Authentic Greek Gyro Loaf Recipe - Gyro’s of Greece - Some Middle Eastern names for a gyro sandwich are Shawarma, Chawarma, Shuarma, Shawerma, Shoarma or Shaorma
Ingredients
2 pound fine-ground hamburger *high fat content at
least 30-33% fat or higher or 1 pound
hamburger and 1 pound fine-ground lamb.
3/4 cup onion minced fine
4 minced cloves garlic
2-1/2 teaspoon oregano
2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon marjoram
2 tablespoon crushed dry mint
Method
Sprinkle everything all over meat
before mixing it in with the meat, use disposable food handlers gloves, blend everything in a food processor for about 1 minute,
thin with a few drops of water if needed. Hand-pat
then squeeze very tightly into a compressed oval
shape meatloaf then refrigerate overnight.
Next day, preheat oven to 350-F and bake
for 50-60 minutes until somewhat dry
(Some may prefer to cook the loaf in a rotisserie oven.)
After cooked; let loaf set and cool to just warm before slicing thin. To brown slices, pan fry them under a medium heat with a small amount of extra virgin olive oil.
*Hamburger fat helps to bind loaf together so the more fat contents the better.
Makes about a 1-½ pound cooked loaf.
*Roll-up some thin sliced gyro meat, tomato wedges, thin sliced onions and a heaping tablespoon of sauce in a whole soft shell pita bread (see photo) or stuff the items into a 1/2 slice of a pita bread pocket and spoon in some
sauce.
MainRecipe.com | Make Gyro | Gyro Sauce
GYRO
Syrian's may pronounce them "Gear-o"
other ethnic groups may tell you to say
it "Yee-ro", "Year-o" or "Yi-row" but Americans
prefer to call them a "Ji-row" Sandwich or it is
correct to call them
Yee-row ('yE 'rO.)
Instructions for making an Imitation looking Gyro
(if you do not care for lamb meat.)
and how to make a real Greek Gyro meatloaf.
Imitation Gyro Sandwich
Minute steaks like frozen Steak-um or Philly Steaks will make a quick substitute to an authentic looking gyro sandwich. (Scroll to see how to make a real Greek Gyro meatloaf.)
For the phoney gyro, pan fry the Steak-um or Philly Steaks under a medium heat with ¼ cup water, a teaspoon Worcestershire sauce, pinch of salt, pepper and 1/8 teaspoon of garlic powder. As soon as the water boils away flip them over once and fry another minute or until no longer pink and that side starts to brown. Stuff some of the cooked meat, tomatoes, onions into the pocket of 1/2 slice of pita bread or roll a whole soft pita bread up like in the photo. Add 1 tablespoon sauce. Click here for the Gyro Sauce Recipe and for those that cannot have dairy products, try this sauce Click here for Lebanese Garlic with Lemon and Olive Oil
About the Sandwich; Use sweet or mild onions, slice into thin slices and crush them with the bottom of a cup, let them set out to reach room temperature. The tomatoes should be sliced in thin wedges and they as well as the pita bread should be left out long enough to reach room temperature. The sauce should be cool from being refrigerated and only the meat should be warm.
MAKE A GYRO BURGER
Ingredients
½ pound ground Lamb
½ pound ground Beef
1 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 pita bread rounds (6-inch), halved crosswise
1 cup chopped fresh baby spinach
1 small thin sliced sweet white onion
1 diced tomato
The prepared cucumber sauce
Gyro Burger Instructions
In large bowl, combine oregano, garlic powder, pepper, onion powder, cumin and salt. Add ground lamb and ground beef; mix well. Form into 4 patties, about 3/4-inch thick. Grill over medium coals or broil about 5 minutes on each side or to desired degree of doneness.
Split open each pita half forming a pocket. Place gyro-burger in each pocket; top with chopped spinach, onions, tomatoes and yogurt mixture.
Servings: 4
