Pork Gyros on the Rotisserie

[snadamo]

Tried my hand at Gyros yesterday. Our old house had a pretty good joint and I haven't been in years. Mrs Snadamo made homemade pita bread and I made the Tzatziki.

Started with a pork shoulder thinly sliced, and about a dozen spices, lemon juice, a tad of olive oil. Threw in a bowl, mixed thoroughly and overnight in the fridge to marinade.

Next day I layered them on the spit and put a half onion on each end.

fired up the 'pit' with the good stuff (fogo)

On to the fire it goes. The aroma during the entire cook was amazing.

got my bug eating little buddy hanging out with me

The beautiful Mrs Snadamo made pita bread two ways; baked and in a pan. The baked got way to hard to gyros, so we made pita chips for the hummus...considered it a happy little accident

I had the lid closed and temp at 325-350 for about an hour to get the meat up to temp, then once the outside started to crisp, I shaved it off with my electric knife. after that I added a bunch more coals and slid them directly underneath the spit. The fat falling on the coals cause the fire to flare up and give me the outer crisp I was looking for.

The spread including Tzatziki, tomatoes, onions, home made pita chips, a misplaced bottle of salsa, a nerf gun, and Mrs Snadamos wine

My plate....this was an absolutely fantastic meal and I encourage anyone to try it. My LORD! Serious flavor going on here. We had some friends over for dinner, and they ate it up as well. This is certainly make again.

I am curious to try Doner, Souvlaki, Shawarma, and Al Pastor tacos now...we shall see. As always thanks for looking.

 

[Smoking Piney]

That looks killer, Adam! :thumb:

Might be time to get my Trompo ready again. :-D

 

[Get’n Smokey]

Awesome

 

[Stingerhook]

I'll be at the drive-thru tomorrow Adam.

 

[Inthewoods]

Will try that, thanks.

-D

 

[Charny]

That looks awesome.

 

[Itsdone]

I mean, what qualifies as a Gyro? Is it the type of bread? Is it the cucumber sauce? or is it the meat? I would say, that's pork taco Al Pastor, but wtf do i know?


BTW, Donor is probably my favorite of them all.

 

[ssv3]

On the money! My kinda meal Adam. Kudos to the wife for making the pitas. Totally makes the whole experience. Yum!!! :clap2:

 

[Charny]

I mean, what qualifies as a Gyro? Is it the type of bread? Is it the cucumber sauce? or is it the meat? I would say, that's pork taco Al Pastor, but wtf do i know?

Al Pastor, Gyro, and Shawarma are all delicious cultural interpretations of similar great food. I'll just need to eat some more before I get back to you with an answer...

I have seen some commercial stainless steel autodonner cookers come up at auction for cheap.. It has taken great discipline to not buy one. It would make for great parties.

 

[Itsdone]

Al Pastor, Gyro, and Shawarma are all delicious cultural interpretations of similar great food. I'll just need to eat some more before I get back to you with an answer...

I have seen some commercial stainless steel autodonner cookers come up at auction for cheap.. It has taken great discipline to not buy one. It would make for great parties.

I don't know what a autodonner is? The meat be it chicken or lamb or w/e is basicly similar to Al Pastor style, just the seasonings or more middle eastern. But what really makes a donnor is the bread. I make my own.

 

[cowgirl]

Looks amazing Adam!! Delicious!

 

[SmokinAussie]

I mean, what qualifies as a Gyro? Is it the type of bread? Is it the cucumber sauce? or is it the meat? I would say, that's pork taco Al Pastor, but wtf do i know?

Gyro: direct interpretation from Greek is to turn or rotate. It's about the cooking process, not about anything else.

 

[Charny]

I don't know what a autodonner is?

It is a vertical rotisserie, gas or electric. In the US electric versions are typically used for gyros. The restaurant gyos we have here are almost all pre-cooked, and mostly from the same company.

I have seen some designs that stack charcoal vertically, behind mesh. And I've seen some DIY projects. But seeing comerical units selling for $50-70 makes them so tempting.

