062Pork kontosouvli

Method

Roumeli-style spit or oven-roast pork chunks. Carve straight onto parchment paper taverna-style, accompanied by fresh lemon halves, tzatziki, and warm pita bread.

You will need

• Long metal skewers (40–50 cm)
• Roasting tin with elevated rack
• Large mixing bowl
• Carving knife

1. Whisk together the olive oil, white wine, crushed garlic, dried oregano, paprika, mustard, salt, and black pepper in a large bowl. 5 min Ready when: Smooth emulsion with aromatic spice scent
2. Add the pork neck cubes to the bowl and massage the marinade vigorously into every crevice of the meat. 5 min Ready when: Pork pieces completely coated in reddish spice paste
3. Cover the bowl tightly and chill in the refrigerator for at least 5 hours, or preferably overnight, to tenderise and cure the pork. 360 min Ready when: Chilled meat deeply infused with marinade aromatics
4. Preheat a conventional oven to 200°C (390°F) and set a sturdy roasting rack inside a deep roasting tin. 10 min · 200°C / 390°F Ready when: Oven preheated and rack positioned
5. Thread the pork cubes firmly onto two long metal skewers, alternating occasionally with pieces of green bell pepper and onion, compressing them tightly. 10 min Ready when: Dense cylindrical meat log on skewers
6. Suspend the skewers across the roasting rack so the meat does not sit directly in dripping fat, and pour 100 ml water into the bottom of the tin to prevent burning. 5 min Ready when: Skewers elevated above the water-lined tin
7. Roast uncovered for 60 minutes, turning the skewers a quarter-turn every 20 minutes to baste in their own rendering fat. 60 min · 200°C / 390°F Ready when: Edges browning deeply and fat rendering steadily
8. Increase oven heat to 220°C (430°F) or switch to top grill for the final 15 minutes, turning once, until the edges are dark, blistered, and thoroughly crisp. 15 min · 220°C / 430°F Ready when: Deep mahogany crust with bubbling crisp fat
9. Rest the skewers on a cutting board for 10 minutes, then slice the meat off the skewers into thick pieces and serve hot. 10 min Ready when: Juices settled and meat carving easily

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Make ahead and storing

Pork must be marinated ahead, anywhere between 5 and 24 hours in the refrigerator.

Cooked kontosouvli keeps in the fridge for up to 3 days; reheat in a hot oven or skillet to restore crispness.

Substitutions

• pork belly or boneless pork shoulder for boneless pork neck or shoulder. Pork belly creates an even richer result; avoid lean loin which dries out quickly.
• boneless lamb shoulder for boneless pork neck or shoulder. Produces classic lamb kontosouvli, popular in Central Greek mountain villages.

Common mistakes

• Using lean cuts like pork tenderloin or loin chops. Lean meat lacks sufficient intramuscular fat to withstand prolonged roasting, turning dry, fibrous, and stringy.
• Threading the meat loosely on the spit. If meat chunks are not compressed tightly against one another, the internal juices escape rapidly and dry out the centre.

Regional variants

• Kontosouvli Livadeias (traditional Central Greek style marinated with garlic, wine, and wild oregano, without mustard)
• Kontosouvli provatas (made with mature sheep meat, roasted slowly over hardwood charcoal)

About the dish

Kontosouvli—literally 'short spit'—is a celebrated slow-roasted skewered meat dish associated closely with Central Greece, Thessaly, and the mountain towns of Roumeli. Traditionally made from well-marbled pork neck or shoulder, large fist-sized chunks of meat are steeped in a pungent marinade of garlic, wine, wild oregano, and sweet paprika. The pieces are threaded tightly onto heavy iron spits, frequently alternated with peppers and onions, and slowly turned beside radiant hardwood embers until the exterior forms an intensely savoury, crackling crust while the inside stays unctuously tender.

Found in all of Greece, Central Greece, Thessaly, Epirus. Cooked for easter, sunday lunch, panigiri feast, summer.

Cousins elsewhere

• Shashlik (Balkan). Skewered large chunks of seasoned marinated meat roasted over coals across southeastern Europe.
• Souvla (Cypriot). Large chunks of bone-in or boneless pork or lamb slow-roasted horizontally on a long spit over charcoal.

Nutrition per serving (estimate)

701 kcal · protein 49.5 g · fat 52 g (saturated 17.1 g) · carbohydrate 7.5 g (sugars 2.6 g) · fibre 2.2 g · sodium 774 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. Following the spit-roasting traditions of Roumeli and Thessaly, adapted for home oven rotisseries or wire racks..