Just had one the best Gyros ever...from a gas station

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Erik

Sous Chef
Joined
Nov 9, 2004
Messages
954
Location
New Buffalo, Michigan
I was out running errands, and since I skipped breakfast, I was hungry.

I stopped and wanted to get some gas...well the gas station almost has a full-kitchen setup, and the Gyros were really cheap, so I decided to get one.
I watched the cook prepare it, and it was very delicious. For $3.50, it was one heck of a sandwich.

Definitely going to be going back again I love Gyros!!!
 
Hi Erik... did you see how the cooked the meat? Was it on a spit? G;ad you got a lunch that made your tummy happy!!!

I love a good gyro too... but, have never had one outside of Greece.
(except for the ones I make at home).

smiles, T
 
I LOVE gryos! There is a wonderful little gyro shop by my house, I go there on Saturdays and get the gyros. I've seen gyro shops in gas stations too. There is one near me that is inside of a liquor store of all things (haven't tried it).
 
Aah..Nothing like a good Gyros sandwich. I have to travel an hour to Ann Arbor to have a good one. It's worth the trip.

pdswife

Is Gyros in Greece similar to what we get here? I'd like send Alton Brown there to learn how to make it as well as the sauce.:rolleyes:

Summer of 2004 I went to the Greek part of Cyprus, what they had was more like a shawarma but made with pork.

What is your recipe?
 
I almost always make mine with leftover leg of lamb.

To make that I... stab about a million holes all over the leg and stuff with garlic. Then a make a mixture of olive oil, lemon juice, garlic powder, salt, pepper and oregano and brush it all over.As it's baking I squirt the meat juices over it every 15 minutes or so. It's so good.!!! Adding potatoes in the same pan is a good idea! Delish!!

Sometimes we make them with porkloin... marinate pieces of pork in olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, onion, salt, pepper and oregano (overnight if poss.)
Then saute on top of the stove until done.


The ones in Greece 'look' a lot like the ones we get here but, the taste is improved by leaps and bounds.
 
pds, the lamb variation sounds good... that's why I prefer Kebap, I don't like the taste of the pork, unless it's very well done....
we have a greek restaurant around, where you can get a real good one
 
i love gyros. we had a really good gyro place down the street but it closed
:eek:(

there is a place that sells the best gyros i have ever had but it's about a 25 minute drive or so. which isn't bad unless it's just to get a gyro lol.
 
That's what I'm making for dinner tonight. Love Greek food. I unfortunately live in an area where the closest Greek joint is about a 2 hour drive away as the one near us closed down, so always end up making mine from scratch. Which I guess is fine, as that placed used leg of lamb they cooked up and shaved the meat off for their gyro meat, and that's not what true gyros are made with. I've got the loaf setting in the fridge and the yogurt for the tzatziki sauce draining right now...now just gotta get off my rear end and clean my rotisserie bar.
 
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The first time I ate gyros was over 20 years ago, when my husband (then my boyfriend) took me to a Greek joint in Carbondale, a university town about 35 miles down the road. The place is called El Greko, and has been there 35-40 years.
They carve slices off of a big piece of meat on a spit, then serve it on folded pita bread with a sauce that tastes to me like sour cream, coarsly chopped onions, and spices. They also have wonderful hand-breaded, deep-fried mushrooms.
And did I say that they serve Heinneken beer?

Y'all have made me hungry for gyros...we haven't had one in a long time. Kim's on seconds next week...maybe we can take a ride.
:-p
 
Fairly easy to make your own...not even messy:

1 medium onion, finely chopped or shredded
2 pounds ground lamb
1 tablespoon finely minced garlic
1 tablespoon dried marjoram
1 tablespoon dried ground rosemary
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Tzatziki Sauce (below)

*Tzatziki Sauce:

16 ounces plain yogurt
1 cucumber
Pinch kosher salt
4 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
5 to 6 mint leaves, finely minced

Put the yogurt in a tea towel, gather up the edges, suspend over a bowl, and drain for 2 hours in the refrigerator to drain the liquid the yogurt is holding.


