The $35,000 Labesse Giraudon rotisserie at Country is an immense rotating gas spit, channeling powerful heat and turning its edible cargo on an axis powered by churning gears and chains. Manufactured by Les Ateliers, the mechanism allows for vertical or horizontal turning. And though it looks straight out of the nineteenth century, chef de cuisine Willis Loughhead assures us the rotisserie is entirely modern: “Artificial filaments amplify the heat from the gas flames, and the curvature of the internal hood channels the heat around to the other side, so that whatever you are cooking gets radiant heat on two sides.” Loughhead, using the rotisserie’s variety of cages and hooks, cooks everything from whole baby lambs to the most delicate baby chickens in there, and wants to start cooking even more. “I want to do an all-rotisserie meal,” Loughhead says. “Whole rabbits, lobsters, prime rib. There’s so much this thing can do.”
