Roast Pork Rotisserie

Cooking Roast Pork on a Rotisserie

We thought we’d share cooking roast pork on a rotisserie with you.

Updated January 2020, original post October 2019.

So if you want to cook the perfect roast pork and crackling while out camping or even at home, this is a cracker of a recipe. It is super simple but requires some time, so it is a perfect one while sitting around with family and mates around a fire having a few beers. You will need at least 3 hours depending on the size of pork roast to get your coals ready and to cook.

Our rotisserie is an Auspit battery operated stainless steel rotisserie. It comes with everything you need other than the batteries. Even a nice carry bag so that you can easily store it while travelling. You can cook on coals beside a fire, over a fire pit, whatever you choose.

We choose to cook over our Potjie King (pronounced “poy-kie”) stainless steel cooking unit. Really easy to get your charcoal going, control the temperature and add more charcoal through the cooking process.

Gear:

This is the gear we use when cooking roast pork on the rotisserie.

• Auspit battery operated stainless steel rotisserie.
• Potjie King (Poy-key) stainless steel cooker.
• Etosha Namibian charcoal.

Ingredients:

We use either boneless pork shoulder or boneless four quarter where the rind has already been scored. You can score the rind yourself but we find it is easier to buy one already prepared. Ensure you let your pork sit for an hour uncovered before any prep, ideally uncovered in the fridge overnight.

Four quarter is a far better cut cooking on the rotisserie as the meat has a bit more fat and as a result doesn’t dry up and stays nice and moist.

• 1.75 kg pork shoulder – feed 4-6 OR;
• 2.90 kg pork four quarter – feed 8+
• Rock salt
• Pepper
• Fennel seeds
• Veggies of your choice
• Apple sauce

Preparation:

To cook the best roast pork and get really crispy crackling you need to do a bit of prep. We buy pork where the rind has already been scored. If yours has not then score the rind in crisscrosses about an inch apart.

Let the pork sit uncovered for an hour. In a fridge overnight is even better.

Then using paper towel dry the rind and meat thoroughly. You do not want any moisture on the rind or else you will not get that crispy crackling. Once the pork is completely dry, rub olive oil all over the pork and then rock salt and pepper into the cuts in the rind and over the rest of the pork. We also rub fennel seeds into the meat for extra flavour. We then let the pork rest uncovered for an hour to an hour and a half to get to room temperature. If it is a hot day you won’t need to let it sit for too long.

Your pork is prepared and ready to roast.

Method:

Once the pork is prepared and has been resting for an hour or so, get your charcoal going. If you are doing this over the coals from a fire you would probably get the fire going a little earlier as it only takes us 15 minutes or so to get out charcoal ready.

We add some aluminium foil to the bottom (easier to clean up) and then light 3 to 4 the fire lighters in the Potjie King. The charcoal is usually ready in 15 minutes or so. While your charcoal is igniting, place your pork on the rotisserie and clamp with the meat spikes. As we use a Potjie King I then close the bottom door to stop the charcoal burning to hot and quickly. Place the prepared pork on the rotisserie and then swing this over the charcoal (depends on the type of rotisserie you are using – the Auspit can be moved around from side to side and up and down really easily) and then turn the rotisserie on to get that pork moving. The height that you choose will depend on the heat from the coals – rule of thumb, if you can hold your hand over the coals for longer than 10 seconds then you are too high and if you can’t hold you hand for 8 seconds then you are too low.

We usually have the pork sitting about 20 cm’s above the coals however this changes throughout the cooking process depending on the heat and how the pork is cooking. There is going to be a bit of trial and error when you do this as heat control is difficult.

If using charcoal you are going to have to add more throughout the cook time. We usually have to add more charcoal every 45 minutes or so. Again this will depend on how you are doing this, with the Potjie King we simply through a few more handfuls on top the existing coals, open the bottom door slightly for 10 minutes or so until the new coals fire up. You could ignite the charcoal in a charcoal starter and add them this way – we prefer to just throw the charcoal on, it creates a bit of smoke for a few minutes and adds to the flavour.

If you find that after half the cook time the crackling is not looking to good, you can stop the rotisserie and let the rind sit over the coals for a few minutes. Be really careful here though as the rind can burn easily. We usually have to do this for a few minutes to get the crackling perfect.

Have a few beers with mates, have a laugh and make sure you keep an eye on the pork as you want to make sure you keep the coals going, that the coals don’t fire up to much and burn the pork and that you don’t get any interested native wildlife such as a hungry magpie or butcher bird coming in for a quick feed. It does happen I promise you. The total cook time should be around 2 1/2 hours but this will really depend on the weight of your pork and the heat you were able to maintain with the coals. It can take 30 minutes less and an hour longer depending on the heat so make sure you are watching it throughout the process.

While the pork is cooking, we usually have some potatoes, pumpkin and corn wrapped up in aluminium foil sitting beside the coals of our fire. The potatoes and pumpkin usually take an hour to cook perfect and the corn 30 to 45 minutes.

The below photos are after 2 1/2 hours so you should be aiming for something similar. You can see the bubbling on the crackling, this is what you get when you stop the rotisserie and leave the rind over the coals for a few minutes.

Enjoy cooking roast pork on the rotisserie, we highly recommend it.

Tips:

• Let your pork sit uncovered in the fridge over night to get the best crackling.
• Make sure you dry the pork with paper towel or else your crackling won’t come out any good.
• Four quarter is the way to go, meat is fattier so stays nice and moist and doesn’t dry out.
• Use charcoal as it adds so much to the flavour of the meat.
• Stop the rotisserie for a few minutes with the rind over the coals to get the crackling perfect.
• Watch the pork throughout the cook time to ensure no flare ups which will burn the meat and to maintain your heat just right.
• Get a decent battery operated rotisserie like the Auspit as it makes life easier while cooking and moving the meat up and down and from side to side.
• Trial and error is required to get this just right.

If you want more info on the Auspit Rotisserie check out their website here.

If you want more info on the Potjie King check out their website here.

Recipe and method by Peter.

Check out our other recipes here.