

You can also do much better. I don't find the flavor tasty, how many meals you can make from one chicken hardly matters.

We had seven Whole Foods Markets closer to our house in Westchester than the one now that is in Palm Desert, 9.2 miles away. However, I seldom shopped there because I liked Bristol Farms better (much better selection of fish), and it was in Westchester, as well as Gelson's in Marina Del Rey. In Coachella Valley, I like the Gelson's in Rancho Mirage better than the Bristol Farms in Palm Desert (close to Whole Foods). Gelson's has the best selection of fish I've seen here, but now I'll have to check out Whole Foods, as I do remember than that one in El Segundo had a good selection of fish, but not as good as Bristol Farms in Westchester.

I wish that the Santa Monica Seafood Market had a store here. I also used to buy fish at farmer's markets in L.A. directly from fishermen.

I don't find the flavor tasty, how many meals you can make from one chicken hardly matters.

It does for people who struggle to put food on the table.

What part of this thread was a discussion about feeding many mouths with few dollars? I missed that.

On your other question, the reason why chickens are $5 each at Costco is the same reason why hotdogs are $1.50.

What part of this thread

Actually the discussion has evolved to encompass rotisseries, lamb, chicken, and then, tying chicken flavor to expense (free range $$$$) and some say less flavor (mass produced grocery store chicken $). Once the chicken conversation opened the door to expense, bringing up the fact that those on a budget can make several meals from a less expensive rotisserie chicken seems a natural additional evolution.

Did anyone use the word "budget" before you just now?

Not catching this ball.

If your concern is adding heat to the house in the summer, you can always plug the electric one out in the outdoors. My mom used to do that with a countertop oven that she had. She put it right outside the door, in the carport.

I know that folks seem to like those roasted birds, but I will pass. That last one that I bought that reeked of some chemical soak that it had was enough to put me off forever. I dont want something that has been treated to the likes of that. Brine is one thing, but I think that chicken got some kind of chemcial bath before that.

I have come to realize how useful a countertop appliance can be. Too bad that so many are just made to self destruct and are not repairable. THAT is a really big factor, as is the limited counter space. How nice it would be to have a small oven that was a real oven and not a cheap appliance and have that oven really do some nice tricks. Maybe have a roasting spit, a toasting mode, and maybe a nice broil element that is more than an afterthought. But, a small oven, not one that you shove a 20 pound turkey in to. And, a real oven.

Maybe even have a stone for baking that works with the oven and doesnt requrie an hours worth of heating an, otherwise, empty oven to get it hot to bake a little pizza or one loaf of bread. Maybe it could have some steam featrure that aided in getting a nice bread crust.

It is high time to rethink so many of the things that we have taken as being the one and only mode. This applies to many ways that our houses are built and to so many of the things that we fill those houese with. and what we expect from them.

I am waiting to hear of a solar oven being built into the side of house, as a feature and not some wierd quack thing. Or, a solar oven that is part of the rest of the outdoor cooking equipement.

We could make a better world in the future if we dont kill each other first, or get wiped out by the destruction of our earth. We need better quality and less quantity, all the way around, in every thing that we do , use, wear, or eat.

I bought a rotisserie motor from Amazon for $19.50, and with parts from my garage, and I have a working rotisserie for my gas grill for all these years.

When I buy a chicken from Costco, most of the time I put it into the smoker. Wonderful no-work roasted chicken !

Cleaning BBQ mess and equipment? I use a large plastic bin, fill it with water and dissolve a few table spoons of sodium hydroxide (active ingredient in Liquid Plumber) in the water. Soak anything (except aluminum) in the bin overnight. next day just hose of all baked on mess. Not much work. I do put on eye protection and rubber gloves.

Best chickens? I find this video very funny for free range chickens in China:

dcarch

What part of this thread was a discussion about feeding many mouths with few dollars? I missed that.

You're the one who brought it up with your smart aleck comment.

"I don't find the flavor tasty, how many meals you can make from one chicken hardly matters."

Another one, eh? You missed my meaning as did others and are too quick to want to jump me. Same question for you, point me to the comment that mentions $5 chickens as a necessity because of that person having a very limited and tight food budget. To all the others commenting for whom this is apparently not the case, I made my comment.

It's not unlike "life is too short to drink bad wine". You want to continue with your misunderstanding, go ahead.

You'll note mine was not the only comment about how factory produced and mass cooked chicken had inferior flavor. No, you won't both, that insight would send you in a direction you don't want. Only arcy had the intellectual honesty to say that because of not having a discerning palate, it doesn't matter to her.

Thanks for your many responses. Lots of good information, suggestions and comments and recipes.

I am still thinking about it, but will probably hold off until next year.

I like the idea of being able to:

~ Cook outdoors in hot weather and not heat up the house

~ Being able to not have to tend to it

~ The flavor and I imagined rotisserie cooking seasoned vegetables in one of those wire baskets

~ We already have lots of free wood — not thae same as charcoal, but I can burn down into coals

But the drawbacks include:

~ In hot, humid weather I’m not sure I want to be outdoors (this global warming is not agreeing with me)

~ I might end up attracting black bears

~ I will be tempted to dine or more meat, salt and saturated fat than is prudent

~ Yet one more thing to store and clean up and I’m not sure that DH is enthusiastic

~ Only two of us here

~ Maybe a mess

(to be continued)

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