FoodBanter.com - View Single Post - Spit-roasted chicken safety question

Stan Horwitz

In article >,
(Steve Pope) wrote:

> Recently I ate at a local restaurant and our table afforded a
> good view of the kitchen. Much of the food was cooked in a
> single, large commercial oven, containing a wood-fired grill
> about five feet wide and several feet deep, above which was
> a rotating-spit mechanism (actually I'd call it "orbital" with
> a horizontal axis, rather than purely rotating). Above this
> spit mechanism was the exhaust hood of the oven.
>
> Watching this in operation, it was clear that several chickens
> starting out completely raw were being prepared on the spit
> mechanism while at the same time various items were cooked on
> the grill directly under them -- for example, hamburger buns
> being heated up on the grill. Now, the chickens were not
> obviously dripping or anything, but it seems obvious to me
> that there is some chance of undercooked chicken liquid dripping
> onto other food items that are atop the grill, which might
> then be immediately removed rather than further cooked.
>
> On the other hand, it appeared to be a professionally built oven,
> inteneded to be used in this exact fashion, and the configuration
> of which would be obvious to any restaurant inspector; so maybe
> this kind of dual-use is considered safe and reasonable.
>
> Has anybody the setup I describe here? Is it commonplace?
> Would it pass a health code?
>
> Steve

Yup. The spits get very hot and kill the germs. I have seen this method
of cooking at different restaurants and eaten the food off those spits.