Gyros or gyro (most often , from (giros) "turn") is a Greek dish, consisting of meat, tomato, onion, and tzatziki sauce, and is served with pita bread. Gyros may also refer to the sandwich, which consists of the same ingredients.

The Middle Eastern shawarma and Mexican tacos al pastor are similar to gyros, and all derived from the Turkish döner kebab which was invented in Bursa in the 19th century.

To make gyros, slices of meat are placed on a tall vertical spit, which turns in front of a source of heat, usually an electric broiler. If the meat is not fatty enough, strips of fat are added so that the roasting meat remains always moist and crispy at the same time. The rate of roasting can be adjusted by varying the strength of the heat and the distance between the heat and the meat, allowing the cook to adjust to varying rates of consumption. The outside of the meat is sliced vertically in thin, crispy shavings when done. It is generally served in an oiled, lightly grilled piece of pita, rolled up with various salads and sauces. The pita and gyro themselves are the only obligate ingredients; the remaining condiments to be added always being at the discretion of the customer, even down to the amount of salt and pepper used. An order of "ap' óla", "with everything", means that every available add-on is to be included, including generous peppering with red paprika.

Gyros served in the United States usually use a ground processed meat, pressed into large cones for cooking. Ground processed meat was also used in Greece until the 70s, but it was banned after several cases of food poisoning attributed to substandard storage. After a period of total ban, gyros was reallowed in Greece, albeit only in the form of raw meat sliced in thin strips.

Name

The name comes from Greek γύρος ("turn"), a calque of the Turkish name döner kebab ("turning roast"); the dish was formerly called ντονέρ [don'er] in Greece as well.

The Greek pronunciation is , but in English, the pronunciation is usually or occasionally . Sometimes the spellings "yeeros", "yiros", or "year-o" are used to approximate the Greek pronunciation, giving in English. The omission of the "s" at the end of gyros is a common form of hypercorrection in the English language, as seen with the word bicep muscle.

Origins

Gyros was originally introduced to Greece from Thessaloniki, and specifically from the district of Toumba. There are several stories regarding Gyros's origin: One says that the first "gyrádiko" was "Giorgos" who brought gyros to Thessaloniki in 1970 ; another story says that gyros was first introduced in the 1950s in Piraeus by a cook from Constantinople.

Variations

Greece and Cyprus

In Greece and Cyprus, the meat is typically pork but can occasionally be lamb, chicken, or beef. In Athens, and most of Greece, a "pita gyro" will contain tzatziki, tomato, onion and fried potatoes in addition to the meat. However some places offer different alternatives to the classic ingredients. A pita gyro with pork will be served with tzatziki as a dressing, whereas the chicken dressings vary from shop to shop but are most often a variant on mayonnaise.

Pitas are available in at least three types: 'plain', 'Cypriot', and 'Arabic' in some chain restaurants, however in most places only 'Plain' is offered. 'Plain' pita is around 20 cm in diameter and the thickest of the three. 'Cypriot' pita are the same size but somewhat thinner, and are split like pocket bread. 'Arabic' pitas are crispy, and the flattest and largest. Gyros are also served in sandwich-type bread.

A typical sandwich could cost from 1,50 € to 2,30€ the most expensive (2007 rates). The price and size vary somewhat from place to place and from shop to shop, but it is said that it is in Thessaloniki that one will find the biggest pita and gyros; there, an order will typically include tomato, onion, fried potatoes, mustard and/or ketchup in addition to the meat. "Russian salad" (a mixture of diced pickles and mayonnaise) and "Hungarian salad" (a mixture of mayonnaise and diced, fried bacon) are also popular.

On the island of Crete, pork meat is the most popular filling although in some of the larger cities (notably the city of Chania) there are also chicken (and even falafel) alternatives. Those in Crete usually enjoy plain strained yogurt in lieu of tzatziki, and many stands offer "Russian salad".

In Kos, a Greek island in the Aegean sea, the locals wrap chicken and add fried potatoes to gyros. This variation usually costs around 1 Euro (regional prices may vary)

In other Greek cities, like Patra, where gyros are not as popular, the sandwich is often prepared and then put in a toaster or toasted under a press, like a panino, popular grilled sandwich throughout Europe. A sandwich there can cost the same price as in Thessaloniki. In Kalamata it can sometimes be eaten in Thrakópsomo (bread baked on embers), a thick round loaf of country style bread, cut in two halves and stuffed with a double serving of Gyro meat.

Merida

Merida (portion) is an alternative way of serving gyros, where instead of putting the meat into a pita or bread, it is put on an aluminum foil box, or a sheet of λαδόκολλα (baking paper), or a regular platter. A 200 gr portion of gyros, with tomato, french fries, sliced onions, one or more of the sauces and the pita, usually cut in pieces, comprise such an order. The portion of gyros can vary from 150 gr to even 450 gr in more remote places.

