Beach Cooking

Spit Cooking: The traditional Middle Eastern method for roasting a lamb on a spit requires an enclosure about two feet high. This should be a U-shaped structure made from bricks, blocks, or an earthen mound. This will protect the fire from the wind and help focus the heat. In front of this structure you’ll need supports for your spit. In this method, the lamb in skewered onto a 6 foot stick (imagine the trunk of a Christmas tree). The lamb is then turned over the fire which is behind the spit, not under it. You want to have something to catch the drippings because they are wonderful and you don’t want a grease fire under your lamb.

Now days you can buy a large electric powered, gas or charcoal fired rotisserie unit that takes a lot of the work out of the process. The simplest unit to work with is the EZ-Que rotisserie system. If you think you’ll get your moneys worth out of a $500 cooker then by all means buy one. Like I said, your typical gas or charcoal grill just isn’t large enough to handle something this big. You can use a large barrel grill for this operation, provided that you have a rotisserie unit that can handle the weight. If you really have a large party to feed, then you might end up with a lamb that weights 90 pound fully dressed.

This Greek-style marinade can be applied to any meat, but is particularly good on lamb. Let the meat marinade for a while so the flavors can infuse.
INGREDIENTS:
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon bay leaf
salt and pepper to taste