1. Whole chicken
The best first spit braai there is. About 75 minutes, forgiving on timing, and the skin comes off crisp all the way round because the fat runs continuously over it.
Tie the legs and tuck the wings so nothing catches. Two or three fit comfortably on a Family Spit; four to five on a Cater Spit.
2. Rolled pork belly
Rotation is what finally solves crackling. Score the skin, salt it hard, roll and tie at 3cm intervals, and let it turn. Allow roughly 2 hours for a 3kg roll.
Keep the heat medium. Pork belly punishes an impatient fire.
3. Leg of lamb
About 90 minutes and the easiest way to feed a table properly. Slit the meat and push in garlic and rosemary before it goes on, and baste only in the last half hour.
Pull it at 65°C for pink, 70°C for well done, and rest it 20 minutes.
4. Gammon
Underrated and perfect for a crowd. 75 to 90 minutes, glazed in the final 20 with honey and mustard so it caramelises instead of burning.
It carves cold beautifully the next day, which is why caterers keep coming back to it.
5. Beef rib roast
The showpiece. Tie it firmly, balance it carefully, and cook to 60 to 63°C internal for medium before resting.
Beef is the least forgiving of the five because the window between medium and grey is narrow — use a probe, not a guess.
What not to put on a spit
- Fish — too delicate, it falls apart on the rod
- Very lean cuts like fillet — no fat to self-baste with
- Anything you cannot tie into a stable shape
- Frozen or part-frozen meat — the outside burns before the middle thaws
Choosing a spit for the meat you cook
For a household cooking chickens, roasts and gammons, the Family Spit is the one we recommend by a distance — it feeds 6 or more and it is ready to ship.
If you are cooking for paying customers or running services back to back, the Cater Spit takes 12kg at a time on two burners and a mains plug.