Gyros For Those Who Don’t Like Lamb
I’ve been meaning to make these for ages! Can you believe I’ve never had a Gyro? It’s true. The problem is…I don’t really care for lamb. Some of you will respond “You’ve never had it done properly, then,” to which I say “Correct!” It’s true. I had a pretty good bite of it once, from a local Greek restaurant, off of a friend’s plate. It was better than I’d anticipated, but not really any wow factor to make me rush out and get my own. I had a horrible experience one Christmas…I won’t say who in the family cooked it, (because I love my husband and don’t want to piss off his mom, haha!) but it was inedible. Like chewing on a gamey, rubber soled shoe. That had been cooked beyond recognition. And then boiled to death. So, yeah-not a fan of lamb.
Billy loves Gyros, so I wanted to find a good recipe for them. I had nothing to go on, since I’d never had one, but you really can’t miss with Alton Brown. While I was looking at recipes for authentic Gyros, his recipe was mentioned on several sites and given very high praise for being spot on, so I went with his.
Brown’s recipe calls for two pounds of ground lamb. I was expecting this. I was going to be brave. I knew I’d recently seen ground lamb at my local grocery store, but they were completely out when I went shopping. Plan B: A meatloaf mix of pork, beef and veal. It would have to do, because I wasn’t going to go all over town looking for lamb.
The recipe is simple-you’re just basically making a meatloaf. The difference is that when it’s done cooking, you’re going to weigh it down (with a brick) to get that loaf all compressed--so it isn’t going to crumble up like a soft, tender meatloaf would.
While I’m on the subject, why do most TV chefs/cookbook authors assume that every household has a brick lying around? We don’t have a brick. No pile o’ bricks out back next to the old clunkers hidden by the long grass. No. None of that stuff. I suppose I could go out and buy a brick. One brick. How silly! We weighed it down with some heavy cans from the pantry and a ten pound weight. It was a little wobbly, but it did the trick.
You can find the recipe at FoodNetwork.com. It even has rotisserie instructions, if you’d like to torture yourself by trying to cook two pounds of ground meat on a small stick. A big debate I saw when looking at recipes was whether or not to sauté the meat slices before assembling the Gyros. Some do, some don’t find it necessary. Since Billy likes them sautéed, that’s what we did. It also adds some nice color and a bit of flavor to the meat, which looks very pale out of the oven.
Notes:
- Billy gave these two thumbs up! He said they’re just like the ones he’s had over the years. I also loved them-and will definitely make them again! These will be a fun summer food, and since the meat is sliced so thinly, it’ll serve a crowd.
- We couldn't find any flatbreads we really liked, so we took pizza crust dough, rolled out small rounds, and cooked those on hot stones in the oven for two minutes on each side. PERFECT. Soft, fluffy-and yet sturdy enough to hold the fillings without falling apart or leaking. You could also do those on the grill!
- The Tzatziki sauce, I thought, was lacking something. The first time I added a bit of cilantro, and the second time--fresh dill. We really enjoyed both!
- Don’t worry if the meat itself is a little bland tasting. It’s meant to be eaten with the Tzatziki, tomatoes, and onions. When you have all of them together, it’s a flavor packed sandwich.
- I can’t vouch for the authenticity of the recipe, but I do completely trust Alton. So, please, no comments about this being “not the way it’s done,” or “a slap in the face to the Greek culture and it’s food,” hehe. Yes, it’s happened before.
See how sautéing the meat slices gives it a nice color? Better color than this:
But that’s to show you how compressed it’ll be after weighing it down for 20 minutes.
Elle | Print Article | Share Article | Email Article | 28 Comments tagged beef, flatbread, gyros, new england, onion, pizza dough, pork, recipe, tomatoes, tzatziki, veal, without lamb
Reader Comments (28)
We've made his recipe for gyros too & really liked them as well. Funny Matt doesn't care for lamb either except in Gyros.
I actually love lamb in gyros...but let's be serious, I just live gyros period!
If you don't have a brick you are obviously NOT from the south. :)
I will join you in the not a fan of lamb club. I try to keep quiet about it so they don't take away my foodie ID card.....also not a fan of fish...or liver... or organ meats....
These look great!
I've wanted to try that recipe for a while. I'm not mad about lamb, but I do like it Greekified :)
*ahem* Authentic or not, I think your gyros look just lovely. :) I am a huge fan of lamb though and would definitely encourage you to take another try; the experience you described sounds like a worst case scenario!! My 2 cents if you want a "gateway"- make a ground lamb recipe using half lamb and half ground beef (or meatloaf mix or whatever). You get a little of the flavor but it's not so in-your-face. I love to make lamb meatballs with a yogurt dip as an appetizer and I often sub in some beef because lamb is more expensive.
