Rotisserie chicken is a chicken dish that is cooked on a rotisserie by using direct heat in which the chicken is placed next to the heat source. [1]
Electric- or gas-powered heating elements may be used by using adjustable infrared heat. [2] These types of rotisseries have proven quite functional for cooking rotisserie-style chicken. [3] Leftover rotisserie chicken may be used in a variety of dishes such as soup, chicken salad, and sandwiches. [4]
Rotisserie chickens are often sold at a lower price than raw whole chickens in grocery stores. Two explanations are often given to justify this phenomenon. First, some grocery stores may use rotisserie chickens as loss leaders to bring shoppers into the store. [5] [6] The logic behind this theory is that if customers come to a store for its rotisserie chickens, they will buy other products while they are there, as well, particularly higher-margin side dishes and alcoholic beverages to accompany the chicken. [5] [7] Second, rotisserie chickens are often made with poultry that is about to reach its "best by" date and would otherwise have to be destroyed unsold. [8] By cooking and selling the chickens, the grocery stores are able to recoup some of their expenditures. [8]
The two major supermarkets, Coles and Woolworths, both sell chickens cooked in large ovens. A common variation on the local fish and chip shop is one that also sells charcoal chicken, rotated and cooked above charcoal.
Rotisserie chicken has been a popular food in Canada since the 1950s, and is a staple of Canadian pop culture.
Two Canadian casual dining restaurant chains, Swiss Chalet and St-Hubert, dominate the market for chicken, though the dish is also the central item for other Canadian chains, popular international chains such as Nandos, or individual restaurants. Swiss Chalet owns a cable channel that exclusively airs content related to rotisserie chicken, "twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week." [9] It typically airs chickens rotating on a rotisserie. [9] Occasionally, a dancing man appears wearing a costume that looks "like a container of Swiss Chalet's dipping sauce." [9]
Most Canadian supermarket chains (including Costco) sell rotisserie chicken as a loss leader, similar to supermarkets in the United States. [10]
Napoleon Bonaparte was a frequent consumer of rotisserie chickens. [11]
In Mexico, rotisserie chicken is called "pollo asado" or "pollo rostizado" (which literally mean "grilled chicken" and "roasted chicken" respectively). Rotisserie chicken is often sold at restaurants specializing in rotisserie chicken and is eaten with tortillas, salsa, and sides of arroz rojo and refried beans; it can also be found at supermarkets or warehouse clubs such as Costco or Sam's Club.
Pollo a la brasa (literally "roasted chicken") is a national dish, with Peruvians consuming it an average of three times per month and with rotisserie chicken restaurants accounting for 40% of the fast food industry in the country. [12] Peruvian-style rotisserie chicken has been growing in popularity worldwide, especially in the United States, where a large number of such restaurants have opened in the past two decades.
In the United States, ready-to-eat rotisserie chickens were available in supermarkets and some butcher shops during much of the twentieth century. [13] However, they did not become a widely available option for consumers until the early 1990s, [14] when Boston Market helped popularize the selling of packaged rotisserie chickens. [15] [16]
Rotisserie chickens are now highly popular. [4] In 2010, 600 million rotisserie-cooked chickens were purchased by consumers "in U.S. supermarkets, club stores and similar retail outlets." [17] In 2018, over 900 million rotisserie chickens were sold by foodservice outlets and retail stores. [18]
In the U.S., chickens used for rotisserie cooking may be injected with brine to retain moisture. [4] Additional ingredients may be used to add flavor and to brown the chicken, such as oleoresin, yeast extract, sodium tripolyphosphate, and natural flavorings. [4]
Costco is one of the largest producers and vendors of rotisserie chickens in the United States, with one commentator describing it as "the undisputed king of rotisserie chickens." [14] In 2017, Costco sold approximately 87 million rotisserie chickens in the United States. [5] That number rose to 106 million chickens in 2021. [19] Costco's CFO, Richard Galanti, has repeatedly rebuffed suggestions that Costco might eventually increase the cost of its chickens above $4.99, [20] [21] which has been the price of a Costco rotisserie chicken since 2009. [5]
In 2017, Costco broke ground on a new 414-acre facility in Fremont, Nebraska that would include a hatchery, feed mill, and processing plant. [21] [22] The facility – which is expected to produce around 100 million chickens per year, [21] or roughly 40 percent of Costco's needs [23] – has been reported as costing between $275 million and $400 million. [22] [24] The plant opened in 2019, and is operating as Lincoln Premium Poultry. [19]
In 2022, Alexander Tominsky, a waiter in Philadelphia, became a local celebrity after eating a rotisserie chicken every day for 40 consecutive days. [25] [26] [27] [28]
Also in 2022, Spanish-speaking TikTok user @donpollo2982 gained notoriety in June after sharing videos of him eating food in his car, usually rotisserie chicken, while often being interrupted by sounds emitted from his Android smartphone. [29]
Gyros, sometimes anglicized as a gyro in some regions, is meat cooked on a vertical rotisserie, then sliced and served wrapped or stuffed in pita bread, along with other ingredients such as tomato, onion, fried potatoes, and tzatziki. In Greece, it is normally made with pork or sometimes with chicken, whilst beef and lamb are also used in other countries.
