Problem with pressed lamb gyro meat

[Pensfan]

Hey everyone! I love the site you have here. I have lurked for awhile but decided to reg today as I have been having a problem with a particular recipe on Alton Brown's - My Big Fat Greek Sandwich episode.

Twice now the pressed lamb meat has fallen off the spit. The first time I followed the recipe almost to a T; I only subbed out about half a pound of beef in the 2 lbs of lamb. I rolled it very tightly and let it firm up around the two hours. It fell off the spit about 5 minutes in. I just trashed it and tossed together some pasta for the night.

The second time, I processed it even finer, and chilled it overnight. It stayed on the spit for about 10 minutes this time. After which I followed through the cooking via the meatloaf method. The reason I mention this is that after internal temp had reached 165, there was so much fat in the pan that the meat itself was almost submerged. The loaf didn't have the pressed texture at all. More like traditional crumbly meatloaf. It still tasted fine, but it didn't have the same gyro texture that I was shooting for.

I am guessing that I need to find leaner meat... does anyone else have any ideas or successes with this particular recipe? Or tips for creating a gyro loaf that can take being skewered and survive?

Thanks!

 

[GotGarlic]

Hey everyone! I love the site you have here. I have lurked for awhile but decided to reg today as I have been having a problem with a particular recipe on Alton Brown's - My Big Fat Greek Sandwich episode.

I haven't tried that recipe yet, but I want to

This page might give you some tips on how to prepare it: http://goodeats.dyndns.org/viewtopic.php?t=27816&highlight=gyro

btw, I use the shredder blade on my food processor when I make tzatziki, and I either buy Greek yogurt at a local Mediterranean market, or drain plain yogurt overnight, to get that thick consistency.

 

[Pensfan]

cool... thanks for the link!

Yeah I do the same for the tzitziki. I like it creamier than Alton does apparently. I never tried the greek yogurt, we just drain ours for a couple hours and it works great.

 

[Robo410]

The two best gyros places I've ever been to , made their own meat mixture and rotissaried it vertically not horizantally so it couldn't fall off, and as the fat cooked through and out it compressed. But these were electric coil rotissaries. when I make em at home, I just grill them as burgers

 

[Andy M.]

This mixture has to be worked a lot more and packed tighter than a meatloaf would. That's key to the process. Also, as you suggested, a little leaner is good.

 

[Pensfan]

Cool... thanks for the tips. I am heading out to a Greek Grocer this afternoon and going to see if I can find better cuts of meat to use. Then I'll give this one more spin and see if we can't make it work.

 

[Andy M.]

You could wrap it in cheesecloth on the spit to hold it together.