# Cooking Roast Pork On A Bbq Spit?



## Truman42 (27/11/11)

Im planning on doing a roast pork on my bbq using the rotisserie/ spit thingy for xmas. 

From what Ive read you remove all the plates and place a drip tray in the middle under the pork on top of the middle burners and light the outside burners only.

Any other tips I should know and what can I put in the drip tray to steam up into the pork to add flavour? Some white wine maybe? Anyone have a nice recipe for this??


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## DU99 (27/11/11)

rub in oil makes for crispy skin


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## peaky (27/11/11)

Truman said:


> Im planning on doing a roast pork on my bbq using the rotisserie/ spit thingy for xmas.
> 
> From what Ive read you remove all the plates and place a drip tray in the middle under the pork on top of the middle burners and light the outside burners only.
> 
> Any other tips I should know and what can I put in the drip tray to steam up into the pork to add flavour? Some white wine maybe? Anyone have a nice recipe for this??



Sounds like you've got it half way sussed!

Are you practising to chef for the case swap?


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## Rowy (27/11/11)

Mate you need to make sure that the wind can't get up and under and through the BBQ otherwise. dependant on the wind. you can end up with half dry half raw. All I use if it is a windy day is alfoil to block out some areas and it works a treat. For instance wrap it across the legs on the windward side and may be the front. If you allow the flame to be even and do what you've already described your on the money. With the skin give it a good hit of soy and some salt before you rub oil all over. Use some of the oil in the drip tray to make some old fashioned real gravy and you'll have them calling you the king!


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## Deebo (27/11/11)

Tried to make pulled pork in the bbq once (slow cooking for a long time). 
It dried it out way too much compared to the oven, probably all the moisture escaping out of the bbq. If I was going to try it again id maybe put a tray of water in there also or something.


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## pyrosx (27/11/11)

Wanna do it right? Get a stand alone mini spit roaster and roast that piggy over coals/heat beads. You just won't beat that smokey coal fire flavour. Bunnings has them for $100ish, but I saw something that looked pretty similar in an Aldi catalogue yesterday for $50, could be worth a look.

What you're describing sounds about right for gas bbq usage though.

Skin is about crackling - and i've done A LOT of experimenting. There are two things that make a significant difference to how good your crackling is: drying and salting. Unwrap the pork a day before cooking, put it in a tray, uncovered, in the bottom of the fridge. This will dry the skin right out. Couple of hours before cooking, start rubbing salt into the cracks as often as you could be bothered -if it doesnt have cracks, cut some with a sharp knife through the skin, without cutting into the meat. Oiling isn't overly necessary when spit roasting - there's already a shit load of fat inside, and its very quickly going to start rendering and dripping and rolling around the outside.

Smokey flavours - soak woodchips, whole garlic cloves or woody herbs (stalks of rosemary are great) in a bowl of water for an hour or so. This will stop them burning for a while, and give you some pretty good smoke flavours. Obviously this works best just thrown onto coals, but it'd probably work okay in a foil tray above the gas burner too.


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## Cocko (27/11/11)

OP,

I hope you did a search first. h34r:


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## Brewman_ (27/11/11)

I've done this quite a few times.

The rotisserie is a great way to cook pork.

Worst thing happened to me, was that the 4Kg pork snapped the spear, where it screwed together, half way through cooking on Xmas day. So I had to get the meat out of the sand / kitty litter under the flame and get the MIG out and weld the spear together, then refit the meat to the spear! Yeh the family were not too sure how it would turn out, but it was great.

One thing I would like to have on the BBQ for cooking great pork is a couple of those gas burner plates that sit at the back of the BBQ where you can crank up the heat and the fat can't spill on it so you can cook up some really good crackling. I don't have these but if you do use them. Otherwise the way you described the burner set up is the way I do it.

Fear


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## Truman42 (28/11/11)

Thanks for the advice guys will give it a go and see how it turns out. I do have a rear burner on my BBQ so will use that as well.

@ Peaky.....No mate, you all want to eat dont you..  

@ Cocko... Yeh I did search first and thats where I got the info on the trays and burner setup..But wanted some extra tips and hints... :icon_cheers:


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## Vanoontour (28/11/11)

Put boiling water in your drip tray when you start and keep it topped up, maybe a few sage leaves too. This produces steam and keeps the pork moist. Also, get a spray bottle and put apple juice in it, during cooking give it a spritz which also helps keep it moist. Don't forget to make your ties tight as the meat will shrink quite a bit during cooking. And if you have any space, apple and sage stuffing is awesome with pork. AND, if you can get some hickory chips, soak them in water, then wrap them in 3 layers of tin foil, poke with a fork and use this to add a smokey flavour, don't use too much.

Hope this gives you some extra ideas, vanoontour.


