Cook\'s Country - 2019-06-07

22 COOK’S COUNTRY • JUNE/JULY 2019

Turning a Pork Roast into Flavorful, Tender Gyro Filling

Cut the pork butt roast lengthwise into
four equal steaks.

Set the pork on a wire rack, cover it, and

roast it to render the excess fat.

Roast the pork uncovered to dry the

exterior so it will brown better.

Broil the pork on only one side until it

develops deep, flavorful char.

PICTURE A TOWERING vertical

spit packed with layers of marinated

pork. Flames lick the meat as the spit

turns, slowly rendering the fat in each

layer to create juicy, charred pork fla-

vored with plenty of garlic and oregano.

Gyro (“YEE-ro”) is a Greek word

that loosely translates as “turn,” which

the spit continues to do as the cook

thinly slices the meat into a warm pita.

The gyro is then loaded with top-

pings: onion, tomato, lettuce, tzatziki (a

yogurt-cucumber sauce) and sometimes

even French fries. Sounds good, doesn’t

it? But could it be made at home?

Many existing recipes are extraordi-

narily involved, calling for marinating

the meat for several days and using

convoluted cooking techniques to try to

replicate the spit-cooked meat. I cooked

my way through a few and then set

them aside to start from scratch. I was

determined to get the intense, garlicky

kick I was looking for with just an hour

of marinating. The key: Pack that

marinade with extra garlic, oregano, co-

riander, paprika, and pepper, plus plenty

of salt. Once roasted, the pork was full

of flavor. But it was just a pork roast. I

needed to settle on a cut and devise a

new technique to achieve that charred

but still juicy meat.

Pork tenderloin was too lean, and

country-style ribs were too inconsis-

tent. Pork butt did the job. Taken from

the shoulder of the pig, pork butt is

marbled with flavorful fat. When the

roasted meat is thinly sliced, you get

rich, juicy strips with deeply browned

edges. After a series of tests, I found

that the best way to cook 4 pounds of

meat (enough for eight pitas) was a

three-part process.

I first cut the meat into four equal

pieces and roasted it, covered, on a rack

Pork

GYRO

Sliced lettuce,

cucumber, and red

onion add freshness

and crunch. The

creamy, easy-to-make

tzatziki sauce ties it

all together.

Could we re-create this

Greek American favorite

without a live fire

and a spit?

by Alli Berkey