[Sca-cooks] gyros

[Aurore Gaudin]

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Ok, can we please stop talking about gyros.  I just had a large dinner and this is making my hungry for gyros.  Drool.  Aurore
  ----- Original Message -----
  From: Philip & Susan Troy
  To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
  Sent: Monday, April 29, 2002 8:06 PM
  Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] gyros


  Also sprach Harris Mark.S-rsve60:
  >I believe the outfits at Pennsic and Gulf Wars that sell Gyros
  >offer them with either beef or lamb. Possibly this is not
  >traditional and they use "Gyro" because that is what is most
  >familar to their customers or potential customers. I've
  >heard of souvlaki also, though. So, what is the difference
  >between a souvlaki and a gyro? Just the type of meat?

  Souvlaki is essentially shish kebab, cubed meat grilled or broiled on
  a skewer, usually after marinating. Gyro describes a vertical
  rotisserie used to cook meat, usually either A) alternate slices of
  fat and lean lamb, a sort of artificial streaky bacon made of lamb,
  or B) a similarly seasoned "meat loaf" of ground lamb. The idea is
  that the outer surface of the meat, be it ground or stacked slices,
  browns because it's closest to the heat source, and the meat spins
  and browns evenly. The cook slices off the browned outer surface, and
  a little of the unbrowned, juicy middle, leaving a new surface to
  brown on the gyro grill. This continues until the meat is all gone.

  Gyro is a Greek concept, AFAIK. Shwarma is a similar dish, I believe,
  originally from Turkey but found pretty much all over the MidEast.

  What I was asking was if Avraham had encountered either of these
  dishes made with beef (because we live in fairly close proximity, and
  I had never seen it), _or_ if he was actually talking about souvlaki
  or shish kebab, which I _have_ seen made with beef.

  >And what is this shwarma or lamb meatloaf? I don't think I've
  >ever seen this. As I mentioned I did see ground lamb for $3.89/lb.
  >But at that price maybe getting the lamb steak and slicing and
  >grilling it would be better.

  I agree. Traditionally it's made with boned-out lamb breast, which is
  a somewhat fatty cut that grills well and is nearly impossible to dry
  out. I wonder if your difficulty in finding some variety in lamb cuts
  is some throwback to shooting the sheepherders in Texas. They don't
  still do that, do they? ;-)
  >----------
  >If you can find the genuine boneless
  >lamb-breast-stacked-alternately-with-slices-of-fat-on-the-skewer-gyro,
  >the kind that's reelly reelly bad for you, that is some very serious
  >food. I have a recipe for that someplace, which can allegedly be
  >cooked on a charcoal grill for those that don't have a proper gyro
  >machine. Which is most people...
  >----------
  >
  >Uh oh. This idea of making my own gyros is getting more
  >and more complicated...
  >
  >I was just going to fry the meat strips in a skillet.
  >
  >I will be getting a new, still in the box, smoker/grill from
  >my mother though in the next few weeks. So maybe this might
  >be a dish to make with it.

  Or, the skillet wouldn't be so bad as a starting point. You can
  season it properly and decide if you think it's worth pursuing.

  >So, what is a "proper gyro machine"? Is this something
  >sold on the infomercials on Saturday night or Sunday morning?

  No, it's a commercial/industrial machine, possibly invented by Greeks
  (recently?) to cook an old Turkish dish, and then pretend it's not
  really a Turkish dish ;-).

  >
  >---------------
  >Hey, maybe I've finally found a good use for that silly
  >[non-vertical] rotisserie my lady wife bought!
  >------------
  >
  >I thought most rotisseries were horizontal (non-vertical)?

  They are. I was just contrasting the horizontal machine I own with a
  "proper" gyro rotisserie. The machine I own is not silly because it's
  horizontal, it's silly because it's silly. And it is also horizontal.

  >Such as those shown in the medieval illustrations. Why
  >would you want one to be vertical? Other than taking up
  >less counter space.

  I'm not sure. There may be some theory about keeping the juices in
  the meat, and maybe it _is_ about counter space. All I know is that
  all the real gyro I've ever seen has been cut from meat mounted on a
  vertical-axis rotisserie.

  HTH,

  Adamantius
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