[Spit-Project] Spit-Project Digest, Vol 26, Issue 3

[Jennifer Dobyns]

Greetings,

This is my first post, as I'm new here, so it's also a bit of intro:

In my many years of reenacting (SCA, 17th and 18th century) I've seen  
a number of different spits, mostly metal.  However, one of the most  
stable sites I've played at over the years actually has a set up made  
of wood.  They cook numerous items suspended from what is essentially  
poles (parts of trees, not from the hardware store) lashed together  
to form a three-legged base on each end of the fire pit.  Across that  
is another pole (solid enough not to sag) from which is suspended a  
spit, and pots.  The actual spit is usually another piece of wood,  
about as thick as a wooden closet rod (1 inch? or maybe more).  While  
that spit probably might be difficult to use for a leg of lamb, it  
would probably be OK for a pig.  I've seen a stack of chickens 5 feet  
long on the spit, plus iron pots full of corn suspended from the set up.

Just last month I also participated in preparing a small feast (3  
courses, total of about 30 items, but for a small group of people)  
where the spit was more like a swing-set, with two end poles lashed  
together with a cross-beam.  On that was cooked, among other items,  
chicken on strings.  The strings were soaked well before being tied  
to the chickens, to keep them from burning through.  The only problem  
was keeping the beasties turning when things got busy (this event was  
at a very popular historic site, so there was a lot of interpreting  
which interfered with monitoring the food sometimes).

If you look at Eadric the Potter's website, you can see yet another  
wooden set-up.  It's very simple and probably takes up not much more  
space than a metal set up (depending on it's complexity, of course)

So, if you have access to wood, and can't afford a store-bought spit,  
or don't have the time to learn blacksmithing, it can be done.  It  
won't pack as flat as metal, probably.  But it's an option.  Just be  
sure you lash it together well.

Now, if someone could tell me who makes those huge metal set ups like  
the one on the Medieval Open Hearth Cooking list's front page,  I'd  
really appreciate it *g* I could use something with multiple levels  
for the spit.  My current set up only has one.

Genevieve D'Aubigne
Bright Hills, Atlantia

On Jul 16, 2009, at 9:59 PM, spit-project-request at lists.ansteorra.org  
wrote:

>
> Message: 3
> Date: Thu, 16 Jul 2009 18:00:13 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Fergus Redmead <fergusredmead at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: [Spit-Project] How about some discussion?
> To: Creating period spits <spit-project at lists.ansteorra.org>
> Message-ID: <965252.20672.qm at web110005.mail.gq1.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
>
> Good Evening All,
> Can anyone give me advice on how to make a spit and what materials  
> are needed?
> Thanks
> Fergus
>
>