The best way to cater and cook for a large party!
The task of catering for huge occasions like milestone birthdays, engagements, marriages, christenings, etc. can frequently seem overwhelming to the party host. It can be a bit of a juggling act to move food between ovens and cook on the BBQ at the same time because kitchen ovens and BBQs are frequently not big enough.
A convenient and reasonably priced way to prepare food for a large group of people is on a huge spit roaster. If you’re using a charcoal chimney fire starter, lighting the charcoal usually only takes 20 minutes, so your kitchen oven will essentially heat up in the same amount of time.
The benefit of cooking on a spit roaster is that you have a considerably wider surface area to cook on. Again, like cooking in a kitchen oven, the cooking time will vary depending on the sort of meat and number of kilograms you’re cooking. Attempt to cook 30 kilograms or more of beef in your kitchen oven!
How much meat to buy for your party
As a general rule, you should cook about 300g of meat per person for meat without bones, like gyros, or 500g per person for an animal with bones, assuming you’re only serving a meat and a few simple salads. This quantity might be decreased if you’re preparing a tonne of side dishes to go with your spit-roasted meats.
Gyros are a great dish to prepare for an 18th or 21st birthday celebration because they require the meat to be slowly cut over a period of hours rather than being all done at once. As we all know, individuals rarely show up for 18th and 21st birthday parties at the scheduled start time and instead drop in throughout the evening. You can always carve fresh, hot meat when you make gyros on the spit. Gyros are also incredibly simple to make. Simply buy the meat—chicken breast, lamb shoulder, or thighs—trim off any particularly large fatty areas, season with Gyros Seasoning, and skewer it to your skewer. Gyros plates make it easier to carve the meat into your carving shovel and are advised for holding gyros in place. A Cyprus Grill will usually suffice instead of a full-size spit for a birthday.
To ensure that the meat is thoroughly cooked before being removed from the spit roaster and cut all at once, if you’re intending to cook a spit roast for an engagement party or wedding, I’d suggest preparing roasts or whole animals. This choice works well for more formal events where there is a set time for meals. I’ve listed some useful advice below if you’ve never used a spit to cook food.
Tips to help with cooking a spit roast for a wedding or large party.
If you’ve never used a spit roaster before and you’re about to take on the challenge of cooking for a big occasion, I’ve provided some advice below that might seem obvious yet is so frequently disregarded:
- Practice: In the weeks coming up to the occasion, cook some birds or perhaps a turkey on the spit if you have never done it before. Spit-roasting chickens use the same method as spit-roasting other types of meat. You will understand the basics of fire management, how to change the height of the fire, when to add additional charcoal to the fire while it is cooking, and lastly, how to cut the meat.
- Ordering: These days, if you want to roast an entire animal, you must first place an order. You can’t just walk in and expect to buy a lamb right away. Order your preferred meat by calling your neighbourhood butcher at least two weeks in advance. If you don’t feel comfortable doing it yourself, ask them if they can season it and put the animal on the skewer for you when you place your order.
- Accessories: Check your spit roaster accessories and make sure you have everything you need to cook an entire animal at the same time you order your meat. Have a look at our blog on how to attach a pig to a rotisserie for more information on these attachments.
- Balancing- Whether you choose to skewer the animal yourself or have your butcher do it for you, always make sure it is balanced before placing it on your rotisserie. Even if a “professional” truss your animal, you will ultimately be responsible for fixing any problems that may arise. The significance of a balanced load while spit roasting cannot be overstated. When cooking anything that isn’t symmetrical, always use a counterbalance weight. For more advice, please see our blog post on how to balance a lamb on a spit.
- Precheck: Examine your spit roaster and make sure everything is in working order before lighting your spit, ideally a day or two before your major event. Verify that all the clips, screws, and the grub screw holding the bush to the rotisserie motor is snug and won’t come loose while the food is cooking. Make sure your extension cord is operational by checking it. Additionally, be cautious not to overload the same electrical circuit, which could cause your circuit breaker to trip. Rotisserie motors don’t consume a lot of power, but if you also have lights, DJ gear, a kettle, and a microwave operating on the same circuit, you’re going to run into problems.
- Carving- Make sure you have a carving tray large enough to hold the entire animal once it has been roasted when cutting. This simplifies and streamlines the procedure considerably. Additionally, be sure to use nitrile gloves on top of your liner gloves to protect your hands from the heat of the meat.
A fantastic approach to save money on spit roasting is to do it yourself rather than hire a catering service. Gyros can be made with chicken breasts, which cost about $9 per kilo or $3 per person at the time of writing in 2018. Depending on the size, whole chickens cost about $12, and assuming a quarter chicken per person, it works out to $3 per person. With prices for lamb, beef, and pork ranging from $10 to $20 per kilo depending on the cut, cooking it yourself is unquestionably worthwhile at $2.50 to $5 per person.
A 17-kg whole lamb costs about $200 ($12 per kilo). A spring lamb is a term used to describe the size of lamb that you are most likely to find at your neighbourhood butcher. If you know a farmer, you can purchase a sheep weighing up to 30 kilogrammes for about $11 per kilogramme. The price of whole pigs at the butcher is between $250 and $300. Strangely, in my experience, buying a 15kg or 30kg pig has no price difference. The cost is unchanged. Perhaps enquire with the butcher in your area since they are all different. Give plenty of notice if you want an even bigger pig because it will probably require a special order.
Spit roast parties are definitely worth trying if you’re on a low budget. It’s not only a cost-effective and stress-free method of cooking, but it will also serve as a hub where everyone will congregate and socialise. For a one-time event, you can either hire a spit roaster, or you can purchase an annual spit roaster.
by: Rhiannon Peterson