Australia

Gyros in Australia are typically based on lamb, chicken or beef, or a combination of those meats. In addition to the usual fillings of onion, lettuce and tomato, extra fillings may include bulgur (cooked wheat), hummus, cheese and tabouli. The sauce is usually a yogurt sauce such as tzatziki, but chilli sauce (often Thai sweet chilli sauce) can also be used. The pita bread may be quickly toasted before the dish is assembled or the entire dish may be toasted in a sandwich press after assembly. The Australian dish has two to three times as much filling as is used in Greece - which can surprise Greek visitors.

In Australia, the names gyros, souvlaki, döner kebab and shawarma are sometimes used interchangeably; all terms are in use depending on the vendor, the national group, or community in question.

Different names are favoured in different regions of Australia. In South Australia they are known (both in the singular and plural) as yiros, a rendering of the normal modern Greek pronunciation into the Roman alphabet. In New South Wales they are known as doner kebabs or kebabs in Turkish or Lebanese shops or yeeros/yiros in Greek shops. In Queensland and Western Australia they are called kebabs. In Victoria (which has a large Greek population), they are generally known as gyros or souvlaki. In Tasmania, they are generally called kebabs or souvlaki.

In most cases gyros or souvlaki tend to be made of thicker pieces of meat than that of döner kebabs which are usually made using thin shards of meat. Also different meats often vary on the region of Australia with beef and chicken being often used in Queensland while in Melbourne and Tasmania beef is less common, with lamb used instead.

Brazil

In Brazil, the names gyros or döner kebab are not used; the name in Brazilian Portuguese is churrasco grego or "Greek barbecue." Churrasco grego is a very popular food in São Paulo Downtown. Churrasco grego meat is essentially beef and it is served with bread for R$1,00. There are also some kebab houses with more options of lamb, beef, pork or chicken kebab with pita.

Canada

In some regions of Canada, gyros are commonly referred to as donairs, a phonetic approximation of the Turkish döner, and made using a combination of beef hamburger (instead of lamb), bread crumbs and spices, which are seared, topped with tomatoes, onions, and a sweet sauce consisting of sweetened condensed milk and garlic powder (instead of the traditional cucumber/yogurt tzatziki). This is especially popular in and around Halifax, Nova Scotia and St. John's, Newfoundland and is claimed to have been invented in Halifax in 1971 when Greek gyros were not very popular.

In areas with heavy Greek populations, such as the Danforth area in Toronto, and the Mile-End, Park-Extension and Chomedey areas in and around Montreal, they are still commonly sold as gyros. They are also common in Edmonton as a popular late night snack. Donair meat and sauce is also available as a type of pizza.

France

While the name gyros is not commonly used in France, a similar and very popular fast food is sold under the name sandwich grec (Greek sandwich), kebab, chiche kebab or döner kebab (or shawarma in Lebanese and Israeli restaurants). As a street food, it is served optionally with chips (french fries) stuffed into the sandwich on top of the meat and salad.

Iran

In Iran and other Persian-speaking countries like Afghanistan a variation of gyros is available called kabab Torki ("Turkish kebab") and is a popular fast food in certain major cities like Tehran and Isfahan. While the meat is prepared in a similar fashion as gyros (using beef or lamb) and sliced from a rotating spit, the preparation of the sandwich is different. After having been sliced from the spit, the meat is then chopped up and mixed with onions and green peppers on a grill. It is not generally served with any kind of sauce.

Middle East

In Arabic-speaking countries and Israel, the gyro is called shawarma and is usually made of chicken or lamb. The shawarma can be served in a pita, or in a lafa (a pita without a pocket which holds more food). The meat is not commonly prepared in strips like American gyros, but chopped into smaller chunks and usually served with tahini sauce. As commonly practiced in the early 1900s, Arabs used finely sharpened fillet knives to preserve the meats natural tenderness and avoid depleting it of natural juices.

Turkey

The Turkish döner kebab is similar to the gyro in terms of cooking. Lamb, beef or chicken, and even fish, are used, but not pork.

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, the name gyros is not widely known; the Turkish döner kebab is more common, and the general term kebab is more common still.

These kebab shops were initially primarily owned by Turkish Cypriots, and use dry, hard "pocket" Cypriot pita in place of the typically doughy, more naan-like Turkish (Mainland) pita. The small pocket pitas are difficult to fill without breaking, and so the dish is usually served as a loose assortment in a polystyrene container. Tzatziki/Cacik is rare, and replaced by generic garlic and/or chili sauce.

