DIY Gyro Meat

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One of my favorite things to eat are gyros, although I don’t eat tzatziki sauce as I don’t like cucumbers.  I use Ranch instead.  Until the last few years, I only got to eat gyros when we made a trip to Portland as there were no Greek restaurants in our town.  Now we have two or three.

One of the restaurants makes a gyro made from beef and lamb that I like very much.  For awhile now I have been wondering if it was possible to make gyro meat at home.  Recently I ran across a recipe at allrecipes.com that looked as if it might be something I could do.

Ground lamb is not easy to find around here so I asked my husband to inquire of a neighbor who raises sheep where would be the best place to find it.  Next thing I knew, he was bringing me two packages of frozen ground lamb from the neighbor.  Thanks, Carol.  Now I had no excuse not to give the recipe a try.

I, of course, made just a few modifications, mostly based on the reviews of the recipe on allrecipes.  I think that the method is the most important part of this recipe no matter what ground meat is used, and I think I will try it sometimes with ground beef and pork.  I am going to try this method the next time that I want meatloaf type sandwiches.

Not all my spices were ground, so I put them all in my spice grinder and processed them until they were ground.  To get the right texture, it is very important to process the meat mixture until it is like a very thick paste.  I had to do this in two batches in my medium-sized food processor.  More batches will be necessary if a blender has to be used.

Hubby liked this very much, and I am going to make some up for our camping trip the end of the month.

Gyro Meat
1 onion, cut into chunks
1 lb. ground beef, (I use 85/15)
1 lb. ground lamb
1 T. minced garlic
1 t. dried oregano
1 t. ground cumin
1 t. dried marjoram
1 t. ground dried rosemary
1 t. ground dried thyme
1 t. coarse ground black pepper
1/2 t. ground allspice
1/2 t. ground coriander
1 1/2 t. salt

Place the onion in a food processor (I use my small chopper) and process until very finely chopped.  Place meat and onion in a large mixing bowl.  Add all seasonings and mix with your hands until everything is well combined.  Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour to allow the flavors to blend.  Place meat mixture into a food processor (do this in batches if necessary) and process until meat mixture is like a thick paste.  Pack into a 9x5-inch loaf pan, making sure there are no air pockets.  Line a roasting pan with a damp kitchen towel.  Place the loaf pan on the towel inside the roasting pan and place in a 325 degree oven.  Fill the roasting pan with boiling water to reach halfway up the sides of the loaf pan.  (Note:  This took about two quarts for the roasting pan I used.)  Bake 1 hour or until the temperature reaches 165 degrees on a meat thermometer.   Big Safety Note Here:  Remove loaf pan from the roasting pan.  Turn off the oven and let water and towel in roasting pan to cool down if possible.  They will be very hot.  Be very careful if removing immediately. Drain the loaf pan of any accumulated fat.  Cover loaf with aluminum foil and place several 1 lb. cans on top to weight down the meat.  Place in refrigerator and let cool several hours or overnight.  Slice meat very thinly and grill or brown in a skillet before serving.  Serve on flatbread with lettuce, tomato, onion and sauce of your choice.  Serves 8 to 10.

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