064Gyros

Method

Home-style roasted and pan-crisped pork gyros. Wrap inside warm oiled pita bread with tzatziki, sliced tomatoes, raw onion rings, and a handful of fried potatoes.

You will need

• Sharp chef's knife or slicing knife
• Rimmed baking tray
• 2 thick wooden skewers
• Large frying pan or skillet

1. Mix together the olive oil, red wine vinegar, garlic paste, dried oregano, paprika, sea salt, and black pepper in a large mixing bowl. 5 min Ready when: Uniform aromatic red paste
2. Add the thinly sliced pork neck sheets and rub thoroughly to ensure each slice is coated, then cover and chill for at least 3 hours or overnight. 180 min Ready when: Pork infused with red spice marinade
3. Preheat a conventional oven to 190°C (375°F) and line a rimmed baking sheet with baking parchment. 10 min · 190°C / 375°F Ready when: Oven heated and baking sheet ready
4. Place half an onion cut-side down on the tray, push two sturdy wooden skewers vertically into it, and stack the marinated pork slices firmly on top of one another over the skewers to create a compact mini tower. 10 min Ready when: Compact, upright layered cylinder of meat
5. Roast in the preheated oven for 30 minutes until the edges are dark golden and sizzling. 30 min · 190°C / 375°F Ready when: Sizzling meat tower with browned outer crust
6. Remove the meat tower to a carving board and, holding the skewers steady, use a sharp chef's knife to carve very thin shavings off the sides. 5 min Ready when: Fine ribbons of cooked pork with crispy edges
7. Heat a wide frying pan over high heat, toss the shaved meat ribbons in the pan with any pan juices for 2 to 3 minutes until fiercely crisped and curling at the edges, then serve immediately. 3 min Ready when: Crispy, crackling ribbons of seasoned meat

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Make ahead and storing

Meat can be sliced, spiced, and refrigerated up to 24 hours in advance.

Cooked shavings keep in the fridge for up to 3 days; re-crisp briefly in a hot dry frying pan before serving.

Substitutions

• boneless skinless chicken thighs for pork neck or shoulder (thinly sliced). Creates chicken gyros (gyros kotopoulo), a popular lighter contemporary alternative in Greek souvlaki shops.

Common mistakes

• Slicing the pork too thickly. Thick cuts of pork cannot achieve the characteristic crisp ribbon texture of real rotisserie-shaved gyros.
• Skipping the final quick flash in a hot pan. Home ovens lack the intense directional radiant heat of a commercial vertical spit; the final hot skillet flash reproduces the vital charred, crispy edges.

Regional variants

• Gyros Thessalonikis (served in larger pita breads with ketchup and mustard alongside tzatziki)
• Gyros kotopoulo (chicken gyros, often spiced with curry powder or sweet paprika and paired with a mayonnaise-mustard sauce)

About the dish

Gyros—meaning 'turn' or 'revolution'—emerged in Greece in the twentieth century, popularised in Athens and Thessaloniki by Asia Minor Greek and Armenian refugees who adapted Ottoman döner traditions to Christian tastes using pork. Slices of seasoned pork neck and belly are stacked onto a tall vertical spit that turns slowly before radiant heat. As the exterior cooks, it is shaved off in thin, crispy ribbons. In the Greek home kitchen, authentic gyros is achieved by marinating paper-thin sheets of pork and roasting them packed tightly together, then slicing finely before a quick pan-crisp.

Found in Attica, all of Greece. Cooked for everyday, summer.

Cousins elsewhere

• Döner kebap (Turkish). The vertical rotisserie technique originated in nineteenth-century Bursa and inspired the Greek gyros via refugee communities.
• Shawarma (Levantine). Vertical spit-roasted sliced meat spiced with eastern Mediterranean aromatics.
• Tacos al pastor (Mexican). Derived from Lebanese shawarma immigrants to Mexico, sharing the vertical rotisserie and thinly shaved pork presentation.

Nutrition per serving (estimate)

643 kcal · protein 44.4 g · fat 48.9 g (saturated 15.7 g) · carbohydrate 6.5 g (sugars 1.8 g) · fibre 1.8 g · sodium 1045 mg

An estimate (summed from ingredient estimates) that varies with the exact ingredients. It is not dietary advice.

Written fresh by Epikouria editors from general culinary tradition. Recipe by the Epikouria editors. The post-1922 Asia Minor refugee street-food craft of central Athens and Thessaloniki..