John's Arcade Forum - Classic Arcade and Pinball Collecting and Restoring Discussion Forum - RETRO MAME - Nintendo Vs Forum

I figured it would be nice to share my recipe for making Gyros at home.  I made a batch of this last night, but stupid me forgot to buy Pita bread so I need to pick up some Pita's in order to eat this.

Tzatziki Sauce:

16 oz. Plain Greek Yogurt
3 Cloves Garlic
1 Medium/Large Cucumber
2 Tbsp Lemon Juice
2 Tbsp Fresh Dill
1/2 Tsp Kosher Salt
1/2 Tsp Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Peel and de-seed the cucumber (I use a spoon to de-seed it after cutting it in half lengthwise).
Puree the cucumber in a food processor until no chunks are left.  Drain off some of the water to keep the final product thicker, or keep the water if you like it runny).
Crush three cloves of garlic and mix it in with the cucumber puree.
Add the chopped dill, salt, pepper, and lemon juice.
Mix in the Greek Yogurt until everything is well mixed. 
Store in the fridge, preferably overnight, to allow all the flavors to meld together.

Gyro Meat:

1 lb Ground Beef (90% Lean)
1 lb Ground Lamb
1 Medium Onion
1 Tbsp Crushed Garlic
1 Tbsp Finely Chopped Fresh Rosemary
1 Tbsp Chopped Marjoram (fresh, if available, or dried if no fresh is available)
1 Tsp Kosher Salt
1/2 Tsp Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Very finely chop/puree the onion and garlic.  You don't want large chunks.
Mix all the ingredients together until the "loaf" is of a uniform consistency and mix.
Allow to sit in the fridge overnight to meld the flavors.

To cook, pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees and cook for one hour until cooked all the way through.  Then, shave the loaf into thin strips for consumption.  Best way is to rotisserie cook the "meat-log" just like the real things are done.  For me, I got and break out a small portion, flatten it paper thin and then cook that paper thin portion and use that in my Gyro.

Assembly:

Brush some olive oil on a pita bread and warm it up in the oven until it's pliable.  Coat the warm pita with some Tzatziki sauce, then add a large leaf of Romaine Lettuce, a slice of cucumber, a slice of tomato, and a slice of Red Onion.  Stack the gryo meat on top of this and roll into a cone.  (Or, dump into the pocket of the pita if you are using pocket pitas).  Cover again with some Tzatziki sauce to taste and enjoy!