Gyros

Variations

• Chicken gyros: Use chicken thigh for a lighter version.
• Souvlaki style: Skewer and grill the meat.
• Gyros plate (merida): Serve the meat, fries, and pita separately on a plate.
• Vegetarian: Use halloumi or mushrooms.

Tips

• The tip that says to marinate as long as possible is the one line here its own guide refuses. What marinades do heads a section "Acid does not tenderise. This is the most widespread misconception", and its times table puts a strongly acidic marinade at "under 2 hours, always" — allowing days only for salt-based marinades going on to a long cook. This marinade is olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and oregano, and the meat is seared for minutes. Souvlaki carries the same Greek marinade and the same correction: past two hours the lemon leaves the surface dry and chalky, which is the texture the long soak was meant to prevent.
• And this recipe already answers it in step one, by slicing the meat first. That guide sets the time by thickness because the action stops one to three millimetres in, so what decides how much of the meat a marinade reaches is the surface per unit of meat — and a thin slice tossed in a bowl has almost nothing that counts as an inside. Bulgogi puts it plainly of a 2mm slice: "no inside to worry about." Thirty minutes is not the minimum here, it is the whole of what the marinade can do.
• What the half hour buys is salt and oil, not tenderness. Salt is the thing that travels, and the oil carries the oregano, garlic and paprika evenly across the surface — which is the surface that then chars in the pan. Souvlaki spells that out; here the thin slice makes it faster still.
• Marinate as long as possible for deeper flavor (overnight is best).
• Slice the meat thin and keep the pan hot for crisp edges.
• Warm the pita so it stays pliable and doesn't tear when rolled.
• Squeeze the cucumber dry so the tzatziki isn't watery.
• Tucking fries inside is the authentic Greek way.