I am a cookbook writer and hunter and would like to do so real man's style cooking over an open fire.

I was wondering if anyone on this great forum has a design of a roasting spit that i could get build in RSA for large tasty critters. I reckon something that will hold a whole impala/wartpig/bushpig/blesbok may be about the right size, although bigger may also be possible.

If i do write about it, full credit will go of course to the person whose design i used. cheers, tm.

thanks in advance.

I've built a bunch of them over the years, from pig size down to what are called "squirrel forks" (sometimes squirrel roasters). Do you want it to be portable? Do you want to have it be turned by hand or with an electric motor? (think I know the answer but have to ask anyway!).

At any rate, I'm guestimating the size to be around 25-50 pounds for a minimal one, if it is for a permanent setup maybe add another 20 pounds.

That is all metal, you can just make a spit and use forked wood found on site also.

My family has used a wonderful old spit for about 50 years to roast our Easter lamb...this is probably about the size you are looking for. We use an old cast iron bathtub set up on metal wheels and filled with a layer of fire blocks. The supports for the actual spit welded to the short ends of the tub. I believe the spit that is actually turned is made of an axle from some mine equipment that has had strategic holes drilled in it to accept the motor on one end and a couple of bolts in the middle (this alows you to wire the critters spine and head to the axle and keeps it from slipping while the spit turns). The electric motor itself it set up on a jack so the height can be adjusted. There are two settings on the actual spit supports that allow the animal to be slow cooked and also browned a little closer to the fire. Hope all this helps...please feel free to ask any more questions.

Best,

JohnTheGreek

Thanks guys i knew i could count on AR.com members.

right now we are looking at permanent stuff, so i guess we should be looking at a single axle set up with two points of attachements and perhaps two indvidual stands to accomodate smaller fires and larger fires, as well as different sized game.

This motor idea is intriguing.

How high off the embers do you guys have the game? What material do you guys build yours out of. i reckon stainless steel for the bar and maybe cast iron for the forks would be good. Also a solid handle at one end so we can turn or wire the thing fixed.

cheers for the help and suggestions.