SC - Spits (was: The Kitchen article)

[david friedman]

At 1:09 AM -0500 3/11/00, Nick Sasso wrote:
>Jeff Gedney wrote:
>  >
><<<SNIP>>>
>  >
>  > > Spits were long poles of wood on which an animal could be secured.
>  > metal, is more likely. a wooden spit can only be used a couple of times
>  > before they burn through
>
>When considering these two bits of information together, I suspect that
>wooden spits were not as disposable as all that.  I have a motorized
>spit for roasting up to 250 lb. animal on it.  It is an ash spit that is
>quite reusable.  the man who built it has a spit that he has used a
>dozen times without appreciable fire damage (6-8 hours of roasting per
>session).
>
>By controlling the size of the bed of coals and banking, I keep the heat
>restricted to an area roughly the size of the beast covering the pole.
>Less heat on wood and longer durability of spit.  This does not say that
>iron was not used, only that my experience and observation indicates
>that wood is durable in this application. (And the whole lamb is quite
>divine!)
>
>niccolo difrancesco

On that subject from Chiquart (_Du Fait de Cuisine_, 1420):

  And one should definitely not trust wooden spits, because they will 
rot and you could lose all your meat, but you should have one hundred 
and twenty iron spits which are strong and are thirteen feet in 
length; and there should be other spits, three dozen which are of the 
aforesaid length but not so thick, to roast poultry, little piglets, 
and river fowl. And also, four dozen little spits to do endoring and 
act as skewers.

Elizabeth/Betty Cook