I love the Tacos Al Pastor method - where thin slices of seasoned pork are alternated with slices of onion, on a vertical spit, with pineapple tenderizing and adding flavor. The spit might have 80 lbs of meat. But I've never had the real thing. I don't think it meets the USDA time-temperature, etc requirements. I've read how pop-up Al Pastor stands get shutdown.

 

[Big George's BBQ]

Very Nice. Would love some of that

 

[cayenne]

Looks great and very interesting.

I've been contemplating trying something similar myself for Tacos Al Pastor....

I had had 2x packs of pork sirloin steaks for $0.99/lb I'd bought just to do that, and they got lost in the fridge and well, a week later when I found them, they had that smell, and I dumped them.<P>
I now regret not putting them into a trash bag before throwing in garbage can....the smell is still in there 2 weeks later...but I digress.

I was always wondering how to best slice off the charge edges of the meat....seemed taking the hot spit on/off would be a PITA....you electric knife idea sounds brilliant!!

I believe I still have one of those somewhere and will give that a try!!

I'd thought Gyro meats were mostly lamb with maybe some beef....but now that you posted, with pork, I've looked and see other doing with pork.

I learn something new every day!!

cayenne

 

[snadamo]

Looks great and very interesting.

I've been contemplating trying something similar myself for Tacos Al Pastor....

I had had 2x packs of pork sirloin steaks for $0.99/lb I'd bought just to do that, and they got lost in the fridge and well, a week later when I found them, they had that smell, and I dumped them.<P>
I now regret not putting them into a trash bag before throwing in garbage can....the smell is still in there 2 weeks later...but I digress.

I was always wondering how to best slice off the charge edges of the meat....seemed taking the hot spit on/off would be a PITA....you electric knife idea sounds brilliant!!

I believe I still have one of those somewhere and will give that a try!!

I'd thought Gyro meats were mostly lamb with maybe some beef....but now that you posted, with pork, I've looked and see other doing with pork.

I learn something new every day!!

cayenne

Thanks! Full disclosure, I am not Greek. I have only had the "American Style" minced beef/lamb shaved in slices. Throughout my research, I noticed that they mainly use Pork in Greece (Pork Neck, I believe), and the thin sliced method like I chose. I was concerned that if I did it the American way it'd fall off my horizontal spit. So this was more of a choice about the tools at my disposal. I am glad I did, because it was freaking delicious!

 

[Willy2763]

Thanks for the great post! You got my wheels turning over here.

 

[ssv3]

Looks great and very interesting.

I've been contemplating trying something similar myself for Tacos Al Pastor....

I had had 2x packs of pork sirloin steaks for $0.99/lb I'd bought just to do that, and they got lost in the fridge and well, a week later when I found them, they had that smell, and I dumped them.<P>
I now regret not putting them into a trash bag before throwing in garbage can....the smell is still in there 2 weeks later...but I digress.

I was always wondering how to best slice off the charge edges of the meat....seemed taking the hot spit on/off would be a PITA....you electric knife idea sounds brilliant!!

I believe I still have one of those somewhere and will give that a try!!

I'd thought Gyro meats were mostly lamb with maybe some beef....but now that you posted, with pork, I've looked and see other doing with pork.

I learn something new every day!!

cayenne

Not trying to hijack the thread Adam but to give ideas. I've done pastor or doner style cooks using a turkey hanger and a barrel cooker. I hung the meat in the PBC and let it cook, once the outside layer was cooked, I'd either shave off and serve or shave on to the griddle to crisp it up more before serving. Then hung the meat back and let it obtain another layer for serving and on and on. Sort of mimicking a vertical spit. You can have the "spit" sit there for hours and as a matter of fact we went all day and into the night eating and drinking.

I've even done triple meat shawarma this way but this time using my Hunsaker

 

[BackYardRob]

Looks amazing!! The hijackers look good, too. Been meaning to try Alton's version for some time now. You've certainly inspired me!

 

[bowhnter]

Lookin good, Adam!