Baron von Steuben's French chef at Valley Forge

Cooking beef on a string.  Steuben's "cook of celebrity" couldn't prepare their ration of beef and bread without utensils. He asked their 'wagoner" how to cook the meat and was told "by hanging it up by a string, and turning it before a good fire..."

Chicken on a String

Several recipes describe cooking on a string, as does my modern interpretation at the end.  If the cotton twine is wrapped around the body correctly it will turn on its own without the cook twisting the string.