I bought this meat last week. It was beef. On clearance. I thought it was about 1/4 inch thick slices (they sell all kinds of presliced beef and pork here, since they don't do roasting or grilling very often, all pan frying or boiling). It was on its last day yesterday, so I had to do something.
I remembered my mother used to make gyros out of random meat she had, so that's what I decided to do. I wasn't really sure how to make them, and there are a bunch of different styles. I settled on winging it, just making up my own seasoning as I went. I knew that there was rosemary and oregano, that's the base of every gyro I've had. Garlic is a must in greek food, so I added powder and freezedried varieties. I've had a few types that were heavy on the sage, so tossed in a heavy sprinkle of that. Cumin adds a nice flover to them as well, so in it went. I read somewhere to add basil, but the flavor of basil is far too "sweet" for something like this, so I ignored that. I remember tasting a gyro at a greek diner, and it was pundgent, sour/bitter almost. I looked around some more, and found that vinegar is a standard ingredient in traditional greek cooking. And I had my gyros.
They don't sell pitabread where I live, but one store has bread that vaguely resembles hot dog buns. That would suffice for my first attempt. I should've added real garlic, and some sliced onions, but I was feeling rather lazy, and I was trying to get it cooked in a hurry. Next time. It turned out really good. It needed the onions, but Andrea liked it fine for her first try of this fantastic dish. She lived in Lawrence, which has an almost famous greek restaurant, and she never had a gyro, go figure.
Either way it was a success. I just need a coffee grinder to get the rosemary less chunky next time, and to measure my spices so I can write it down and make it again and again. We can't have it all the time, since the meat is expensive ($8-10 per lb) but if its on clearance I can certainly find a use for it. Next time I'm making phily cheesesteaks out of it though.
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2 comments:
looking through past blogs of yours...mom didnt make the gyros. I did. i always used lemon i think that was the one ingredient you didnt put in that i usually do. I also usually have a cucumber mint sauce with it but i dont know how easy it is to get that stuff in Japan.
Well you obviously weren't home when I was, I remember mom making them all the time.
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