[MikeLM]

Alton Brown has a recipe for Gyros on his web site. I made it and it was pretty good. He offers two options: cook it as a loaf, or compress it into a log tightly wrapped in plastic, firm it up in the fridge overnight, and then stick it on your rotisserie rod and turn it. I did that, and it worked.

We're visiting our daughter & family in Pattisburgh, and last week caught the Greek food fair at a local Greek Orthodox church. About the best Gyros I've had, and there are some good ones in Chicago!

Interesting point- they're called HEE-ross in Chicago and JY-rose in Pittsburgh. And the speakers are all Greeks.

But- there's gotta be a LOT more garlic in the Tzatsiki than what I see up above.

Mike

[allexgirl]

For my Gyro sauce...I use
Yogurt,chopped cukes and onion,garlic and dillweed.Salt and Pepper t/t.
Donna

[Chef Ladybug]

I don't know how much I can contribute to this thread considering that "can't boil water" fits me to a tee, but if you're at a loss on how to wrap up the gyros, my husband uses aluminum wraps and wraps them up like an ice cream cone (maybe I'll post photos of how he makes them... when he makes gyros, of course). As for the pita bread, he pretty much fries them on a frying pan, with veeeery little butter... which may make them a little greasy on the hands but they taste great and in our home, nobody cares about calories -- metabolism hasn't caught up with us, yet. He prefers the frying pan... considering that our toasters are small and square-ish, like all toasters are. He should know about gyros anyway; he ate them in Greece often enough, I think like 5 at a time. Last thing, he doesn't use spices on his gyros. They come out amazing. If it weren't for my stomach pains, I'd never stop eating them.

P.S.: (Editing post a day later--) Now that we've established that I may or may not have an eating disorder (lol), I just remembered that the meat he uses for gyros is souflaqi, although we don't quite have the technology to mount up the meat on a pole and then shave it off little by little like they do in Greece. So we'll eat the meat in tiny little chunks instead of a shaved off spread.

[allexgirl]

I thought this sounded interesting.
Donna

GREEK GYRO MEAT

1 lb. ground lamb
1/2 c. very finely chopped (or shredded) onion
2 tsp. fresh minced garlic
3/4 tsp. salt (preferably sea salt)
1/2 tsp. dried ground marjoram
1/2 tsp. dried ground rosemary
1/4 tsp. black pepper

Mix everything together and let sit in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours. Blend in a food processor for about 1 minute. (When cooked, this will help give it a more traditional gyro feel on your palate. Otherwise, it just takes like cooked minced meat.)
Form into an oblong around a spit, and slow cook over a grill for around 30-45 minutes, cooking far from the coals, and rotating slowly. Alternatively, bake in the oven in a meatloaf shape for about 45 minutes to 1 hour, at 325ºF. It should be a bit dry.
P. S. Tzatziki is made with 500 ml. plain natural or Greek yogurt, 1 cucumber which has been peeled and deseeded and grated and drained of extra liquid, and 2-4 cloves of fresh minced garlic.
Mix together and let sit in the refrigerator until ready to use. This is an extremely traditional recipe, and might be a bit sharp for the average American palate, so you might want to halve the garlic amount.
When I made this, I did not have a good spit and grill available, so I followed the loaf-pan instructions. It turned out a very nice loaf which I sliced very thinly to make some wonderful Gyros.
I have lived and worked in Greece for a few years, and worked as a butcher in the U. S. for quite some time, so let me shed a bit of light:
Donair (doner or Donar), Gyros, and Schwarma are all pretty much the same thing. The Doner Kebab (probably the closest original ethnic food to the American invention, the Gyro) is originally from Turkey. The gyro is an American invention which is basically a cheap version of a traditional Greek Kebab (the main difference is that the Greek one would use large pieces of boned lamb, pressed together using its own fat as a binder, and marinated, whereas Gyro uses ground meat.) The Schwarma is a version from the Middle East that is much larger, uses a similar meat to the Greek kebab, but less meat and more vegetables in the kebab itself.
A traditional gyro should be made with at least 50% ground lamb, and the rest beef. The best ground to use is one with a high fat content (this is so that during the remixing it binds and keeps it shape well!). The main flavouring ingredients should always be: garlic, onion, marjoram, rosemary, salt and black pepper. Marjoram and Rosemary are similar to oregano and thyme in flavour (respectively), and are common ingredients in Greek cooking. True Greek food rarely uses oregano. The mass-produced Gyros use oregano, not to mention garlic and onion powder, but we used fresh minced garlic and onions. Here is the recipe we used where I used to work (compliments of Feller's Meat in Clearfield, Utah!)
Enjoy! -Wayne Submitted by: labradors

[Gpaul]

Thanky! we did some chicken the other day, and it tasted like gyro, totally unintentional! And the flavor that reminded me of a gyro was OREGANO, a lot!

Could that be the secret?

[kitch]

WOW! I love gyros! I have had a recipe sitting here for a long time for the gyro meat made in a loaf pan and then pressed (it might even be Alton Brown's recipe) that I've wanted to try but was a little skeptical. I just joined this forum and today I thought maybe I would come on here and see what all of you had to say about a recipe like that. I am inspired now to try it. Thank you!

[allexgirl]

Thanks for the replys.No....oregano shouldn't be the secret ingredient.Could be though....It should maybe be sage?Just not sure....
What else did the chicken recipe have in it?

[Luc_H]

Hi all,

BBQ season is back and I made the recipe below that I had mentioned earlier in this thread. I added a couple of twists that made this heavenly.

debone a lamb leg. Trim excess fat and tendons. Open it butterfly. rub it using:
8 minced garlic cloves
3 Tbsp brown sugar
3 tbsp rubbed dry oregano (Greek if available)
2 tsp ground white pepper
1 Tbsp kosher salt
1 tsp of ground caraway (aka persian cumin this is where some confusion comes in with cumin... I forgot to mention that before)
1 tsp of ground anise (aka aniseed)

Rub and massage. place in sealed bag overnight.

Next day: reform the leg and tie tightly to a BBQ grill spit. Place an aluminum paper tray to capture the dripping fat and juices. Cook until well done 2 to 3 hrs (caramelized crust). Take off the spit and slice thinly.
Add some of the drippings to a skillet and some meat. Sauté to caramelize more.
Serve in a warm pita with tzaziki sauce, diced tomatoes, cucumbers, sliced red onions, and feta chunks.

Enjoy!

Luc H

[pattyrose]

I love gyros, especially with a lot of fresh tomatoes, tzaziki, lettuce and some onions, i would eat that every day. We have a small restaurant nearby that sell them for 1.25$, so you can guess that i often end up there