Peel the cucumber and slice it down the middle lengthwise. Take a melonballer and remove the seeds from each half (they're bitter). Then chop the cucumber up. Put the chopped cucumber in a tea towel and squeeze to remove the liquid; toss the liquid. Then put the cucumber, yogurt, salt, garlic, olive oil, vingar, garlic and mint into a bowl and mix it up. This is the sauce you are eating when you order a gyro. It'll keep in the fridge for about a week, and actually gets better the longer you've had it.

Now the gyro portion:


Throw the onion in a food processor for 10 to 15 seconds and dump into the center of a tea towel. Spin the tea towel so that the onions are in a ball wrapped up in it and squeeze to get all the liquid out. Ditch the liquid.

Throw the onion back into food processor and add the lamb, garlic, marjoram, rosemary, salt, and pepper and process until it is a fine paste, about a minute. If you don't have a strong food processor, make sure to pulse it so you don't burn out the motor. Stop the processor as needed to scrape the sides of the bowl.

From here, there are 2 ways you can cook it--on a rotisserie spit if you have one for your grill or one of those Showtime deals, or in the oven like a meatloaf. Won't taste quite the same in the oven and the texture will be different, but still pretty good.

*Rotisserie style:

Mold the lamb paste into a loaf shape and place on top of 2 overlapping pieces of plastic wrap that are at least 18 inches long and overlapping about an inch--you want a nice wide thing of wrap. Roll the stuff in the plastic wrap tightly, making sure to remove any air pockets. Once the meat is completely rolled in the wrap, twist the ends of the plastic wrap until the surface of the wrap is tight. Should look like a giant sausage. Store in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours (overnight is better) to allow it to set and get firm.

Preheat the grill to high. Skewer the meat onto the rotisserie skewer. Place a drip pan or a sheet of aluminum foil directly under the meat to catch any drippings. Spin/cook on high for 15 minutes. Decrease the heat to medium and continue to cook for another 20 to 30 minutes or until the internal temperature of the meat reaches 165 degrees F. Turn off the heat and allow to continue to spin for another 10 to 15 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 175 degrees.

*Oven method:

Preheat oven to 325. Place the lamb into a loaf pan (unlike the rotisserie version don't bother setting it in plastic), making sure to press into the sides of the pan. Place the loaf pan into a water bath and bake for 60 to 75 minutes or until the mixture reaches 165 or so degrees. Remove from the oven and drain off any fat. Place the loaf pan on a cooling rack and place a brick wrapped in aluminum foil directly on the surface of the meat and allow to sit for 15 to 20 minutes, until the internal temperature reaches 175 degrees F. This compacts the meat (remember, you didn't set it in the fridge) and helps to keep it dense.

Either way you cook it...once it's done, shave off thin strips from it, lengthwise, put on pita bread and top it with the tzatziki sauce, tomatoes, feta cheese, chopped onions and maybe a little lettuce.
 
Poppinfresh said:
Fairly easy to make your own...not even messy:

1 medium onion, finely chopped or shredded
2 pounds ground lamb
1 tablespoon finely minced garlic
1 tablespoon dried marjoram
1 tablespoon dried ground rosemary
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Tzatziki Sauce (below)

*Tzatziki Sauce:

16 ounces plain yogurt
1 cucumber
Pinch kosher salt
4 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
5 to 6 mint leaves, finely minced

Put the yogurt in a tea towel, gather up the edges, suspend over a bowl, and drain for 2 hours in the refrigerator to drain the liquid the yogurt is holding.


Peel the cucumber and slice it down the middle lengthwise. Take a melonballer and remove the seeds from each half (they're bitter). Then chop the cucumber up. Put the chopped cucumber in a tea towel and squeeze to remove the liquid; toss the liquid. Then put the cucumber, yogurt, salt, garlic, olive oil, vingar, garlic and mint into a bowl and mix it up. This is the sauce you are eating when you order a gyro. It'll keep in the fridge for about a week, and actually gets better the longer you've had it.

Now the gyro portion:


Throw the onion in a food processor for 10 to 15 seconds and dump into the center of a tea towel. Spin the tea towel so that the onions are in a ball wrapped up in it and squeeze to get all the liquid out. Ditch the liquid.

