Rotisserie chicken is a chicken dish that is cooked on a

rotisserie 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 meth ...

by using direct heat in which the chicken is placed next to the heat source. Electric- or gas-powered heating elements may be used by using adjustable

infrared Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of Light, visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from ...

heat. These types of rotisseries have proven quite functional for cooking rotisserie-style chicken. Leftover rotisserie chicken may be used in a variety of dishes such as soup, chicken salad, and sandwiches.

Grocery loss leader

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 A loss leader (also leader) is a pricing strategy where a product is sold at a price below its market cost to stimulate other sales of more profitable goods or services. With this sales promotion/marketing strategy, a "leader" is any popular artic ...

to bring shoppers into the store. 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, too. Second, rotisserie chickens are often made with poultry that is about to reach its " best by" date. By cooking and selling the chickens, the grocery stores are able to recoup some of their expenditures.

By region

United States

In the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

, ready-to-eat rotisserie chickens were available in supermarkets and some butcher shops during much of the twentieth century. However, they did not become a widely available option for consumers until the early 1990s, when Boston Market helped popularize the selling of packaged rotisserie chickens. Rotisserie chickens are now highly popular. In 2010, 600 million rotisserie-cooked chickens were purchased by consumers "in U.S. supermarkets, club stores and similar retail outlets." In 2018, over 900 million rotisserie chickens were sold by foodservice outlets and retail stores. In the U.S., chickens used for rotisserie cooking may be injected with brine to retain moisture. Additional ingredients may be used to add flavor and to brown the chicken, such as oleoresin, yeast extract, sodium tripolyphosphate, and natural flavorings.

Costco and rotisserie chickens

Costco Costco Wholesale Corporation ( doing business as Costco Wholesale and also known simply as Costco) is an American multinational corporation which operates a chain of membership-only big-box retail stores (warehouse club). As of 2022, Costc ...

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." In 2017, Costco sold approximately 87 million rotisserie chickens in the United States. Costco's CFO, Richard Galanti, has repeatedly rebuffed suggestions that Costco might eventually increase the cost of its chickens above $4.99, which has been the price of a Costco rotisserie chicken since 2009. In 2017, Costco broke ground on a new 414-acre facility in Fremont, Nebraska that would include a hatchery, feed mill, and processing plant. The facility – which is expected to produce around 100 million chickens per year, or roughly 40 percent of Costco's needs – has been reported as costing between $275 million and $400 million. The plant is scheduled to open in September 2019.

Rotisserie Chicken Guy

In 2022, Alexander Tominsky, a waiter in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

, became a local celebrity after eating a rotisserie chicken every day for 40 consecutive days.

Australia

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.

Canada

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 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. St-Hubert is the ...

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." It typically airs chickens rotating on a rotisserie. Occasionally, a dancing man appears wearing a costume that looks "like a container of Swiss Chalet's dipping sauce." Most Canadian supermarket chains (including Costco) sell rotisserie chicken as a loss leader, similar to supermarkets in the United States.

France

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...

was a frequent consumer of rotisserie chickens.

Mexico

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 Salsa most often refers to: * Salsa (Mexican cuisine), a variety of sauces used as condiments * Salsa music, a popular style of Latin American music * Salsa (dance), a Latin dance associated with Salsa music Salsa or SALSA may also refer to: A ...

, and sides of arroz rojo and refried beans; it can also be found at supermarkets or warehouse clubs such as

or Sam's Club.

Peru

Known in Peru as pollo a la brasa (literally "roasted chicken"), it is considered a national dish of the country, 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. 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.

Gallery

File:Meat on spit.jpg, Chickens being roasted on a spit. ''Romance of Alexander'', Bruges, 1338-44 (The Bodleian Library, Oxford, MS 264 fol 170v) File:Jerk Chicken Rotisserie.jpg, Rotisserie chicken prepped for cooking on a barbecue grill File:PolloRostizadoObrera.JPG, Rotisserie chicken (''pollo rostizado'') cooking at a take-out shop in the Obrera neighborhood of Mexico City File:Roast chicken tacos.jpg, Roast chicken tacos, colonia Condesa, Mexico City. File:KS rotisserie chicken 1.JPG, A

rotisserie chicken File:Rotissierie chicken.JPG, A packaged rotisserie chicken File:Chickenbackground.jpg, Rotisserie chicken being cooked at a restaurant in California File:Swiss Chalet quarter chicken.jpg, Swiss Chalet 1/2 Chicken dinner ordered as take-out

References

Citations

Sources

* Adler, Karen; Fertig, Judith M. (2005
''The Barbecue Queens' Big Book of Barbecue''
Harvard Common Press. p. 217. * Raichlen, Steven (2001)
''How to Grill: The Complete Illustrated Book of Barbecue Techniques, a Barbecue Bible! Cookbook''
Workman Publishing.