A spit is 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. Spits are generally used for cooking large joints of meat or entire animals such as pigs, turkeys, goats or historically, entire cattle.

In Medieval and Early Modern kitchens, the spit was the preferred way of cooking meat in a large household. A servant, preferably a boy, sat near the spit turning the metal rod slowly and cooking the food (and himself to some extent); he was known as the Spit Boy or Spit Jack. More mechanical means were later invented, first moved by dog-powered treadmill then later mechanical clockwork mechanisms.

See also

• rotisserie

Cooking techniques