Skytte's Kitchen: Gyro or is it souvlaki (or both)?

The king of Greek fast food - the gyro or souvlkai. It was a bit confusing when we were there to find out what the difference actually was, but I had a feeling gyro (pronounced: 'jeee-ro') had something to do with gyrating and had to be the big vertical, rotating spits similar to the ones found in kebab shops. And later investigation told me that word souvlaki is the diminutive of souvla meaning skewer. Mystery solved. However, as they are served in a similar fashion in a pita bread with tzatziki, tomato and some lettuce they are often just all called suvlaki for the non-caring tourist.

So when I set out to make it, I had no idea what would be better and I couldn't decide which to make, so I made both as you will see. The end result is very similar so it's really up to you what you find easier. Also, I used lamb although the original souvlaki is made with pork. I just had some minced lamb lying around so I went for that and adjusted the spices accordingly. You can find plenty of souvlaki spice mixes with google, so I won't bore you with that.

Ingredients:

750g minced lamb

1 medium onion

1 tbsp minced garlic

1 tbsp diced rosemary

1 tbsp dried majoram

1/2 tsp black pepper

2 tsp salt

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Wheat tortillas (or pita, see later in the recipe).

Lettuce

Tomato

Tzatziki

Start by chopping the onion finely.

Add the onion and the rest of the ingredients to the lamb mince. Put it in a blender.

Until it's very finely ground, almost like a paste (be careful not to over heat your blender). Put it on cling film.

For making gyros, shape it like a loaf and roll it up really tight. You don't ant any air in there. Put it in the fridge for a couple of hours or over night.

Alternatively, put the meat on skewers (for making souvlaki) and roll them up in cling film and put in the fridge for a few hours.

Fry the suvlakis at high heat. Time depends on the thickness of the meat and the skewer. Thicker skewers conduct more heat and cook the meat slowly from the inside.

And for making the souvlaki, heat up the wheat tortilla on a dry, hot frying pan for 30 secs on each side. Pita bread is another posibility. However, the Greek souvlaki used a flat bread a bit thicker than the tortillas, but which had been brushed with olive oil and fried lightly. It was delicious, but this will work just as great. Add some lettuce, tomato and a dollop of tzatziki.

Break the meat into smaller pieces and put it with the rest. Fold it and eat.

Alternatively, to make the gyro you need to spit roast the meat. If you have and oven or even better a grill with a spit, that's just perfects. If you haven't, do like me for a reasonable result. Place two skewers through the meat lengthwise. Hang the meat over a bread mold inside a water bath. This will add moisture to the cooking and at the same time let the meat drip off some of it's fat. Put it in a preheated oven at 160ºC.

Turn the meat every 20 minutes. You need to cook the meat for 1-2 hours depending on the thickness of your meat. You want to reach an internal temperature of 75º.