Sand Witch Chronicles #23 - Gyro

Good evening, all! Sorry to keep you waiting, welcome back to another Sandwich-filled Saturday! Last week, I made the Po' Boy, and the entire United Nations personally sent me a letter letting me know that I should remove shrimp tails before eating them.
The sandwich was a blast to make and it currently holds #1 on my personal rankings. Today, I'll be taking a trip to the Mediterranean!

The Gyro is a type of wrap made in Greece. The name, which means 'turn', refers to the rotisserie method of cooking the meat used for it. Here, the spits are erected vertically, and meat is wrapped around in a conical shape and slow roasted as it turns.

In Greece, the principal meat is usually pork or chicken, but in other countries it can also be beef or mutton.

So, to hopefully noone's surprise, I don't have the means of rigging up my own vertical rotisserie grill. To resolve this issue, I've opted to take a page out of Alton Brown's recipe and make a meat loaf that I'll then slice to form afterwards

Also wasn't sure whether to use pork or beef for the meat. I'm just gonna use both

We're gonna start off by rough cutting this onion and pressing two garlic cloves

Perfect

Next, we're gonna "process" the onions in a nutri-bullet. The reason we're not adding the garlic yet is because the onions have a lot of moisture in them.

After a few seconds of blending, I'm going to remove the onions and dry them out in a paper towel

*Now* we can add the garlic and keep going

So here's the plan. I'm putting all of the beef and pork into this bowl

To that, I'm adding the onions and garlic

A tsp each of salt and black pepper

And since this is pork and beef, a tsp of coriander and cumin as well

Finally, after a good 5 minutes of kneading(?), the meat is ready for baking!

I even have a mini bundt cake pan perfect for the occasion!

I'm gonna bake the loaf in a water bath, something I've never done before. I'm gonna trust Mr. Brown on this and forge on

That'll be baking for about an hour at 165C (~325F)

While we're waiting, let's make some Tzatziki!

Using the box grater, I'm mercilessly shredding the entire cucumber into bits. Two cups worth, in fact!

I've cleaned and disinfected the meat bowl from earlier, so to avoid a bigger kitchen mess, I'm just gonna re-appropriate it.

Next, I'll add 1-1/2 cups plain Greek yogurt and 1 tbsp of olive oil

2 tbsp chopped dill and 1 minced garlic clove

...I guess you can't really see it, but here I've added 1 tsp salt and 1 tbsp lemon juice

After stirring everything together, we now have our tzatziki!

And what d'ya know? The loaf is cooked.

I'm immediately putting it on a cooling rack and covering in foil to keep it cooking a little longer.

We'll check back in 15 minutes.

While we're waiting on that, let's get the rest of the veggies prepared.

Perhaps my proudest moment in this entire series: I cut a tomato PROPERLY

Huzzah!

Alright, the loaf is finished. I'm gonna try to slice it extremely thinly to hopefully mimic the way the gyro meat would be sliced off of the rotisserie

Actual, now that everything's ready, let's get straight into assembly. Rest assured, I know what a pita is now...

So...I kinda messed up. I started off by putting on the slices of bork

And then I put on the tzatziki and realized the lettuce was supposed to go on first. I thought that maybe I could salvage it, since the tzatziki hadn't gotten on the flat bread yet

It worked...only for me to consult the picture and realize the tzatziki should've went on last anyway.

So I made that Gyro as is and tried again from the start here. This time I got the order correct.

Even the tzatziki!

VIOLA!

So, how did it taste?

This one was pretty familiar to me actually. It's taste was reminiscent of a shawarma or doner, both of which I've tried in the past. The meat was well seasoned and savoury which complemented the sourness of the tzatziki quite well. I am fortunate I was able to find heirloom tomatoes again, because any other tomato slice of that size would've been hurled (in every sense of the word).

I do wish I used lighter onions, however. I try to veer away from red onions unless it's absolutely necessary, and I think I could've made do with some green or white onions here. Also, the flat bread is quite tough. I had tried warming it in a microwave oven to soften it before eating, but it still had some give whenever I bit into it.

Overall, this was pretty solid. I wish I added some Feta cheese!

1. Torta https://imgur.com/gallery/rXMTCvT
2. Tonkatsu https://imgur.com/gallery/bOph9MR
3. Po' Boy https://imgur.com/gallery/xAYVfuQ
4. Gyro
5. French Dip https://imgur.com/gallery/1IwfPYu
6. Egg Salad https://imgur.com/gallery/BHG0MYk
7. Monte Cristo https://imgur.com/gallery/uBPNUqg
8. Patty Melt https://imgur.com/gallery/57VZ69Y
9. Ham & Cheese https://imgur.com/gallery/tGihfsJ
10. Chicken Salad https://imgur.com/gallery/kga6DNg
11. Roast Beef https://imgur.com/gallery/3e6IKW6
12. Italian Beef https://imgur.com/gallery/gZ4hILq
13. Falafel Pita https://imgur.com/gallery/uBEIkFa
14. Bocadillo https://imgur.com/gallery/SIOXXQ8
15. Jambon Beurre https://imgur.com/gallery/EVLTGbP
16. Kentucky Hot Brown https://imgur.com/gallery/aFMPLmr
17. Bagel with Lox https://imgur.com/gallery/IXmCgvC
18. Veggie & Hummus https://imgur.com/gallery/d9Z0oba
19. Bologna https://imgur.com/gallery/X4iGhG5
20. Liverwurst https://imgur.com/gallery/8cjXHuF
21. Caprese https://imgur.com/gallery/1TxJoys
22. PB&J https://imgur.com/gallery/DbkSeJh
23. Cucumber Tea https://imgur.com/gallery/Zw2hoKz

So, remember when I said the Po' Boy with roast beef would easily be #1 worthy? Well, I made just that, and it was definitely an upgrade from any other roast beef witch I've made so far, but...not better than the tonkatsu! I'm starting to wonder if I already peaked with the Torta and Tonkatsu. We'll see, anyway...

That's all for today, everyone. Thank you so much for reading! Have a wonderful weekend, and I'll see you all next Saturday!