Dictionary

spit-roaster en · NOUN

Etymology

From spit-roast + -er.

Meanings

1. An appliance for spit-roasting.
   • Most modern spit-roasters have attachments for kebab skewers, and this is the best way of cooking these delicious foods. 1972, Bee Nilson, “Spit-Roasting”, in Fondue, Flambé and Side Table Cooking, New York, N.Y.: Hippocrene Books, Inc, →ISBN, page 144:
   • On the other side of the courtyard, big arches opened into the kitchens. There were two kitchens: One, with ovens and spit-roasters visible, was given over primarily to meat. 2010, Barbara D’Amato, chapter 56, in Other Eyes, New York, N.Y.: Forge, published January 2011, →ISBN, page 348:
   • The spit rods for some spit-roasters have holes drilled into them every 6 inches or so. […] Some spit-roasters have skewers that mount onto the spit from the pointed end of the rod only. If that’s the case with your spit-roaster, slide the rear skewer onto the rod before you push the rod through the lamb. 2007, Andrew Schloss, David Joachim, “Mastering the Big Kahuna and Other Incredible Grill Projects”, in Mastering the Grill: The Owner’s Manual for Outdoor Cooking, San Francisco, Calif.: Chronicle Books, →ISBN, part II (The Grillmaster’s Recipes), page 244, column 1:
2. One who spit-roasts.
   • Some spit-roasters like to leave the legs dangling, but the spit needs to be quite high off the heat to do this successfully. 2012 April, Benjamin Bartlett, “Preparing the pig”, in “Going the whole hog”, in BBQ Owners’ Grilling Manual: The Whole Hog (All Techniques, Equipment and Recipes): A Guide to Cooking with Grills, Chimeneas, Brick Ovens and Spits (Haynes Manual), Sparkford, Somerset: Haynes Publishing, →ISBN, page 99, column 2:
   • The nobles’ servants were allowed to choose their birds first, then the bourgeois, and at 10 or 11 o’clock, according to the season, a bell was rung and the spit-roasters could buy their supplies. 1966, Ninette Lyon, translated by Peggie Benton, “Generalities”, in Chicken and Game, London: Faber and Faber for The Cookery Book Club, page 18:
   • There was an air of festivity everywhere, and it was obvious that nothing else in their lives could give the ordinary citizens of Glevum so much delight as […] eating and drinking the appetizing wares of the stall holders—pie-makers, bakers, spit-roasters and brewers—who appeared to be selling food everywhere and were being paid in the small Roman-minted copper coins called ases, […] 2000, Jack Whyte, Uther (A Dream of Eagles; 7), Toronto, Ont.: Penguin Canada, published 2006, →ISBN, pages 238–239:

Forms