Vintage Roto-Broil rules!

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turquoisedude

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Among the hundreds of small vintage appliances in the 'Ogdenville Appliance Museum', I finally found and unpacked this Roto-Broil "Custom 600" rotisserie-broiler-oven. I know I had never used it (it still had the $11.99 price sticker on it) and I figure I must have gotten it in early 2007 then packed it right away in preparation for the move to Ogden.
Overall, it's still in great shape! The chrome is spotless, still has the original spit and forks, and the original power cord and plug. I threw in some ribs (I was out of gas for the barbecue anyway) and plugged it in on the patio in Ogden.

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A pleasant surprise for a change...

I thought it didn't work, but it turns out the timer actually does work!! I didn't exactly leave it running for any length of time when I bought it, but because I didn't hear any ticking sounds, I foolishly concluded the timer didn't work.
It cooked the ribs I 'wove' onto the spit beautifully! It's a noisy one, though... Hubby kept asking "Are you sure it's on?"
But to heck with him - THIS one's a keeper!! LOL

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Paul, I have the Custom 400 and I use it regularly to make rotisserie chicken. My parents bought it new. It spent time sitting outside in the weather and being bounced around but was still complete and functional--including the silent timer--so I claimed it about 20 years ago and cleaned it up. It's not nearly as beautiful as yours but it does the job, and I have the orginal "Mr. & Mrs Roto-Broil" paperback cookbook that came with it.

Where is the noise coming from on yours? These machines aren't that noisy. Much of it depends on having the spit as close to perfectly balanced as you can manage. Mine will vibrate if it's struggling with an out-of-balance issue. If the lid or door is vibrating, they will really amplify things.

Noise or no noise, these vintage roasters do a better job than anything on the market today. The Faberware "Open Hearth" types are no match for it, and very no-frills in comparison.

Ralph
 
I have a Custom 400 that I picked up last year for $5 at an estate sale, but have been too chicken to try it out. Are these a pain to clean up? I have the Mr. & Mrs Roto Broil cookbook also. I found the book at a used book shop here in town for $1.
 
Tim, I don't think they are that much trouble to clean. If you wipe out the interior walls after use, you should be fine. I cover the tray at the bottom with foil. I even put the glass door and skewers in the dishwasher, and the tray too if it happens to get soiled.

Fear not! These are fun to use and provide excellent rotisserating results!

Ralph
 
cleaning

If anything cooks onto the chrome, it cannot be scrubbed off without taking great pains to avoid scratching the chrome.

Paul, did you lift the lid and keep anything warm on the tray above the element as was often shown in pictures of the units?

The following is not meant to denigrate anyone's happy experiences with a large, enclosed rotisserie-broiler. When Consumer Reports top-rated the Farber Open Hearth Broiler & Rotisserie, it noted that having cool air around the cooking meat prevented it from being roasted by the heated air that surrounds the food in most small broilers and also cut down on the spattering. While the Farber cannot be used for some of the tasks advertised by the enclosed units, some of which offered baking in an uninsulated sheet metal appliance otherwise known as room heating, its design of placing the heat below the food most closely copies traditional grilling over glowing coals and makes the most efficient use of the limited wattage of a cooking appliance operating on 115 volts, to say nothing of the Farber's parts being able to go into the dishwasher for cleaning. The big rotisserie-broilers dated from a time when most domestic ranges did not offer rotisseries and most gas ranges had poorly performing broilers in the inconvenient location below the oven. They were the result of a cooking fad where rotisserie-prepared meats were a hit in restaurants and California-style patio cooking with outdoor barbeques was featured in shelter magazines right after WWII. We were given one by a wealthy friend who knew of my interest in appliances. It had been a gift to them and was still in the original box, but she was not really interested in that type of cooking and it had never been used. We tried it once, but the broiler in our oven was twice the wattage of the portable unit. Its main advantage was that it could be used outside in the summer, which is where we used it. It sat for years before being donated. I hope it made someone happy. Rotisserie cooking was way beyond our level of gastronomic sophistication.
 
Long live rotisseries!

I've blabbed about this many times on this site, but I was lucky enough to have had parents that rotissed at least twice a week.Along with chicken, my father used to get a cut of beef, that I think was a top round, that he would get our butcher(yes, we had a butcher around the corner)to wrap it with trim fat and roto-broil it. Muy yum-o.

For exactly the reasons Tom just mentioned we had a Roto-Broil in our kitchen in Peter Cooper that was in constant use. When we moved to a house a couple of blocks away, my Father, bless his heart, had the smarts to buy a TOL GE JK27 double-oven with a built-in rotisserie that worked brilliantly. Unfortunately, the Roto-Broil went to a relative or a friend and now, of course, they're extremely collectible. Jeffery Steingarten, food editor of Vogue magazine, has an impressive collection of them. I saw one NIB on Craigslist for $500.00; I will try and find that ad and post it.

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Tom, you make some good points about heating from below, and I agree that chrome and spatters are a bad match. My unit was chrome to start with, but after being shunned for so many years it was dull a mess with rusty areas. My dad painted the whole thing flat black. It was beyond gothic. One day after I had claimed it and when I had nothing better to do I reached for a handy can of paint, much like the pale yellow of this page's background, and used it on the side housings. It made things more presentable, though not at all original.

A fellow member advised that to clean the interior, place a small cup or dish inside with some ammonia in it. Stuff saran wrap in all openings to seal the interior (don't use tape--you won't like what the ammonia does to the sticky side) and keep the fumes in. Leave things for at least over night if not longer. This should make recent spatters easy to wipe off.
 
Time to dish...

I couldn't photograph the platter, 'cause it was in the dishwasher, but here's a place setting plus a couple of 'completer' pieces. I have no idea of the manufacturer, all it says on the bottom of the plates is 'Green Leaves - Japan'. I think the dishes were given away as premiums at grocery stores or gas stations... I have a set of six dinner plates, side plates, cups and saucers, and fruit/cereal bowls. I have the platter and sugar bowl, but that's it... I wish I knew more about them!

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Here's Mine

What a contrast, huh? And to think it was all shiny chrome in the beginning. At least the pale yellow is an improvement over the flat black. I didn't bother stripping the black off the top lid since there's no easy way to remove it. Maybe someday.

This same shot is buried in another non-rotisserie related thread, so I thought I'd post it here.

She may not be a great looker, but she sure is a great cooker!

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Oh yeah, Eddie. The cook book has instructions for capon, and that's what I use when I roast a whole chicken. I try to find the biggest one, and the machine has no problem handling one that weighs 6 pounds.
 
Paul do you have that

Mr & Mrs RotoBroil cookbook? And if so does it have any good recipes?
The recipes in my book are weird so I am improvising.
I can't believe how delicious the chicken was with a lack of salting and peppering!
I only brushed soy sauce and honey over it in the last 20 minutes like they say to do. Easy boom-boom-done chicken dinner!
 
Lots of recipes in the Mr. & Mrs. Roto-Broil book. If there's something in particular that you are interested in trying, let me know. I'm sure it will be in there.

I'll grab the book and post the capon recipe here at least.

Trussing is the hardest part of roasting a chicken on one of these things. I need to learn how once and for all.

Ralph
 
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