Gyros?

[bigslickwood]

Love a good gyro. Going to try to make a gyro loaf for this weekend. Will probably use Alton's recipe, unless anyone has one better. Make the loaf, cook it, then slice thin on the slicer, and broil/panfry the strips till they're a bit browned and tasty.

Will also try to make some avgolemono (sp?) soup (chicken, lemon, orzo). There's a little greek place down the road from my office and a gyro and cup of soup has become the lunch of champions...

Any input would be appreciated/tried. One little brainstorm was to take the meat paste from the gyro loaf and stuff it into sausage casings, then grill and basically make a gyro dog. Add onions, tomato, feta and tzatziki.

[pond007]

mouth watering........ahhhhh. Too bad there aren't any Gyro places around here...booo!

[Blake]

Well I know where I"m going for lunch today now. There's a greek place right acrosst he street from my office. Gyro Supreme coming my way :D...maybe a chicken Pita too (gyro but with grilled chicken basically)

[Guma]

Not sure if a gyro and a pita is the same thing... but there was this place over in Belgium that made the most kick ass pitas. It was right outside a row of bars so at 1am it turned into your Denny's or IHOP over here. People would stand in line for an hour after drinking all night to get one of these pitas. Since then I have never tasted one that was even remotely comparable.

[zz-kai-]

Make your own cucumber sauce: one cucumber diced or shredded, get the water out of it. Finely dice 2 cloves garlic, mix in 2 small plain yogurts. Sit for half day. Salt and pepper to taste.

We home make gyros all the time. Good shit.

[bigslickwood]

Make your own cucumber sauce: one cucumber diced or shredded, get the water out of it. Finely dice 2 cloves garlic, mix in 2 small plain yogurts. Sit for half day. Salt and pepper to taste.

We home make gyros all the time. Good shit.

What do you use for your meat recipe?

[Zemo]

Not sure if a gyro and a pita is the same thing... but there was this place over in Belgium that made the most kick ass pitas. It was right outside a row of bars so at 1am it turned into your Denny's or IHOP over here. People would stand in line for an hour after drinking all night to get one of these pitas. Since then I have never tasted one that was even remotely comparable.

Gyro meat is typically eaton ON pita bread, they are not one in the same. I love a good Gyro and a chicken shish ke bob on Pita as well. Man, might just head out to the greek place tonight. (And that doesn't mean what you pervs think ;))

[Oz]

Love a good gyro. Going to try to make a gyro loaf for this weekend. Will probably use Alton's recipe, unless anyone has one better. Make the loaf, cook it, then slice thin on the slicer, and broil/panfry the strips till they're a bit browned and tasty.


And I'm gonna bring it with me to the poker game that oz invited me to so he and his crew can have some!



FYP bsw

[bigslickwood]

FYP bsw

Plan is for Sunday night... sorry :oops:

By the way, I'm definately in for Sat. 7pm, right?

If I end up getting my table back (it's on consignment in Cd'A, but no luck so far) I'll throw a game out in the shop.

Don't worry, I always treat my players right... No one goes home hungry.

[Oz]

Plan is for Sunday night... sorry :oops:

By the way, I'm definately in for Sat. 7pm, right?

If I end up getting my table back (it's on consignment in Cd'A, but no luck so far) I'll throw a game out in the shop.

Don't worry, I always treat my players right... No one goes home hungry.


Game starts at 6 Saturday - but we will be there probably around 5ish. Brother in law is planning on getting shit faced since he just got done building his house for the past many many months. He will be easy money :mrgreen:

[zz-kai-]

If we don't get sliced lamb from the local butcher, we use fresh roast beef from the deli. For both, just pan fry
(No oil or butter) for a minute or three, throw on a greek pita, add sauce, onions, toms and cilantro if you choose and walah!!


What do you use for your meat recipe?

[bigslickwood]

Ah, damn, now I'm not sure I can wait until Sun.

[PapaBear]

Love a good gyro. Going to try to make a gyro loaf for this weekend. Will probably use Alton's recipe, unless anyone has one better. Make the loaf, cook it, then slice thin on the slicer, and broil/panfry the strips till they're a bit browned and tasty.

Will also try to make some avgolemono (sp?) soup (chicken, lemon, orzo). There's a little greek place down the road from my office and a gyro and cup of soup has become the lunch of champions...

Any input would be appreciated/tried. One little brainstorm was to take the meat paste from the gyro loaf and stuff it into sausage casings, then grill and basically make a gyro dog. Add onions, tomato, feta and tzatziki.


