Gyro

[FoodMan]

It didn't get as browned on the sides as it would with a rotisserie, but once it is all sliced up, that didn't bother me. If you like the commercial Krynos gyro, up Alton's salt by 50%. Also, I preground the dried rosemary, marjoram and pepper in my coffee/spice grinder. The herb flavor really stood out. I usually winged it when I've made tzatziki, I highly recommend Alton's recipe, the olive oil and vinegar worked beautifully. I even used the oniony tea towel to drain the yogurt, as recommended on TV, but not mentioned in the written recipe.

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You know, I bet we can get a nice brown crust on it if we just run it under the broiler after it is cooked and removed from the pan.

Elie

[Rachel Perlow]

I thought about it but didn't. I was using the oven to make pita bread at the time. I did put the sliced pieces in that hot oven to reheat before eating, they did get a little more browned and dried from that.

[Rachel Perlow]

Here are links to the recipes I used:

Gyro Meat with Tzatziki Sauce from Good Eats, "My Big Fat Greek Sandwich" - I suggest increasing the salt by about 50%. All lamb was good, but next time we're going to try a combo of lamb and beef. Lamb and pork might be good too. Excellent tzatziki sauce.

Pita Bread from eGCI Lebanese Cooking course -- the pita bread recipe is about 1/4 the way down the post.

I don't think you need a recipe for diced tomatoes and shredded feta cheese.

[Jason Perlow]

Fat Guy mentioned up thread that in order to get that commercial Gyro meat taste, we may need to procure some of this stuff:

http://www.greekseasoning.com/

[Daniel]

ok.. The stars are comming together.. We have Mr. Perlow setting the standard.. We have alton brown devoting a show to the gyro in the next couple of days... We might have to make this a cook off event..

[NulloModo]

ok.. The stars are comming together.. We have Mr. Perlow setting the standard.. We have alton brown devoting a show to the gyro in the next couple of days... We might have to make this a cook off event..

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It would go well with our recent efforts to gobble up every lamb on the planet...

[gfron1]

All of this talk about Fair food has me hankerin' for gyro. And since this topic was last active, the US now has Greek yogurt readily available. So...bump. I'm going to ask my favorite butcher to give me some lamb as described earlier in the topic (nice and fat).

[Annoula]

Although many of you might actually prefer what you've become used to in the States, I'd like to correct a few pieces of misinformation above ... and I'm writing to you from right here in the middle of Athens, Greece.

 

1. tzatziki is never only a mixture of yogurt, cucumber, and garlic. It absolutely must have both oil (olive in the nicest) and vinegar, and of course salt. And probably a surprising amount of all of those -- well over a matter of teaspoons. I have never had it with mint, nor know of anyone who makes it that way; some people do put in dill.
2. You do not need Total yogurt (although it's a great, reliable, popular yogurt here and even their 2% is creamy and rich), but you do need plain yogurt, and preferably full-fat. No gelatin, no vanilla God knows, and no zero percentage which is an abomination. If you can buy yogurt already strained as we can here, great. If not, as in the Alton Brown recipe, you need to put it in some cheesecloth (or similar) and suspend it above a bowl for a couple of hours to drain much of the liquid. Likewise, it's a pretty key step to drain/squeeze the liquid from the grated cucumbers as this will offset the liberal amounts of the oil and vinegar you should be adding in for it to have a bit of bite and the right texture.
3. Gyro isn't really THAT hard to pronounce! Greeks are telling you things like "ear-row" and "yee-row" because they're guessing you'll have trouble slipping that subtle "g" (like goat) sound just before the "yee". Get your mouth starting to say "goat" but a nano-second before that "g" sound slips out, change to "yee". That's how it's really pronounced ... by Greeks, in Greece.
4. Gyro does NOT mean "wrapped"! Gyro -- like gyroscope? gyrating? -- means turning or revolving around an axis, so of course it refers to the traditional cooking method of the upright spit. "Wrapped" is actually tylixta -- tee-leech-TA (with the "ch" sound being like the ch in Chanukkah, that is, a sort of phlegm-y "ha"). Don't worry -- if you're visiting here you can just say "meh PEEta" -- with pita. Or for that matter, just say "pita!" and point ... or say it in English. A huge proportion of the Greek population is at least conversant in English.
5. Oh, and finally, before "Greeks don't cook with oregano" is misunderstood, we definitely DO use it in food we eat but it's usually added after the cooking itself -- if it's a cooked dish, that is -- has been done. A "village" or xoriatiki salad wouldn't be right without a sprinkling of oregano and a drizzle of yogurt on top of the slab of feta which the salad ought to have.