United States

Gyros were introduced to the United States via Chicago between 1965 and 1968.

Several people claim to have brought gyros to Chicago and been the first to mass produce them. George Apostolou claims he served the first gyros at the Parkview Restaurant in 1965. In 1974, he opened a 3,000-square-foot manufacturing plant called Central Gyros Wholesale. Peter Parthenis claims he mass produced them at Gyros Inc., in 1973, a year before Apostolou. In 1968, at The Parthenon restaurant, Chris Liakouras developed the vertical rotisserie gyros cooker, and popularized gyros by passing out samples free to customers.

They have since spread to all parts of the country.

The name gyros is most commonly used in American and Greek-American restaurants and stores. Doner kebab and shawarma may be seen in Middle Eastern-style establishments.

In the United States, gyros is usually made from lamb or a combination of beef and lamb. Chicken gyros are sometimes seen as well. The bread served with gyros in the U.S. resembles a Greek 'plain' pita. The traditional accompaniments are tomato, onion, and tzatziki, sometimes called "cucumber", "yogurt", or "white" sauce. Some establishments use plain sour cream in lieu of tzatziki sauce. Such sandwiches are often served in luncheonettes or diners.

While many Greek restaurants in America make gyros in a traditional way from sliced meat arranged on a vertical rotisserie, many others, particularly fast-food restaurants, use prefabricated gyros loaves, made of ground meat pressed into a cylinder and cooked on a rotating vertical spit, from which thin slices of meat are shaved as they brown.

Some restaurants sell pre-formed, frozen strips of gyros meat, grilled or pan-fried individually, to prevent waste.

Recipe

Vertical gyros broiler

The principal difficulty in making gyros at home is access to the vertical broiler, a professional-oriented machine whose cost and complexity are geared towards restaurants rather than the home. Conceivably an electric or gas-fired barbecue broiler can be modified to accommodate vertical roasting, provided the gyros is in direct "eyesight" of the fire element. The purpose of the vertical layout is to keep the lower parts of the rotating cone always doused in the flavourful liquid fat drippings from higher up. This and the standard top-heavy conical shape of the gyros assures two kinds of cooking: the higher parts are more directly grilled by their closer proximity to the heat, whereas the lower ones are partly fried in the resulting drippings. The hot metal-plate collector beneath the spit serves to collect the shavings and give them the finishing touch as they lay in sizzling drippings. A good serving of gyros contains shavings from all parts of the roast, top to bottom, this offering a variety and richness of taste.

Meat choice and preparation

The meat can be any kind of boneless beef, veal, pork, lamb or even chicken, or any blend thereof, provided it can be cut into approximately round, thin, flat slices (about the thickness of slices meant for schnitzel and about the width of a 45 rpm vinyl single). The kinds of cuttings used for making Mexican fajitas (e.g. skirt steak) can be a useful guideline for procurement and dressing. The slices are then pierced at their center through a metal vertical spit: smaller slices go to the bottom of the spit and larger towards the top. As each slice is threaded into place, it is sprinkled with the spice mix (see next paragraph). Fat trimmings can be layered in between if the meat is too lean. The juice collected when slicing onions can also be sprinkled in at this time. Leftover trimmings are then shoved in between slices, so that nothing is wasted.

Spice mix

A typical spice mix consists of: 3 tbsp salt, 1 tbsp sweet paprika, 1 tsp hot paprika, 1 tsp white pepper, 1 tsp black pepper, 1 tbsp dried parsley, 2 tsp garlic powder, and 1 tbsp of dried oregano. This is the base mixture, to which small amounts (a pinch each) of other powdered spices can be mixed (e.g. cinnamon, nutmeg, cumin, anise, coriander, fennel and most definitely some allspice). Some of these more potent spices can be added or omitted to taste. They should all be mixed well and stored in a closed container overnight for their flavours to blend. Some of this spice mix is then lightly sprinkled on each meat slice as it takes its place on the spit. It is best for the prepared spit to spend a night standing in a refrigerated space, so that the meat is infused with the spices and onion juices.

Broiling

Depending on the overall quantity of gyros and the number of meals to be served, roasting and eating of gyros can be a long or a short affair. An experienced rossiteur can accelerate or delay the rate of cooking by altering the intensity of the fire, the proximity of the meat to the heat source, and the speed of the spit rotation. At any rate, gyros ready to serve the very hungriest is available within minutes after roasting starts, and the rossiteur in charge can fill as many orders as requested with fresh, sizzling portions for hours on end if need be.

See also

• Cağ kebab
• Doner Kebab in the world
• Dürüm
• Iskender kebap
• List of Kebabs
• Shawarma

References