nav[aria-label="Primary Navigation"] { padding: 0; & ul { list-style: none; width: 100%; display: flex; flex-direction: row; justify-content: start; align-items: start; gap: 30px; padding: 0; & li { margin: 0; } & ul li { list-style: none; } } }

A Gaggle Roaster for X-Mas

Chris_Young_80640

So we occasionally get up to some elaborate DIY exploits that involve cooking, fire, and metal fabrication. We've done some pretty large exploits in the last couple of years (we plan to start sharing some photos from those events soon), but I thought some of you might be interested in the relatively small one we're throwing together for a holiday celebration this Saturday.

The device is currently going by the name The Gaggle Roaster. It's a rotisserie spit that will carry half a dozen geese, each one dangling by its legs. We do this so that the weight of the bird stretches the skin taut, and so that we get even radiant heat shining over the entire surface of the bird. This ensures even cooking and helps get really crispy skin, which is a major goal. Each bird will rotate at about 2 rpm. We've geared it so that the birds counter-rotate, which means that each bird will rotate in the direction opposite of the one next to it—there's no good reason for this other than it looks cool.

I sketched out the idea for this about a week ago. Last night our group of makers—including several of our friends at Furlong Fortnight Bureau—gathered to rapidly build and test the device at our friend Rusty Oliver's shop (The Hazardfactory) between the hours of 5pm and 3am. Our constructors are Neal Stephenson, Chris Young, Rusty Oliver, Nathan Pegram, Daniel MacDonald, and Larry Felser.

Here's a view of Rusty (left), Daniel (center), and Nathan (right) working on final assembly:

Here's Nathan tensioning the very long bike chain that drives the gearing:

Here's a view of the final rotisserie device, without its vertical legs (still have to build those):

Our careful engineer efforts involve load testing with (approximately) a 2X geese-overloading factor:

Here is Rusty's very fun to use CNC plasma torch:

We also fabricated a giant roasting pan, complete with our own custom gas manifolds to roast some vegetables to go with our geese. On full blast, this is probably something like a 500,000 BTU/hr stove top.

More about how the geese will be cooked, how we plan to manage heat transfer, and other interesting details soon.

Chris

Find more posts tagged with

Equipment

Comments

Jack_Mayer_85396

Thanks for the link @DDF! Just watched it, a giant talent gone far, far too young. And Julia too! I have the cookbook from that series somewhere ...

DiggingDogFarm_65362

"Ha Ha ... I recall an old PBS cooking show that featured Jean-Louis Palladin doing the same thing with a magret. Maybe a series with Julia Child? Cooking with Master Chefs maybe?"

Yes. it was Julia's show Cooking with Master Chefs.

Starting at about 19:40....

http://video.pbs.org/video/2256986761/

~Martin

Tim_Sutherland_52834

The first thing I think of when 70's era clothes are mentioned is this episode of The Goodies.

Jack_Mayer_85396

Ha Ha ... I recall an old PBS cooking show that featured Jean-Louis Palladin doing the same thing with a magret. Maybe a series with Julia Child? Cooking with Master Chefs maybe?

Tim_Sutherland_52834

I'm more the wide lapeled poly shirt open to the navel with styled chest hair on display. The five sizes too small poly pants on and Cuban heeled ankle boots. This makes cooking with gas exciting.

Brendan_Lee_56950

You mean you don't always cook in a white tux?

seijoed

That would give you a reason to cook in a white tux too.

Chris_Young_80640

Cool. Please share what you build.

DiggingDogFarm_65362

@Chris ....I'm thinking that a mirror ball motor may be another inexpensive solution.

2 RPMs and a 25 lb. capacity......

I'm going to order one and give it a try.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-audio/chauvet-mot-2-2rpm-mirror-ball-motor

~Martin

Chris_Young_80640

@DigginDogFarm — Thanks for sharing. I've seen that trick before and it works great.

DiggingDogFarm_65362

I just found this thread...very cool!!!!!

I do something similar that I call the "poor man's" rotisserie.

I dangle the bird from a string and then "wind-up" the string and let it spin.

I fill a wire mesh tube with charcoal for the heat source.

Here's something similar that someone uploaded to youtube....starting at about 3:45......

http://youtu.be/1dSxB6RgiFs?t=3m46s

~Martin

michaelnatkin

The potatoes look delicious

Brendan_Lee_56950

That is awesome. Living the dream!

Ryan_Matthew_Smith_2910

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLLnpTjcOIM

apparently we can embed with a full link

images coming soon!

trev_teich

Yes! I'm gonna start finishing my brulees by jet. I do want to see.

Chris_Young_80640

This, by the way, was by far the smallest cooking exploit we have done. Past events usually involve spinning tornadoes of fire 18 feet tall, or blast furnaces that are powered by a jet turbine. I'll get around to posting about those later if people are interested.

Patrick_Ancillotti_6135

Who's dressing up as mad max for xmas?

Chris_Young_80640

I'll probably finish roasting the crap out of them in our Combi oven, then run them through a heavy duty meat grinder. Pressure cook with an equal weight of water for 1 hr. Cool to room temp fully. Open pressure cooker, skim and reserve the roast goose fat, strain stock. Freeze until we need it.

trev_teich

Oh sir, what's your method on grinding said carcass?

Chris_Young_80640

The goose was pretty delicious. I now have 6 goose carcasses in the freezer that need to be ground and pressure cooked into goose stock. That will have to wait until the 26th.

seijoed

Indeed, that looks epic.

trev_teich

looks like a mouthgasm.

Ryan_Matthew_Smith_2910

Check out some video footage of the Gaggle Roaster in action, I suggest checking it out in HD

http://youtu.be/aLLnpTjcOIM

-Ryan

trev_teich

F*ck yes

Chris_Young_80640

Here are some photos from last night's gaggle-roast. No sous vide was involved, we went old-school—like 16th Century British old-school.

Basic cooking method:

(1) Build a linear gear-driven counter-rotating rotisserie spit the will suspend half a flock of birds.

(2) Build a large hearth with high emissivity material (firebrick ideal)

(3) Build a very large linear fire that is at least 25% longer than the length of the spit, so that the ends of the spit see as much thermal energy as the center.

(4) Once firebrick is warmed up, suspend birds and begin roasting. Surface temperature of birds should settle around 170 °F / 77 °C until core temperature of bird reaches something like 140 °F / 60 °C

(5) For the final sear, turn up the intensity of the radiant heat by blasting large volumes of air at the fire. A leaf-blower or shopvac blown in reverse will do nicely.

(6) Once the surface temperature of the birds reaches something like 270 °F / 132 °C, remove the birds and let them rest for 10 minutes.

(7) Carve and serve with a giant pan filled with choucroute and new potatoes.

And, yes, this was really delicious. More photos from Ryan Matthew Smith coming soon, but for now enjoy the photos of the über-talented Brady Hall!

A_L_Esterling_35269

Six geese a spinning!

Nathan_Pegram_20522

We are also very eager to see how it fares with food and fire. We'll check back in as things progress.

Regarding the DC motor, it is a surplus gear motor from Dayton running at 1.7 RPM - one of the many wonders identified up on HazardFactory's shelf of random motors.

Brendan_Lee_56950

Very cool. I was going to put together a spit roaster for a suckling pig this summer and have it driven by a person peddling a bike to add some fun to the project but it never came to fruition. I am eager to see how this turns out!