Throw the onion back into food processor and add the lamb, garlic, marjoram, rosemary, salt, and pepper and process until it is a fine paste, about a minute. If you don't have a strong food processor, make sure to pulse it so you don't burn out the motor. Stop the processor as needed to scrape the sides of the bowl.

From here, there are 2 ways you can cook it--on a rotisserie spit if you have one for your grill or one of those Showtime deals, or in the oven like a meatloaf. Won't taste quite the same in the oven and the texture will be different, but still pretty good.

*Rotisserie style:

Mold the lamb paste into a loaf shape and place on top of 2 overlapping pieces of plastic wrap that are at least 18 inches long and overlapping about an inch--you want a nice wide thing of wrap. Roll the stuff in the plastic wrap tightly, making sure to remove any air pockets. Once the meat is completely rolled in the wrap, twist the ends of the plastic wrap until the surface of the wrap is tight. Should look like a giant sausage. Store in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours (overnight is better) to allow it to set and get firm.

Preheat the grill to high. Skewer the meat onto the rotisserie skewer. Place a drip pan or a sheet of aluminum foil directly under the meat to catch any drippings. Spin/cook on high for 15 minutes. Decrease the heat to medium and continue to cook for another 20 to 30 minutes or until the internal temperature of the meat reaches 165 degrees F. Turn off the heat and allow to continue to spin for another 10 to 15 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 175 degrees.

*Oven method:

Preheat oven to 325. Place the lamb into a loaf pan (unlike the rotisserie version don't bother setting it in plastic), making sure to press into the sides of the pan. Place the loaf pan into a water bath and bake for 60 to 75 minutes or until the mixture reaches 165 or so degrees. Remove from the oven and drain off any fat. Place the loaf pan on a cooling rack and place a brick wrapped in aluminum foil directly on the surface of the meat and allow to sit for 15 to 20 minutes, until the internal temperature reaches 175 degrees F. This compacts the meat (remember, you didn't set it in the fridge) and helps to keep it dense.

Either way you cook it...once it's done, shave off thin strips from it, lengthwise, put on pita bread and top it with the tzatziki sauce, tomatoes, feta cheese, chopped onions and maybe a little lettuce.
This makes good Gyros?:ROFLMAO: This sounds just like Alton Brown's recipe (the guy I'd like to send to Greece so he could taste the real thing).

Alton Brown really gets a big zero for this recipe. Maybe he just forgot about Oregano or maybe some Thyme the dominant flavours in Gyros.

Take his recipe, skip the Rosemary and add lots of 'Cavender's' Greek seasoning and you might just get close.
 
I'm not entirely sure who's it is. Someone emailed it to me once but didn't say where *they* got it. I've liked it, though.
 
Unfortunately the best gyro in town is at a place that just changed ownership, and they tend to blast terrible music so that you cannot sit and enjoy the food. When I go in there, I look around and everyone there looks more or less like me -- people not likely to enjoy rap music blasted at them. So why is this music even there? Because a couple of employees like it and load the jukebox? Anyway, they make great gyros. I don't go often, but when summer hits, I will order them carry out and go sit in the park.
 
In the next town we have an amazing little Greek owned resturant that serves Gyros. They are absolutely amazing. I'd had my first one in 1994 in Chicago at a Greek resturant and was hooked but unfort., I never did find any that compared to that one I had in Chicago. That is till this resturant opened. An added bonus is their fries are just a good.
 
Arby's New Gyro

I just stopped into Arby's on my way home and tried one of their new gyros and OMG was it awesome I want to know what is in the sauce. Any Ideas?
 
dutchovenhottie said:
I just stopped into Arby's on my way home and tried one of their new gyros and OMG was it awesome I want to know what is in the sauce. Any Ideas?
Hi Hottie
Not sure how Arby's make their sauce. Tzatziki sauce is like this:

1 clove garlic smashed finely
1 pint plain yogurt
1 c finely diced cucumber
1 tsp finely crushed dry mint leaves
water to correct consistency
salt to taste.
img_266868_0_79970a4a7c570ce4cd7856d486da3a7b.jpg

Can also be had as a refreshing cold soup on its own.
 
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The best meat I've ever had was the beef used in the gyros at the "Medaterrainian Cafe" at the mall.
 
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