When Did Gyros Become Ground Meat?

bigabyte said:
I think the problem you will find is that there is not one single "traditional gyro". It's a wild goose chase.

Instead there are variations on what gyro's mean across the world. In one area they mean one thing, and in another area something different. In each area you can say "that is an authentic gyro", but that same gyro won't fly somewhere else.

So, I think you can take ANY definition of Gyro, and replace the "ground meat" part of your title with that, and find problems with the definition.

It's like asking "When did BBQ become anything other than pork"?
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Image5-1.jpg
 
Now, I think it is both. I suspect it was not always both. When I first encountered them, it was with whole muscle, but, almost always now, it is ground meat.
 
I would say that if you went to the regions where they originated, you would find as many different variations of them as you do bbq here or tacos in Mexico or shish kabobs in Turkey, etc. And they would probably find it amusing that we are over here arguing about it on a bbq forum. Gyros, doner, shawarma are all pretty much regional variations of the same thing, along with tacos al pasteur in Mexico that simply started as copies of shawarma made by middle-eastern immigrants. I doubt if every traditional Greek dude making gyros at home has an elaborate vertical rotissarie spit setup, either. I like them both ways. My current favorite way to make gyros at home is with deer meat sliced paper-thin. I save a few deer roasts every year just for slicing into gyros and Phillie deer steak meat.
 
Great thread. Now, can someone explain the stacks of meat on the vertical skewer like in Phu's pics. What type of meat is this? Is it raw slabs of beef or lamb roasted on the outside and then shaved off? Interesting, I've never seen that were I live.
 
Gore said:
I've eaten Gyros and/or Doners in over a dozen countries and they are different in all of them! I have a very good Turkish friend who lives in Istanbul and had many discussions on the merits of different ones in different locations, having sampled them together in Italy, France, The Netherlands, and Turkey -- it's something we do when we meet. If you want to go traditional, the slabs of meat on spits are much more common in Europe (and Greece and Turkey) and the giant gyros fatties on a vertical spit are more common in North America. I have asked the difference between gyro and doner of a couple of Turkish people and they say there is absolutely no difference and they use the two terms completely interchangeably. While based on linguistics, Doner is Turkish and Gyro is Greek, they don't seem to have any distinction in Turkey. It could be a local thing. I don't think I've ever seen a "doner" in Greece, although I've had many gyros there (with fries, of course). I believe my favorite are the ones in the Netherlands. I really like the sauce they use, but I really love sambal. :thumb:

Here's a little doner/gyro made in the North American fashion:

IMG_1337-1.jpg


http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1550440&postcount=48
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Gore, that is probably my all-time favorite throwdown entry, btw. The first time I saw that, I literally laughed until I couldn't breath, especially after the pic of pissed-off lamb after you sheared him. :biggrin1:
 
Bluesman said:
Great thread. Now, can someone explain the stacks of meat on the vertical skewer like in Phu's pics. What type of meat is this? Is it raw slabs of beef or lamb roasted on the outside and then shaved off? Interesting, I've never seen that were I live.
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Most of the time it's pork meat with a Phair amount of Phat on it.
They shave the outside with an electric shave thingy...you can see them laying beneath the rotisseries next to the knife.
 
Bluesman said:
Great thread. Now, can someone explain the stacks of meat on the vertical skewer like in Phu's pics. What type of meat is this? Is it raw slabs of beef or lamb roasted on the outside and then shaved off? Interesting, I've never seen that were I live.
Click to expand...

... yes. :becky: Raw slabs of meat, generally lamb or lamb/beef mixture, although beef also is quite common. Usually there are two spits, one for "meat" and a second for chicken. I've never seen pork used as most of the small street places are operated by Muslims, and most of the Greek places I've frequented use lamb (Giorgios can correct me on this), but I also know many use beef or beef/lamb mix. While there are significant differences between localities, the differences within a community are much less. Differences are in sauces (how spicy, whether it is only yogurt base, or sometimes multiple sauces), the type of bread used, the additions (like fries) and how the meat is trimmed. For instance some use large knives and cut the meat thicker (like in Phubar's pic). Others use a shaver and slice the meat paper thin. Sometimes you'll see an innovation show up (like the shaver), and in a very short period of time all the restaurants in the area use that shaver. Food evolves and this is no exception.
 
Thanks guys. I Googled the set up for this.....:hand: I think I'll stick with the loaf pan idea. In any event interesting and I learned something new today.:clap2:
 
So I'm gonna settle this in my mind. Greek Gyros are slices of meet cooked on a vertical spit and American Gyros are made from ground meat. I can live with that. :biggrin1:
 
Bluesman said:
Great thread. Now, can someone explain the stacks of meat on the vertical skewer like in Phu's pics. What type of meat is this? Is it raw slabs of beef or lamb roasted on the outside and then shaved off? Interesting, I've never seen that were I live.
Click to expand...

I was born and raised in the NY tri-state area. I've been eating gyros all my life, and have never seen them cooked any way other than on the vertical skewers as in Phu's photos. Getting all-lamb gyros in NY was never a problem, but in recent years, it's becoming more and more common to see the lamb/beef mixture. Although I'm becoming more accepting of the practice, to me, if it doesn't have lamb in it, it's just not a gyro. Personal preference. :wink:
 
Couple years ago while on a mediterranean cruise we had lunch at a little restaurant in Katakolon Greece. I was curious about this too, so I ordered the gyros just to see. I was expecting the traditional gyro like we'd get in america, roasted meat (most likely lamb) and veggies with takziki (or however you spell it) wrapped in a pita. What I got was thin strips of roasted, whole muscle meat (similar to what you'd get in a fajita here), tomatoes, onions, cucumbers and takziki sauce on the side, all on a plate. No pita to be found. Later I was told that you get the pita type from the food cart stands, in restaurants you get it without the pita.

So anyway, my experience with Greek gyros is it's whole muscle meat. I did not get to see how they roasted it, but I'm guessing on a spit.
 
PitRow said:
Couple years ago while on a mediterranean cruise we had lunch at a little restaurant in Katakolon Greece. I was curious about this too, so I ordered the gyros just to see. I was expecting the traditional gyro like we'd get in america, roasted meat (most likely lamb) and veggies with takziki (or however you spell it) wrapped in a pita. What I got was thin strips of roasted, whole muscle meat (similar to what you'd get in a fajita here), tomatoes, onions, cucumbers and takziki sauce on the side, all on a plate. No pita to be found. Later I was told that you get the pita type from the food cart stands, in restaurants you get it without the pita.

So anyway, my experience with Greek gyros is it's whole muscle meat. I did not get to see how they roasted it, but I'm guessing on a spit.
Click to expand...

Sort of like this....

img_1015.jpg



Pita is on the side....
 
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