I suppose this is as good a time as any to post a photo from my kitchen:
I had always wanted a copy of the old Kronos “Gyro Girl” poster but never had a chance to get one. Finally I just had it printed on canvas. I never told my wife about it and hung it up while she was out of the house. She came home, stopped, looked at me, looked at it, looked at me, shrugged and said “Sure, why not”
She knew who I was when she married me 
Huh. I usually never see the condiments on burgers when I eat them. That sounds like they put too much. If it’s enough squirt out, I’d think the flavor would overwhelm the meat.
As for gyros: I thought the difference between pitas and tortillas was that they the former had two layers instead of just one. The once I get from the store do, as did the ones on the few gyros I’d run into when travelling.
Is there a link you intended to post to whatever wrap you’re talking about?
No link. The Loblaws (a Canadian grocer) version has 13g protein, 140 calories and 6g fibre. After water, flour and delicious gluten, the next ingredients are proteins from peas and beans, oats, flaxseed, oil and wheat bran. These type of products often do not taste good. In a gyros, the filling is so good one does not notice.
Aah, got it.
Yeah, as a low-carb eater I’ve tried a horrendous assortment of bread-like things trying to find one that was just barely carby and also tasted edible. If the food science magicians are still struggling today, we know that’s gotta be a tall order.
Congrats to Loblaws if they’ve broken the code.
This seems as good a time as any to complicate things by introducing al pastor, the Mexican version of shawarma as introduced by Lebanese immigrants and typically served in tacos.
You (maybe not at all places) can get gyroi wrapped in a one-layer pita/tortilla/flatbread/whatever you want to call it instead of in a pita pocket. You can even get a gyros plate where the meat is not wrapped at all!
Some pitas are small and have pockets, while some are larger and don’t; the latter can be wrapped around meat like you would a burrito. The main difference between tortillas and pitas is that pitas are made with yeast, unlike tortillas, which are unleavened.
Yeah, in North America that is the typical association. It is more likely to be pork in Greece.
So the quintessential (or at least stereotypical) Greek food in the US is quite unlike that in the home country. I did not know that; thank you.
Makes sense though. Just like sugary chow mein and US-style pizza; not actually dishes from the alleged countries of origin.
Before this thread I did not know that. Thanks.
Yeah, the Mediterranean restaurant has plates and the pita comes in a basket, one pita per plate order, cut into quarters.
The sandwiches come wrapped in flatbread rather like a very thick tortilla wrap rather than in the pocket of a sliced pita.
My guess is that most gyros taste the same in the US because the recipe is fairly simple and standard- beef and/or lamb with oregano, garlic, onion and rosemary are the main flavor notes. Some people add other aromatics and spices, but oregano, garlic, onion and rosemary are the big four, and they’re all four pretty potent.
It’s kind of like how all chili tastes basically the same, because chili’s main flavor notes are ground chiles, cumin, garlic and oregano, along with whatever meat’s in it.
The Halal Guys swrve what they call a gyro but dedinitely has more of a Midwast inspiration to it, and their meat definitely is spiced differently than a standard gyro. They also don’t use tzatziki - the guro comes unsauced and you can top it yourself with packets of “white sauce”, which is a mayo-based condiment with black pepper and some sort of herbs, and a harissa-based hot sauce which is remarkably spicy for a fast food product.
Having shish kabob (lamb, from a Greek place) for supper this evening, inspired by this thread. Yeah, i like the grilled chunks of meat and the slices slabs of meat not than the ground seasoned thing. But i think my daughter will get meat sliced from a ground seasoned cylinder.
I was only in Greece once, many years ago, but i was surprised that all the street food “meat wrapped in bread” items were pork-based. I loved them, and spent some time reconstructing the recipe when i got home. Basically salt, pepper, thyme, and lemon juice. Lots of thyme and lemon juice. I still season pork chops that way today.
They essentially do schawarma and call it a gyros. (It’s all a continuum of foods, anyway.)
Aren’t döner, shawarma, and gyros literally synonyms, referring to rotisserie?
Just to clarify since my phone’s autocorrect has a habit of not doing anything whatsoever, that should say “Mideast”.
Pretty much, but gyros is generally associated with Greece and that type of spicing and the others more Mideast.
I read it as “Midwest” especially when you talked about a mayo and black pepper sauce for it.