The Greek Cypriot souvla barbecue. A long charcoal trough and a motorised spit, built for slow-turning lamb and pork.
Hand made in Cyprus from folded steel. Six or seven souvlaki skewers and a rotisserie motor, sized for a family rather than a gathering.
The full-size souvla set. Long trough, multiple skewers turning together, built for a proper Sunday with a lot of people in the garden.
Flat-bladed souvlaki skewers sized for a foukou. Flat matters: round skewers let the meat spin as the spit turns.
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A foukou is a narrow steel trough with a motor at one end turning several long skewers. It is the barbecue of every Cypriot Sunday, and it solves a problem western grills do not even attempt: cooking large chunks of meat slowly and evenly over direct charcoal without burning the outside.
The meat goes on in big pieces, souvla rather than souvlaki, usually pork shoulder or lamb, seasoned with nothing more than salt, pepper, oregano and lemon. The constant rotation means the fat bastes the meat continuously and nothing needs turning by hand. Expect two to three hours for a full spit.
Sizing is by skewer count. A small set with six or seven skewers feeds a family; the large sets are built for a proper gathering. The traditional ones are hand made in Cyprus from folded steel, and the motors are simple battery or mains units that are cheap to replace.