What Meats Can Be Cooked in a Rotisserie Oven?

Cooking meat in a rotisserie oven has several benefits, such as self-basting. The fats in the meat mobilize when exposed to heat and drip over its surface as the rotisserie spins. Most meats can be cooked in a rotisserie oven if they fit, but some items, such a rib-eye roast, must be tied before cooking. Small or irregular items, such as shrimp, require a rotisserie basket.

Cuts of beef that have a uniform shape and adequate marbling respond best to rotisserie cooking. A uniform shape ensures each side of the beef is the same distance from the heat source, which promotes even cooking. Beef's marbling, or intramuscular fat, contributes to the meat's tenderness, and bastes it as it turns. Beef cuts that originate from a highly-exercised muscle group, such as rump roast from the hindquarter, do not produce ideal results when cooked in a rotisserie oven. These cuts have high proportions of connective tissue and dense muscle fiber, and require braising to have tenderness. Cuts that have an irregular shape, such as a rib roast and strip loin, must be rolled and tied with kitchen twine before cooking on a rotisserie. Whole tenderloin and top loin roast do not need tied before cooking.

Poultry produces good results when cooked in a rotisserie oven. With the exception of small items, such as Cornish game hens, most poultry needs tied before placed on the spit rod. Whole roaster chicken, duck, turkey breast, small goose, guinea fowl and partridge support rotisserie cooking.

Seafood requires a basket attachment for preparation in a rotisserie oven. Fragile or small items are placed in the locking, adjustable basket, which fits on the spit rod. Fish and seafood that fit in the basket typically facilitate rotisserie cooking; hard-shelled seafood does not. Types of fish commonly cooked in a rotisserie oven include trout, flounder, bass, cod, escolar, grouper and haddock. Filets from large fish, such as tuna, as well as small items, such as shrimp, can also be cooked in the rotisserie basket.

The same guidelines followed when cooking beef in a rotisserie oven apply to pork. Cuts with a uniform shape or tied into a uniform shape do well on a rotisserie. Pork cuts with large amounts of connective tissue, such as the pork butt or shoulder, respond best to other cooking methods, such as braising. Pork loin, ham and tenderloin can be cooked in a rotisserie oven.