Rotisserie

Rotisserie, also called spit-roasting, skewers meat, typically a large joint or a whole animal such as a pig, chicken or turkey, on a long rod that rotates continuously over a heat source such as a fireplace, campfire or oven. The rotation both cooks the meat evenly by keeping it moving through its own rendered juices and makes continuous basting easy as it turns. The term entered French kitchens around 1450 in Paris, where medieval households employed servants called spit boys to turn the rod by hand before mechanical turnspits powered by dogs, steam, clockwork and eventually electric motors replaced them.