Friday, June 15, 2012

Cooking with a Chicken Rotisserie

By Jamie Blanchford


Like most people you were probably raised eating chicken 3 or 4 times a week. Everyone loves a well cooked chicken. In the United States chicken is the number one selling meat, out selling, steak, fish or turkey.

Chicken is delicious, nutritious and popular, which is exactly why you should consider buying a chicken rotisserie. If you love roasted chicken, rotisseries prepare it perfectly. Some of you might not be all that familiar with rotisseries, so we've put together some basic information to help you understand how this method of cooking actually works.

Rotisseries: not just plain roasting

Most of us enjoy a long, slow roasted chicken. Roasting is a great way to cook meat and for many of us an ideal meal. Professional Chefs will tell you the best selling menu items are entrees that feature meats like chicken, pork or beef.

Rotisserie cooking is a roasting method that gives you all the advantages of indirect heat and prevents the typical problems associated with conventional cooking. How can this be?

What makes electric rotisseries better for roasting than conventional ovens is the "spit." The spit is the metal fork that holds and slowly rotates the chicken as it cooks. A continuous turning of the chicken, helping the meat cook more evenly, yields meat that is moister and more tender than oven roasted meats usually are.

If you believe "basting" is the secret to a well cooked turkey then you'll be happy to know that by continuously rotating meat a rotisserie essentially is basting the meat it is cooking automatically. Once you have racked your chicken on the rotisserie spits you can walk away from your kitchen knowing when the rotisserie is finished the roasting process your chicken will be perfectly juicy and tender.

What we do recommend when you are cooking chicken rotisserie-style is that you marinade the bird for at least a few hours to make the flavor really stick to the meat. If you are using dry rubs for your chicken, it is a good idea to cut little slits on the skin of the chicken, so that there are numerous "flavor pockets" throughout the chicken.

You also don't need to worry about eating too much chicken once it's ready, because using a chicken rotisserie reduces the meat's natural fat content. As the spit rotates the fat drips off the chicken, but the natural juices that provide flavor and moisture remain inside the meat. Some home ovens are designed to let you add a spit or rotisserie fork, so you might want to look at yours to see if that's a possibility. Some large ovens even feature motors for rotisserie cooking.

If you're lucky enough to have an oven which is able to rotate a rotisserie spit, you won't need to buy one of the dedicated rotisseries. But don't panic if your oven doesn't have this setup, because a chicken rotisserie can be picked up pretty cheaply. Now, everyone can prepare and enjoy restaurant-quality chicken at home!




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