I chuckled about the brick thing too- I've often wondered the same thing!
These look just perfect to me!!! Not a lamb fan myself so this without the veal would be awesome to me! Love using the pizza dough to make pitas...
I do love love love lamb so of course I will be another person to tell you to give it another go. Perhaps start in the way of a lamb chop! This may not be the most authentic gyro, but who cares? Still looks delicious to me. :) If you ever want to try a chicken gyro, I have a recipe in my blog that has made the rounds. We love it. Oh, and whenever I can't find flat pitas for gyros, I'll sometimes sub naan - talk about not authentic, and I'm greek! :) But it works.
I had an anti lamb thing for years until for some reason I'm not even sure of I made a salad with lamb and we love it so much we have it on Christmas because it's easy and so good. Forget the mint...I think it's the honey that tones down what can be a bit of a gamey flavor.
But gyros...I could eat them everyday but have never made them. Not even with leftover lamb. That has to change. They look great to me!
Nice to see you venturing into new culinary territory! Ahem... I hope recent events with a certain self-styled "expert" do not put you off Greek food as a whole because there's definitely much more to discover and try.
Amiably,
Sam
Hi Elle, I love gyros, and have been wanting to try EB recipe. I wasn't sure about the rotisserie of this big chunk of ground meat. I like your way, it sure gives it a nice color. The whole thing looks picture perfect to me!
looks perfect to me. i'm not a big fan of lamb either. with my palate i can always tell/taste it's gamey-ness. i just don't like gamey meats at all.
OMG, these (this?) looks spectacular! You are killing my diet! We love Gyros. It is always my favorite Greek Food to introduce "newbies" to!
I'm not a lamb fan, either, so I've also never had a gyro. It never occurred to me to substitute another kind of meat! Me = Dummy. This sounds delicious, and I suppose I could climb up to the roof and get a couple of the bricks that used to hold down the tarp....
I'm so impressed! I have to try making these at home.
Those look wonderful! I was going to ask you where you got the Pitas! There is this little sandwich shop in the center of town that has the BEST pita bread, billowy/pillowy soft, not thin and dry like the usual stuff.... I wonder if they do what you did - looks almost the same. I will have to give it a try... thanks!
Josh will love this recipe!
I love lamb - but this looks super tasty too! Love gyros!
While I love my lamb (most of us here in Australia do), this is a great way of making gyros at home with minimal mess and fuss!
I haven't done much lamb but I like your substitution. And there are no bricks around here. I have some tile! ;)
My youngest LOVES gyros! Funny, he is 10. Great post!
I happen to love lamb (you really need to try it again - it's worth it), but really like this alternative way of making gyros.
Well, I have never liked lamb! I just couldn't get past the smell of it - however, like you, I have had it once and it was very good - at an Indian place....never have had it since though where I could eat it. I tried it on our last cruise and just could not get past one bite. I'm on my way to check this recipe out. I have to see how its done!
I love any type of gyros (they have the best in New York :) I can't wait to read more of your blog and hope you can check mine out as well :)
I can't believe you don't have a kitchen brick. Call yourself a foodie?
Great share - it was a recipe we'd not tried before and it would probably work brilliantly with goat (!) I tend to add a little extra flavouring to the meat itself - the meat should be delicious in its own right. plus we went the whole 9 yards, took the finished lump-o-meat and spit roasted it, which again was a tasty improvement.
Being half Armenian, I grew up on lamb, but I know what you mean. I had pretty much given up on ordering it at restaurants - as you said, always too gamey. I wondered why that was the case when I loved the Roast Lamb, Lamb Chops, and Shish Kebab we would have at home. I finally learned to ask where it comes from. It seems as though lamb from Australia or New Zealand has more of a gaminess to it. I have never actually tried this, but I have read a few times that if you soak it in milk for a while first, it cuts that. Might be worth a try. Sooooo, if you do decide to give it another shot at some point, try asking where it's from first. :)
Snobbery and elitism attitudes when it comes to food annoys me to no end. Too many "foodies" out there have become self-proclaimed experts on the best of the best in food. I think they should take these amazing gyros and stuff em in their mouths so we can't hear them go on and on. (Or get lots of tzatziki sauce on their fingers so they can't twitter...)
These douches need to let people eat what they want and can and quit thinking they are the shit.
Coz they aren't.
I am.
;-)
Heather, I want you to be my editor. You just summed my post up beautifully! Thanks! :)
Well, I am Greek and I absolutely hate lamb, although it is a very popular ingredient in our dishes. I am so happy however that in Greece gyros is not made of lamb, but either of pork or chicken. So I think your recipe is much more closer to the original than you may have thought.