Souvlakis

[Tab]

I want to make a kick-ass souvlaki.

I learned to enjoy them many years ago when as a student at the University of Vermont we would travel up to Montreal to Villa Souvlaki, which made the best frickin' souvlaki's ever.

A variation is the gyros (pronounces "heeros"), when I worked in a greek restaurant. That is a spiced shaved beef - kind of the same, still served with tzatiki sauce, but not QUITE the same.

Unfortunately many restaurants offer gyros which are pre-made/ordered, and just awful. Not even close to what we used to serve in my restaurant, much less that I got in Montreal. I don't even bother ordering them unless I suspect it's an authentic greek restuarant.

Both gyros are fundamentally the same - a warm pita wrapping meat (lamb cubes for the souvlaki, shaved beef for the gyros) with tzatziki sauce (basically a cucumber yogurt sauce, some lemon juice and onion, if I recall correctly), then a light salad (cubed tomatoes, shaved lettuce, and onion), wrapped in the warm pita. Properly done, as they do it in Villa Souvlaki, it is SOOOO frickin' delicious, it's to die for.

I know at VS they dip the meat in some kind of marinade/sauce, but I don't know what it is. The Tzatziki and quality of the pita matter as well, but most of it goes back to the meat and its temp. I haven't had anything locally that has come close, but I don't live in a major greek area. I've had some in Germany that was pretty damned good, but still not like Villa Souvlaki in Montreal.

Anyway had any experience in making a kick-ass Souvlaki? (sometimes spelled Souvlakia)?

[mike_c]

1. damn you....

Now I'm REALLY jonesin'. We've got a decent turkish place in town that does good gyros, but that meat is just not reproducible at home unless you buy the upright roaster and the whole loaf thing. And have a big family. Souvlakia is closer to the real thing-- gyros were invented in Chicago or somewhere similar. Shish-kebabed lamb, stuffed into pita with tzaziki, cabbage, onion, and cucumbers. OK, I'm off to forage in the refrigerator....

on edit-- OK, a quick check of the cookbook shelf found gyros in greece (also called donar kebab in turkey), so maybe it wasn't invented in Chicago. Still, that meat you usually find in the U.S. is a mix of finely ground lamb and beef.

Here's a recipe I found in the cookbook I use for other greek recipes:

For each pound of lamb, cut into 1 inch cubes:

1/4 tsp granulated garlic (personally, I'd add a fresh garlic clove pounded to a paste with the salt, but granulated garlic is evidently important-- NOT garlic salt, BTW)
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp minced fresh oregano
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tbsp olive oil
(the recipe calls for 1/4 tsp MSG, which I would routinely omit)

Mix all ingredients, marinate the lamb for 1 hour to overnight. Skewer and grill the meat. Serve with tzaziki, pita, tomato, onion, and cucumber chunks.

[lakemonster11]

2. This is my souvlaki recipe:

2 lbs. boneless chicken breast, cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes
3 Tbs. lemon juice
3 Tbs. olive oil
1/4 cup white wine
1 tsp. dried oregano
2 bay leaves, crumbled
salt & pepper

Soak bamboo skewers for at least 30 minutes before using.

Combine all sauce ingredients in a bowl; mix thoroughly. Stir in chicken cubes. Marinate at least an hour before threading on skewers. Grill on high heat, lid down, for about 4 minutes per side (8 minutes total) or until the juices run clear.

The marinade can also be used with pork or lamb.


I've used this recipe both for souvlaki-pitas and as a main dish with rice or potatoes and vegetables.

(Souvlakia is plural).

[bearfan454]

3. A true gyro is cooked on a revolving spit.

The prepackaged Kronos shit sucks.

[Tab]

4. The restaurant I worked at did that

Took raw hamburger (maybe it had ground lamb, I just assumed it was burger), spiced it up (no, I never figured out exactly with what), packed it onto the spit, and ran it, and when it was cooked enough we'd slice it off the spit (vertically, in strips), layer it onto the gyros. If someone wanted a souvlaki it was basically the same construction, except taking the grilled lamb chunks instead of the burger from the spit.

That said, it still doesn't hold a candle to Villa Souvlaki.

I remember the first time I saw gyros in a local restaurant and convinced a friend to try one and it was that Kronos shit - tasted like rubber and NOTHING like a gyros. That stuff is awful.