About this recipe
A classic dish, and so delicious to prepare yourself in your own wood-fired oven using the Vonken spit. Quality meat, a tasty rub, a little time, and a fragrant wood fire—that's all you need to prepare a fantastic chicken on the spit at home. No more dry supermarket chicken and waiting in line at the chicken stand!
by @baking - Feel free to contact me via Instagram or Facebook.
Ingredients
- 6 tbsp chicken rub (or make your own blend!)
- 1 good quality chicken
- baking butter
Preparation
- Please note that for this recipe, you will ideally need the Vonken spit and, preferably, a meat thermometer.
- Start preparing the chicken a few hours before cooking. Pat it dry with sturdy paper towels, then add your cooking butter and rub.
- For the next step, you can put on gloves if you prefer. It is best to work over a bowl so that your entire kitchen does not end up covered in rub.
- Use your fingers to spread the cooking butter all over the chicken. If possible, rub some under the skin as well, to ensure the meat is nice and juicy and the skin is crispy.
- Then sprinkle generously with the rub, making sure to get it into every nook and cranny—even under the skin.
- You can now use the dish to put the chicken back in the refrigerator until you are ready to roast it.
- A few hours later, you can finally get started with the fire! Light the fire in your Vonken. You don't have to wait long before moving the burning wood to the fire pit—the air temperature should be around 160-180°C, so we're going for the slow approach. A fierce fire is not what we are looking for here, especially in the initial phase. So keep the fire small, and experiment with adding coconut briquettes to the fire basket, for example—this will help you keep the temperature constant without making the fire bigger.
- Take the spit, attach the first meat fork, slide it to the middle, and tighten it. Now place your seasoned chicken on the spit and secure it to the first meat fork. While you take the second meat fork, you can let the chicken on the spit rest on the bowl or in the dish. Slide the second meat fork with its prongs towards the chicken on the spit and secure the chicken firmly between the two meat forks. Tighten the second meat fork with the screw.
- Place the base of the rotisserie accessory in your oven and on the extendable handle. Slide it completely out of the oven and place a fireproof dish or roasting pan at the height where the chicken will hang. Place the rotisserie with your chicken in the recesses provided. Test that everything is secure by turning on the motor (don't forget to plug it in, of course).
- Now gradually roast the chicken until it reaches a core temperature of around 73°C in the thickest part of the chicken breast—use a meat thermometer to check the core temperature from time to time (you can find one for less than €10). Depending on your heat and the temperature of your oven, this can take 1 to 1.5 hours (or even a little longer). When the chicken is almost done, make sure you have a nice flame to crisp up the skin.
- And of course, that doesn't have to be the only thing you eat. For example, use the roasting pan that catches the fat to bake some tasty baby potatoes, or add some vegetables!
- Did you hit the bull's-eye right away, or did you wander around like a headless chicken for a while? I'm curious to read about it.