Swiss Chalet is a Canadian chain of casual dining restaurants founded in 1954 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Swiss Chalet has locations in most Canadian provinces, but about 80% are in Ontario and there are currently none in Quebec or British Columbia. Swiss Chalet is among the holdings of Recipe Unlimited, which also owns the fast food chain Harvey's. Swiss Chalet and Harvey's franchises share many locations.
Tandoori chicken is a dish made from chicken marinated in yogurt and spices and roasted in a tandoor, a cylindrical clay oven. The dish is now popular worldwide. The modern form of the dish was popularized by the Moti Mahal restaurant in New Delhi, India in the late 1940s.
Roast chicken is chicken prepared as food by roasting whether in a home kitchen, over a fire, or with a rotisserie. Generally, the chicken is roasted with its own fat and juices by circulating the meat during roasting, and therefore, are usually cooked exposed to fire or heat with some type of rotary grill so that the circulation of these fats and juices is as efficient as possible. Roast chicken is a dish that appears in a wide variety of cuisines worldwide.
A churrascaria is a place where meat is cooked in churrasco style, which translates roughly from the Portuguese word for "barbecue".
Rotisserie, also known as spit-roasting, is a style of roasting where meat is skewered on a spit – a long, solid rod used to hold food while it is being cooked over a fire in a fireplace or over a campfire, or roasted in an oven. This method is generally used for cooking large joints of meat or entire animals, such as pigs or turkeys. The rotation cooks the meat evenly in its own juices and allows easy access for continuous basting.
Churrasco is the Portuguese and Spanish name for grilled beef prominent in South American and Iberian cuisines, and in particular in Bolivia, Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina. The term is also used in other Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries for a variety of different meat products.
Doner kebab, also spelled as döner kebab, is a dish of Turkish origin made of meat cooked on a vertical rotisserie. Seasoned meat stacked in the shape of an inverted cone is turned slowly on the rotisserie, next to a vertical cooking element. The operator uses a knife to slice thin shavings from the outer layer of the meat as it cooks. The vertical rotisserie was invented in the 19th-century Ottoman Empire, and dishes such as the Arab shawarma, Greek gyros, Canadian donair, and Mexican al pastor are derived from this.
St-Hubert BBQ Ltd is a chain of Canadian casual dining restaurants best known for its rotisserie chicken. St-Hubert is most popular in Quebec and in other French-Canadian areas such as Eastern Ontario and New Brunswick. The chain enjoys the highest customer loyalty of any restaurant in Canada according to industry analysis.
Char siu is a Cantonese-style barbecued pork. Originating in Guangdong, it is eaten with rice, used as an ingredient for noodle dishes or in stir fries, and as a filling for chasiu baau or pineapple buns. Five-spice powder is the primary spice, honey or other sweeteners are used as a glaze, and the characteristic red color comes from the red yeast rice when made traditionally.
