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Non-Electrical Rotisseries were mechanical devices used before the advent of electricity to turn meat while cooking over a fire.

Hastener

A Hastener was a half-shell device open at the front. At the top of the device inside, you'd hang a piece of meat on a spit. The meat would hang down vertically, and be rotated automatically by a clockwork mechanism . You'd set the device on the floor at the front of the hearth, with the open half facing the hearth and the fire. The inside of the shell would act as a reflector for the heat from the fire. The bottom of the shell would catch the fat as it dripped. The back has a door in it, that you can open to check on the progress of the meat, without having to turn the whole, very hot device around.

Clockwork Spit

Clockwork Spits were used for hanging meat to cook vertically from in front of or by a fire.

The spit would be on a chain, coming down out of a cylinder. You'd wind the clockwork mechanism inside with a key. The mechanism would turn and rotate the meat hanging down from it.

Between the clockwork mechanism and the actual spit below it would often be a spoked wheel on which you could put pieces of fat that would drip down onto the meat to baste it.

Some people had horizontal wall brackets mounted by a fireplace, that would swing out and back in place when not in use; you'd hang a clockwork spit off of them.

Other entries for: Cooking Tools

Alambic Stills, Apple Corer, Avocado Slicers, Baking Mats, Baking Stones, Batterie de Cuisine, Biscuit Brake, Blowtorches, Branding Iron, Bread Bins, Bread Machines, Bulb Baster, Butter Bell, Butter Muslin, Caja China, Can Openers, Canning Funnels, Cans, Chopsticks, Contact Paper, Cookware, Cooling Racks, Corkscrews, CorningWare, Cuppitiello, Dishwashers, Doughnut Cutters, Egg Cups, Esky, Fat Separators, Firkins, Flour Dredgers, Flour Duster, Food Pushers, Funnels, Girdle, Graters, Griddles, Heat Diffuser, Ice Pick, Icing Syringe, Kitchen String, Kitchen Tongs, Kneading Gloves, Knives, Measuring Cups, Melon Baller, Mesquite, Milk Cellar, Non-Electrical Rotisseries, Olive Pitter, Oshibori, Oxo Good Grips, Paraffin, Pastry Brush, Pastry Frame, Pea Sheller, Petites Marmites, Pie Plates, Pie Racks, Pizzelle Iron, Proof Box, Ramekins, Rolling Cookie Cutters, Rolling Pins, Salad Spinner, Salamanders, Scales, Spatulas, Steamers, Sugar Cutters, Sushi-oke, Tassie Cups, Tea Trappings, Thermometers, Tortilla Warmers, Treen, Tupperware, Uchiwa, Waffle Iron, Whisks