I have done the Alton recipe a few times and it has come out pretty well each time. I do it on a rotisserie though, so I think that changes the dynamic a bit. The flavor on it was great every time. One time, it completely fell apart on the rotisserie. I think I did not let it set enough before I tried to cook it. Not sure. But if you do the loaf, I would guess the overall flavor should be really similar. Only difference might be a bit in the texture, and if you slice and grill/fry it up, you should get that nice crusty texture. Let us know how it comes out.

Also, If you make your own Tzatziki (not like you could easily find ready made I guess), try to drain the yogurt as well as the cukes. Basically just double wrap the yogurt it in a cheese cloth and suspend over some type of bowl. Let it sit there for a few hours. Gets the water out of it and gives a thicker consistency.

[syklopz]

Also look for Greek yogourt. It a bit thicker and tangier.

[Zemo]

Also look for Greek yogourt. It a bit thicker and tangier.

Oh man Sky, you've really left yourself open on this one :D

[bigslickwood]

I have done the Alton recipe a few times and it has come out pretty well each time. I do it on a rotisserie though, so I think that changes the dynamic a bit. The flavor on it was great every time. One time, it completely fell apart on the rotisserie. I think I did not let it set enough before I tried to cook it. Not sure. But if you do the loaf, I would guess the overall flavor should be really similar. Only difference might be a bit in the texture, and if you slice and grill/fry it up, you should get that nice crusty texture. Let us know how it comes out.

Also, If you make your own Tzatziki (not like you could easily find ready made I guess), try to drain the yogurt as well as the cukes. Basically just double wrap the yogurt it in a cheese cloth and suspend over some type of bowl. Let it sit there for a few hours. Gets the water out of it and gives a thicker consistency.

Yeah, texture (with the edges nice and carmelized, etc.) is key. A mushy loaf won't work. I'm going to buy ground lamb and beef (get 80/20, so I have a little extra fat to play with) and run them through the grinder a second time. Then put them in the KitchenAid and knead for a while with the dough hook. I'm hoping this will help emulsify the fat and blend the mush so it's pretty homogenous and will stick together well. My understanding it's the mixing and getting that protein and fat active that helps this sort of thing stick together. Then I'll cook it through in the oven/water bath. Let it cool. Slice it thin on the meat slicer, and then either panfry or broil it to crisp it/warm it. We'll see how it goes.

As far as the tzatziki, most of the recipes say to drain the yogurt, and in restaurants I've had tzatziki ranging in texture from a thick paste to a sauce like ranch dressing. I think I actually prefer it on the runnier/sloppier side, so not sure what I'm going to do there yet.

[bigslickwood]

Made these tonight. Pretty damn good, not perfect.

The meat was great, used Alton Brown's recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/gyro-meat-with-tzatziki-sauce-recipe/index.html

I followed the recipe for the ingredients, but basically doubled it (it was our turn for Sunday night dinner at our house) and used 50/50 lamb and beef. So 2 lbs. lamb and 2 lbs. beef (used 80/20). Adjusted all of the spices accordingly. I ran the ground lamb, beef, and onion through the meat grinder again, using the finest plate I had, so it was pretty much a paste when done. Kneaded in the spices etc. by hand and kept kneading for a bit. It was real obvious that this got the fat going well, and everything got nice and sticky.

Filled 4 small loaf pans, and cooked as directed in a water bath. Didn't bother with the bricks. Just pulled the loafs out of the pan, and let them cool. They were nice solid loaves, that held up real well. After they were cool, I sliced them using the meat slicer, and was real surprised at how well they held up. This whole method pretty well nailed the appropriate texture and mouth feel of a good gyro loaf. When it was time to eat, I just took a handful of the strips and tossed them in a hot frying pan to brown up the edges a bit. Overall I'd rate the meat at a solid 8.5/10...

Followed the recipe for the tzatziki sauce in the link above. It was a bit too thick (I like mine runnier), and I thought it needed more garlic. I also added about a tbsp. of sugar. I'd rate the sauce about 6/10.

The big letdown was the pitas we got. The store only had one kind and they just weren't soft and chewy like when you get them at the restaurant. Maybe need a steamer to heat them in? Is there a difference between the pockets (which is what these were) and the 'flatbread' style (which is what I wanted and couldn't find)? Pitas were a low 3/10. Topped with red onion, tomato, and feta cheese.

I also made a pot of avgolemono (chicken, lemon, egg, and orzo) soup which turned out really good. For a first time effort, I'd give it a solid 8-9 out of 10. Used this basic recipe, http://www.greekinternetmarket.com/recipes/chickenlemonsoup.php but added a couple bay leaves, some marjoram, and a good big spoonful of minced garlic, and used chicken broth instead of water to cook everything in. Ended up using 5 eggs and 4 lemons, but I think I had a lot more soup than the 8 cups they called for. Everyone liked it, and I thought it turned out real close to the restaurant one I was shooting for.