George Foreman 10039 Baby George Rotisserie

Yes and no is the ambivalent answer. The Baby George is advertised to hold a 1.3 kg bird. in my experience. Unless your roast is very compact and not terribly WIDE, it will strike the front of the oven cover as it turns on the spit. That prevents the motor from turning the roast, and since the heating element (a simple exposed coil in back) is only on the back side, your roast can't cook properly. Therefore, good trussing is recommended, especially for poultry.

For under smaller roasts, the rotisserie works well. To roast a pork roast or chicken, you use the spit. The spit is in two parts: a spike and plate on which you place the meat, and a top plate with a wing nut to hold the plate onto the spike. This unit is then placed into the roaster and it meshes with the cogs of the motor on the side. The lid is closed and you turn on the timer. There is no choice of temperature: the glowing element heats to about 160 C and the meat rolls past it, roasting a 4 pound boneless pork roast in about 75 minutes.

There is a basket for roasting flat or odd shaped foods, and this unit is surprisingly useful. You can do fish like salmon, but I use it for chicken parts (leg and thigh) or for small boneless roasts that are too small for the spit. You open the metal basket, place the food inside, and close the basket top through the basket wires--rather like closing the door on a bird cage(!), pressing it down to hold the food in firmly (it will SHRINK on cooking, remember.) If you have trouble spitting a roast, remember the basket is a good option to get the same result. The basket fits into the roaster the same way as the spit--it meshes onto the cogs of the motor and flips around and around. Since it is a defined size, as long as the food can be held inside the basket, it will fit into the roaster and cook evenly.

I have not tried the kebab brochettes. They are 4 wire skewers that fit onto the outside of the spit unit, into slots that hold the skewers across the end plates. It looks flimsy to me, and I am not a fan of kababs--if I were making skewered food, I'd do it on the outside grill.

The spit unit is dangerous to unload when the food is cooked. It is hot as can be, and you have to manipulate that wing nut off with a hot pad while holding the spit on a heat-proof and slip-proof surface. A clean damp dishtowel over a cutting board is what I use. The spit unit is lifted out of the rotisserie with a metal lifting holder, and you should have the rotisserie near where the meat will end up, because you are going to be carrying that metal holder with the spit unit and meat on it, dripping hot juices, over to where it ends up for carving.

The spit is also SHARP and if you press down the meat to load it, have your hand well away from the top of the spike so as not to jab yourself. There are two side spikes that line up at 90 degrees from each other on each plate, holding the meat on the center spike and then with the four surrounding smaller spikes. These can jab you, too. Putting the meat on takes some care.

The cleanup is not too bad: drip tray beneath is metal, cleans out easily with a bit of soaking. Behind the element inside the rotisserie you can pull out a metal reflecting plate. This plate gets spattered with meat juice or food juices and needs cleaning and soaking. Eventually it spots up, like a broiler pan, with tiny burnt-on bits that won't come off. If you like everything completely spotless, this may annoy you. The lid lifts off the unit by lining up some arrows. That allows you to take the lid to the sink and clean the clear window inside and out. The re-assembly is easy enough; push the metal reflecting sheet behind the element and seat it properly. Wipe out the rest of the inside, put the lid back on, replace the drip tray.

We got our unit on sale, and I do like it for roast chicken and roast pork. I liked it less for roast beef--but possibly the cut of beef I chose was not the best kind for roasting. Small pieces of fish and meat cooked well in the basket. If you need big roasts, the bigger unit is advisable. I don't mind the cleanup. My biggest problem is with the spit--not all the foods want to stay on it, and removing it from the roaster is a bit difficult.