Barbecue varies by the type of meat, sauce, rub, or other flavorings used, the point in barbecuing at which they are added, the role smoke plays, the equipment and fuel used, cooking temperature, and cooking time.
Siu mei is the generic Cantonese name of meats roasted on spits over an open fire or a large wood-burning rotisserie oven. It creates a unique, deep barbecue flavor and the roast is usually coated with a flavorful sauce before roasting. Siu mei is very popular in Hong Kong, Macau, and overseas Chinatowns, especially with Cantonese emigrants. In Hong Kong, the average person eats siu mei once every four days, with char siu being the most popular, followed by siu yuk second, and roast goose third. Some dishes, such as white cut chicken and soy sauce chicken, are not roasted at all but are considered siu mei nonetheless. Siu mei is also known colloquially as siu laap, as the latter term encompasses siu mei and laap mei, a type of preserved meat. They are usually prepared in the same kitchen during autumn and winter season in what are often known as siu laap establishments or Chinese BBQ shops. Siu laap is also often sold alongside lou mei, such as orange cuttlefish and pig's ear.
A pig roast or hog roast is an event or gathering which involves the barbecuing of a whole pig. Pig roasts, under a variety of names, are a common traditional celebration event in many places including the United Kingdom, Philippines, Puerto Rico and Cuba. It is also popular in the United States, especially in the state of Hawaii and in the Southern United States. In Southeast Asia, a pig roast is a staple among the Buddhist, and Christian communities, notably among Catholic Filipinos and Hindu Balinese people, or Buddhist Chinese people.
Huli-huli chicken is a grilled chicken dish in Hawaiian cuisine, prepared by barbecuing a chicken over mesquite wood, and basting it with a sweet huli-huli sauce.
Pollo a la brasa, pollo asado, blackened chicken, or charcoal chicken is a variety of rotisserie chicken especially associated with the cuisine of Peru.
Barbecue chicken consists of chicken parts or entire chickens that are barbecued, grilled or smoked. There are many global and regional preparation techniques and cooking styles. Barbecue chicken is often seasoned or coated in a spice rub, barbecue sauce, or both. Marinades are also used to tenderize the meat and add flavor. Rotisserie chicken has gained prominence and popularity in U.S. grocery markets. Barbecued chicken is one of the world's most popular barbecue dishes.
Inihaw, also known as sinugba or inasal, are various types of grilled or spit-roasted barbecue dishes from the Philippines. They are usually made from pork or chicken and are served on bamboo skewers or in small cubes with a soy sauce and vinegar-based dip. The term can also refer to any meat or seafood dish cooked and served in a similar way. Inihaw are commonly sold as street food and are eaten with white rice or rice cooked in coconut leaves (pusô). Inihaw is also commonly referred to as Filipino barbecue or (informally) Pinoy BBQ.
Chicken inasal, commonly known simply as inasal, is a variant of the Filipino chicken dish known as lechon manok. Chicken inasal is a grilled chicken part usually breast (Pecho) or leg (Paa) while a lechon manok is a stuffed whole chicken. It is chicken marinated in a mixture of calamansi, pepper, coconut vinegar and annatto, then grilled over hot coals while basted with the marinade. It is served with rice, calamansi, soy sauce, chicken oil and vinegar.
Even if they're used as loss leaders, at, say, $5 apiece, that's still a decent chunk of change. But the assumption is that many shoppers will also pick up a salad, a side dish, and maybe a bottle of wine.
The consumer demand for rotisserie chicken isn't exactly new. Chains like A&P "always had chickens rotating on rotisseries in large commercial ovens with big glass windows," writes B. Baker, an Eater reader who grew up in the 1960s and remembers that "customers would come in expressly to pick up a chicken for dinner; there were no Boston Markets, Costcos, or even (in our area) KFCs to purchase a prepared bird." But according to the Journal, it wasn't until the '90s that national chains like Costco and Whole Foods started buying birds specifically to put them on a spit and sell them for less than fresh broilers, turning rotisserie chicken into a lucrative loss leader.