Roast Beef on a Rotisserie Grill

This technique works for pretty much any roast you will roast on your rotisserie grill and if you have a thermometer to check the meat’s temperature for true accuracy, even better. If you don’t have one, I can give you an approximation but know that it’s not exact.

While I have made chickens on the rotisserie many times, this was the first time I tried a roast on the spit. I got the basic technique from a few different Weber videos for a recipe for a lovely cut of beef I got and it’s so simple it’s a little embarrassing. But first, credit to my friend Zvi, who we periodically meet tooling around on his dune buggy or van as we walk through the forest, who pulled over and stopped for a chat. I mentioned it was barbecue time in honor of Independence Day and he said, well just go to Rami Levy (a well known supermarket) and ask Abu Youssef to give you my special cut. I gawked at him and said, what? Abu Youssef? I haven’t seen him in 3 years!

A little aside here, the aformentioned gentleman is a lovely fellow who was the local butcher in our local supermarket for many years. One day he was gone and we all were sad since he was such a nice guy and a truly excellent butcher. And then Zvi said, sure he became the head of the meat department at Rami Levy. Eureka!! DH and I determined to hunt him down and see if he could help. Long story short, I don’t know who was happier to see the other, me or him. He greeted me warmly (nice to be recognized even with a mask on!) and we immediately fell to the important discussion of cuts of beef for the grill. He recommended a cut I’d never heard of which he said was incredibly tender and flavorful, a center rib cut (it’s got numbers here, it’s number 22 for my fellow Israelis who want to know). He promised it would be excellent and he also saved me the trouble of trussing the roast (tying it up) by putting it in a net since he said that it should be cylindrical to cook evenly on all sides. He also said that you can successfully cook the roast in the oven, just use a rack so it dry roasts.

Okay, this was an excellent start. A good cut of beef, trussed up, about 3 kilo, around 6 pounds of beef and I’ve got my wonderful Weber grill. What could be bad? So I rinsed and patted dry the roast and took out my rotisserie spit and forks.

Now you have to place the point of the spit in the middle of the roast and push firmly till it sits evenly on the spit and then put the forks into the roast (sorta stabbing it) on either side but not tightening it thoroughly since you will adjust it in the grill proper.

But first season the roast. This is ridiculously simple. Start with olive oil, smearing it all over the roast coating all sides.

Then use Montreal steak seasoning which is simply coarse salt, pepper, garlic, some paprika and onion. So if you don’t have any, just use the spices. I also used more kosher salt and garlic powder to up the flavor and no, it won’t be too salty. It creates a wonderful crust on the roast. So don’t be shy and liberally salt and season the roast, turning on all sides to cover it.

Then place the seasoned, spitted roast into the rotisserie and if it’s not centered, sorta shove it to the middle and then tighten the screws of the forks. You remove the grates of the grill and place a disposable pan beneath the roast to catch the drips. You are cooking the roast with indirect heat, the middle burner is turned off and the two side burners are turned on like so:

Now I lived dangerously and put the roast on the cold grill so I wouldn’t burn my hands off adjusting a heavy weight when the grill is hot. Check to make sure your rotisserie is working, give it a coupla spins to see and then leave it to revolve. Heat the grill with the cover down and both burners (middle burner is off) on high till it comes to 400 F/200 C (approximately). Then lower the heat to medium high keeping the temp at 400 for half an hour. (DH was the shlepper who picked up and adjusted the roast and was in charge of keeping an eye on the temp. A first for him, he was very pleased with himself 🙂 ). Good. Now lower the temp to 325 F/162 C – 350 F/177 C approximately. You can peek at your roast briefly before lowering the temp since lifting the lid helps bring down your temp anyway and you want that. It should already look lovely and browned but it ain’t done, trust me.

See the lovely crust? Good. Close the lid and periodically come out to check on the temp of the grill (or have someone else do it, like DH did for me). After 45 minutes I checked it with a thermometer and it was 107 F/42 C approximately, not cooked sufficiently, so I cooked it for an additional 20 or so minutes. Now DH and I like our meat medium, but didn’t want to overcook it so we decided to go with an internal temperature (with a meat thermometer) of 130 F/57 C which is medium rare since you can always cook it longer after the fact but not shorter if you get me. So after the internal temp reached 130, DH removed the roast and brought it into the kitchen, I removed the spit and forks and removed the trussing/netting/twine. Do this immediately or the net will stick to the roast and tear the crust.

Critical step here, place the roast beef on a rimmed baking sheet and cover well with tin foil and let it rest!!! How many different ways can I say this? Plan ahead for both sufficient cooking time and resting time. The juices merrily redistribute throughout the meat and keep it juicy and the meat continues cooking with residual heat.

I let it rest about 25 minutes and the end pieces were medium + and the closer to center of the roast were medium rare, too rare for most of my guests so I just put their slices on for 1/2 a minute more on each side and they were perfect and succulent.

I gilded the lily with mini lamb burgers, hotdogs and pargiot but that’s for another time. Suffice it to say, my guests swooned with delight and they all ate huge slabs (DH couldn’t bear the thought of thin slices of beef and he cut them into slabs, for real) and we sorta rested after the meal like lizards on a rock. A note. We couldn’t eat the whole thing and I planned ahead since I knew I’d have about half a roast remaining (which I did) on Thursday. I sliced it thick and gently warmed (the too rare part) meat and served to the delight of different guests on Friday night. Amazingly delicious and surprisingly easy to achieve!

Roast Beef on a Rotisserie Grill

1 6 pound (approximately 3 kilo) beef roast (entrecote or center rib (# 22) cut that will dry roast well, we called this “roast beef” in America, if unsure, ask your butcher), trussed or tied up with kitchen twine (meant for cooking) so that it is cylindrical in shape
Montreal steak seasoning OR granulated onion, granulated garlic, pinch of paprika, kosher salt and black pepper
additional kosher or coarse salt
olive oil

Prepare the roast by washing and patting dry. Then rub all over with olive oil. Generously season with kosher/coarse salt, granulated onion, granulated garlic, a hint of paprika and black pepper. Coat all over. Take the spit/skewer and spit the roast in the middle, pushing so it sits properly in the middle of the spit and fasten with spit forks on either side but not tightening too much till you see that it will sit properly in the middle of the grill. Remove the grill’s grates and place a disposable pan beneath the roast to catch the drippings. Check that your rotisserie turns the roast round and round properly. Then turn on the two side burners leaving the burner beneath the roast off (cooking by indirect heat). Close the lid and turn on the grill till it reaches 400 F/200 C and leave to grill on that temperature for half an hour. (Alternatively, if you have no rotisserie, place roast on a rack with a drip pan beneath and continue as above with indirect heat). Peek to check on roast and lower temp to 325-350F/162-177 C or so. Cook approximately an additional hour or so or till internal temperature is about 130 for medium rare, about 145 for medium and about 150 ish for medium well. Let’s not talk about well done, just a shame to ruin your beef like that. Also remember the meat continues to cook when it rests from residual heat.

Remove from grill, remove forks and spit and carefully and immediately remove the twine or netting or it sticks to the roast and will pull off your crust. Cover with foil and let rest at least 20 minutes.

Serve in big slabs to happy diners, end pieces will be more done than the middle which will be dark pink. If it’s too rare for you, toss the slices on the grill for half a minute on each side (really not more) till still juicy and succulent but not dry.