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## Maheel (28/11/11)

are you planning on rolled loin, leg shoulder bone in or out etc ?

i would recommend a fairly even shaped one for a 1st timer on the spit so you get even heat penetration and no raw sections in a "thick" area 
boneless can make it easy to carve but depending on how it is boned and " netted or strung" can cause problems if the strings burn and "burst"
and if your using boneless you will need some of those screw in spikes on the ends for sure or it will likely slip on the spear and not turn well 

maybe have a test cook up ASAP to test your bbq


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## Rowy (28/11/11)

Maheel said:


> are you planning on rolled loin, leg shoulder bone in or out etc ?
> 
> i would recommend a fairly even shaped one for a 1st timer on the spit so you get even heat penetration and no raw sections in a "thick" area
> boneless can make it easy to carve but depending on how it is boned and " netted or strung" can cause problems if the strings burn and "burst"
> ...




Also most boneless pork these days is imported. Important to me maybe not to others. Buy Australian when you can I say.


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## Malted (28/11/11)

Yep the Maheel, vanoontor and pyrosx posts were spot on. 
Make a little foil baggy for smoking. Use a boned out piece of meat - a rolled roast of loin is perfect. The netting is not as suited as sturdy butchers twine. Jam the spikes in tight as the meat will shirink when it cooks, you may even need to adjust the spikes at some point. Put spuds in the drip tray, they will be extra yummy cooked in the drippings! Put a whole head of garlic (untouched) in to be roasted with the spuds (add it later of course) and squeeze a few cloves out when cooked, mash up and add to your gravy when making it from the brownings in the pan the taters were in - mmmmmm. THe roast will baste itself as the fat comes out. With a rear burner on the bbq you're set!


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## pyrosx (28/11/11)

http://www.aldi.com.au/au/html/offers/2827_19950.htm

Seriously. Coals > Gas.


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## Truman42 (28/11/11)

Some awesome ideas there guys. Can you still get good crackling from those boneless rolled loin pork?
Also where abouts do you put the foil smoke bag, in the drip tray??

Thanks again.


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## Truman42 (28/11/11)

pyrosx said:


> http://www.aldi.com.au/au/html/offers/2827_19950.htm
> 
> Seriously. Coals > Gas.


My brother just brought one of those and is doing a roast in it on Xmas day. My roast is actually for boxing day as that's when my wife's family all get together. I know the coals are probably better. It I already have the BBQ and would rather use that.


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## Maheel (28/11/11)

Truman said:


> Some awesome ideas there guys. Can you still get good crackling from those boneless rolled loin pork?
> Also where abouts do you put the foil smoke bag, in the drip tray??
> 
> Thanks again.



it's a fair bit harder to but still do-able .... it depends on how the butcher strings it if they use the net type thing then no you cannot really get crackle easily.

if they do old school strings you can but not all over, where the strings are tight it sort of pulls in to form a crease and may not crackle up as well 
some butchers also just wrap and tie the string "around" the loin where older school butchers use a needle and go through as well as around 

some people buy a extra piece of pork skin and crackle that up separate in the oven / grill and then use boneless pork for easy carving

i like boned pork for easy carving... but the crackle is an issue..

once a long time ago on a far away planet i used to be a butcher :icon_cheers: 

# IMO most imported pork goes into "champagne" style ham and bacon making, most local butchers use fresh aussie pork but it (pork) is a lot more popular at xmas and some may be selling defrosted imported stuff..


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## Malted (28/11/11)

Truman said:


> Some awesome ideas there guys. Can you still get good crackling from those boneless rolled loin pork?
> Also where abouts do you put the foil smoke bag, in the drip tray??
> 
> Thanks again.


Yes you can get crackling from rolled loin - it has fat and skin... 
to paraphrase the excellent advice given by others, leave in fridge uncovered for 24 hrs before so the skin can dry out. If no cuts in skin, cut it. Rub salt into the cuts. 

No, smoke bag does not go into the drip tray, it would get too wet from the fat and thus wouldn't smoke. Put it somewhere it is going to get hot. I'd even put it in before the meat and once it 'starts' smoking, then add the meat. Not too many tiny holes in the smoke bag, less is more. 

Rays Outdoors, BBQ's Galore - these sorts of places will sell all sorts of smoking stuff. You could buy a cast iron box for use as a smoker (I have one) but seriously, the foil pouch is a winner. I like the extruded smoking pellets, they look like hop pellets - hey now there's an idea owrthy or a test.... 

Anyone got any experience with using hop pellets for smoking meat?


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## pyrosx (28/11/11)

Truman said:


> My brother just brought one of those and is doing a roast in it on Xmas day. My roast is actually for boxing day as that's when my wife's family all get together. I know the coals are probably better. It I already have the BBQ and would rather use that.



Understood. Sorry, didn't mean to get pushy - I just love my coals and my dizzy pork 

I bought one from Bunnings about 3 years ago - kinda thought it'd end up being one of those "use twice then forget about" things - but I end up using it all the time - I get requests from friends and family. I've tried just about everything on it - chickens, lamb, beef - but pork is just the hands down winner for the spit roast application.

