How to Spit Roast your Christmas Turkey for on a Weber barbecue
Weber Chef, David Rice, demonstrates how easy it is to roast Christmas Turkey on the bbq, freeing up oven space in your kitchen on Christmas Day. For this demonstration, David uses a Weber MasterTouch Charcoal bbq and a Rotisserie which is compatible with the MasterTouch.
First, David sets about lighting the coals for the bbq. Half a chimney starter will get the temperature to about 180°C which is just about right for roasting the turkey. Weber's lighter cubes are ideal for lighting the coals as they are natural, clean and with no nasty chemicals.
David uses a Turkey crown that weigh's about 2kg, enough for about 8 people. He lifts up the skin of the turkey and places slices of black pudding, some butter and fresh rosemary underneath the skin. The fat from the black pudding & butter will not only flavour the meat but it will also keep the meat nice and moist. Also, as you are spit roasting your turkey on a rotisserie, it will constantly self baste all the way through cooking, ensuring the best of flavour and retention of moisture.
David now feeds the spit through the centre of the roast and then ties the roast together tightly using butchers twine so it doesn't come apart during cooking.
Set up the coal baskets for indirect cooking to create an oven effect, so push one coal basket to the back and the other to the front. Place the Rotisserie on the bbq and close the lid. The bbq should maintain a heat of about 180°C-200°C for 2-3 hours. Ensure that the top and bottom air vents are left open, if you close the vents, it will become starved of oxygen and will quickly cool down the bbq.
After an hour or so, check the meat with a temperature probe, you are looking for a core temperature of 74°C.
Using your bbq to cook large joints will free up lots of space in your oven, making it nice and easy for you on Christmas Day to cook all your vegetables nicely in the oven!
Simple tip! When you are carving your turkey, cut nice thick slices because they will stay warmer for longer 🔥
See our full range of bbq's and accessories at The Pavilion, we deliver nationwide from our garden centre in Cork