Showtime Rotisserie: Set it and Forget It!

I recently acquired a Showtime Rotisserie & BBQ, Platinum Edition, One of Ron Popeil's better inventions. Included in the package were a number of accessories that added versatility and ease to cooking. It came with 2 different rotisserie baskets, the smaller one could be used to cook items closer to the heating elements, thus decreasing cooking time. Eight kabob rods were included, so you can create various types of kabobs, eight at a time. A flavor injector, elastic food ties, instructional video and meat thermometer also came in the package. The Meat thermometer appears to be calibrated wrong, it shows room temperature at 170 degrees. Finally it came with heat-resistant BBQ gloves and a plastic stand to set the spit on for loading and unloading.

Some of the literature that came with the Showtime Rotisserie suggested to not take literally "set it and forget it" as you could create a fire hazard should your food get stuck on a heating element. It is a good slogan, just the same.

Assembling the parts to cook your food is pretty straightforward. All you have to do is follow the instructions and you are ready to go. The controls are pretty easy to understand. There is a digital countdown timer, so you know where you are at in the cooking process. The regular setting is for heat and rotation, but there are options for just heat or just rotation. The setting for just rotation seems to be very useful at the end of the cooking cycle to redistribute the heat and juices.

We have cooked 2 different whole chickens using this device, and the results were phenomenal. It was easy to load the chicken onto the spit. I used some of the elastic ties that came with the kit to keep the wings and legs from scraping on the heating elements. All we had to do was calculate the time, based on the weight. You would add 2 minutes to let the elements reach full temperature and then you just let it run its course. It will shut down after the cooking cycle. At this point, you would set it to rotate, without heat for five minutes. After removing the chicken, and having a taste, I am sure it was the moistest, juiciest, rotisserie chicken I have had.

Clean up was pretty straightforward. After everything cooled, I ran the spit through the dishwasher and hand-washed the BBQ gloves. The drip tray can also be washed in the dishwasher, but I would dispose of the drippings in the garbage first.

The first time I used the rotisserie, it seemed to make a scraping noise. This was easily resolved. I got some cooking oil and rubbed it around the slot in which the rotisserie spit sets when it turns.

If you don't have the load balanced, you may have to adjust the position of the meat.

Overall I was very impressed with the Showtime Rotisserie and BBQ. I would give it a 9.5 out of 10. I just wish the meat thermometer worked.