Sounds like with that rear element on your BBQ you'll have a pretty good go at it. I reckon Rowy's suggestion about using foil to block up air holes is pretty spot on too - I end up doing quite a bit of fiddling around with coals to get the heat even, and wind direction often plays a big part in that.

I've found the best pork to use is the boneless leg roasts - woolies usually sells them in sizes that range from smallish (4 people worth) to absolute monsters. They're sometimes a little uneven, but you can usually find a decently straight one. I've done a loin a couple of times, and have found the cut too fatty... causes lots of flare ups and just doesn't eat as well.


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## pyrosx (28/11/11)

Malted said:


> Anyone got any experience with using hop pellets for smoking meat?



Your neighbours will probably think you've got the bong out....


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## J Grimmer (28/11/11)

Truman said:


> Some awesome ideas there guys. Can you still get good crackling from those boneless rolled loin pork?
> Also where abouts do you put the foil smoke bag, in the drip tray??
> 
> Thanks again.




Yes you can get crackling from the rolled roast, so once you've dried out your skin, salted it (add some fennel seed and chilli ground up with you salt if you like) and slow cooked on the rotisery you may be left soft and flabby skin. To fix this you will need to get some cooking oil (sunflower or grapeseed have a really high smoke point and get the really cheap one) heat about 500ml till it smokes (it will need to be really hot) and pour it over the roast away from flames over a drip tray. Your skin will crackle like no bodies business. Alternatively dont cook the skin with the roast deep fry it. Jamie Oliver has a good recipe in his american cook book you can use as a refernce point.

You will need to put the smoke bag over a burner try to positon the grill over the burner you may need a second grill because you will want a drip tray under the pork as well. You might need multiple smoke bags going because of the volume of air under the BBQ hood. I tried several times with poor results then i got my webber coal bbq and it works a treat.


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## jameson (28/11/11)

For best crackle I pour two jugs of boiling water over the skin slowly then dry with paper towels. Then oil and salt. You got me thinking I should do one over the holiday thanks. :icon_drool2:


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## Amber Fluid (28/11/11)

Rowy said:


> Also most boneless pork these days is imported. Important to me maybe not to others. Buy Australian when you can I say.


Well I don't know about Qld admittingly but that's definately crap where I am!... 




Truman said:


> Some awesome ideas there guys. Can you still get good crackling from those boneless rolled loin pork?
> Also where abouts do you put the foil smoke bag, in the drip tray??
> 
> Thanks again.



The bottom line is, if it has it's skin then you can crackle it. Alternatively, if you feel you may have troubles with this then just ask your butcher to remove the skin for you and do it seperately. Although personally I think it is better with the skin on.

I love the idea of spraying apple juice on the meat. I have spit roasted pork quite a bit and never thought of that. Although you are looking at doing a smaller cut, I usually do a full pig. If you ever do that then I suggest eating the tongue... yummo, apart from the crackle that's the best bit!!

I know of people who also use boiling water poured over the skin and then dry it off. This helps break down the fat. Although I have never bothered doing this as I usually don't have any problems.

There are some fantastic suggestions in this thread some of which I will be employing next time.

Although you mentioned a gas BBQ. However, if it is possible for you to do so, I suggest using wood as a fire source as the smoke flavor really enhances the meat. If you have an old keg or barrel (even just a hole in the ground , fire pit, with something to support the rotisserie) you can easily modify that as a base and still use the battery powered spit that come with your BBQ.


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## going down a hill (28/11/11)

Malted said:


> Anyone got any experience with using hop pellets for smoking meat?


I haven't done it myself, but Bunnings sell used hops and grain for bbq smoking. Funnily enough it's in the bbq section, but I doubt anyone here needs to buy any of that.


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## Duff (28/11/11)

Score the skin and hit with boiling water. Break out your hair drier, a bit of salt, bake flat out for 10 minutes, decrease to 190C and you'll have the lightest, most crunchy crackle you'll ever eat.


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## Duff (28/11/11)

And Mods - wherever you are........could you please move to Brew Food for future reference.


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## Truman42 (11/12/11)

Well heres my first test run. It was bloody nice, very moist and tender and the gravy I made from the pan juices and wine was fantastic. 

Crackling turned out really nice too.

Thanks again to everyone for the tips.

View attachment 50844


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## Fents (11/12/11)

looks sensational!


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## Hefty (11/12/11)

I agree, looks awesome!
The earlier tip about the spray bottle of apple juice is very cool. A good malty pilsner goes well with pork so I was thinking that with my next one (I've just started using my rottiserie again too!) I'd mix pilsner and apple juice in the drip tray. Maybe I'll let the pilsner go flat and mix them in the spray bottle instead/as well.

Cheers!
Jono.


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## J Grimmer (12/12/11)

the bbq pork i did i made gravey with munich lager instead of wine and it was sensational.


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