From what I’ve read, the white sauce is their own invention from back when they were a single food cart in New York, and it was meant to be a unique alternative to tzatziki. Being mayo-based also makes it dairy-free and therefore pareve, which I presume would help draw in Jewish customers as well as the Muslim crowd they were initially targeting.
The ingredients list is “soybean oil, canola oil, egg yolk, vinegar, water, salt, sugar, natural flavors, black pepper, disodium EDTA, xanthan gum, sodium benzoate to maintain freshness”. The first four ingredients comprise mayo (or possibly a Miracle Whip-type boiled dressing), the xantham gum is a thickener, the the EDTA and benzoate are preservatives, which leaves sugar, salt, pepper, and “natural flavors” as the flavorings. IMO, it tastes sort of like ranch dressing without the buttermilk, so I’d guess there’s some parsley, dill, chives, onion powder, garlic powder (but not nearly enough to make it a garlic sauce) and maybe one or two other extracts in there.
I see “one gyro, two gyros” used to refer to the entire bread/pita-wrapped meat in my local diners, but I’m hoping someone with more familiarity with Greek will tell us how they word gets used there.
ένας γύρος, δυο γύροι ??? I honestly do not recall. I’m not sure it makes sense to talk about “two gyroi” in this context? It’s not a “gyro”, though; I am pretty sure the ending is pronounced.
This picture from Greek wikipedia
is labelled something like “a pita with gyros, tzatziki, tomato,
onion and cucumber”
Going to Arby’s today for a gyro. I read reviews, the roast beef gyro and the turkey gyro are declared not as tasty as the ‘Greek’ (meatloaf type meat) gyro…It is extremely unlikely Arby’s would ever sell actual lamb meat in a sandwich. Lamb is very expensive and many if not most people don’t like it/won’t eat it… Arby’s has the meats, but the meats is beef, chicken, turkey, and occasionally ham.
In a meatloaf-type mixture, yes, I can see lamb added. I know someone who makes their own gyro meat. The Arby’s beef and turkey gyros are just that, beef slices and turkey slices with ‘Greek’ flavorings, they wouldn’t be selling lamb slices on a bun. Other than kabobs in a middle eastern type restaurant, I don’t think I’ve ever seen any cuts of lamb or chops in a restaurant.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Arby’s gets its gyro meat from one of the same Big Three food suppliers that sell to your local gyro shop - Kronos, Grecian Delight, and Olympia all provide their beef/lamb mix in loaves and packaged slices in addition to the vertical cones, and it’d make more sense to buy from an existing supplier than to manufacture their own in-house, so the stuff they’re putting on your gyro could very well be the same stuff Uncle Stavros and Mr. Nikapopolus have been serving out of their tiny kitchen on the old main drag since 1973.
While I’m sure it’s something they don’t make themselves, I’d bet one of two things is going on. First, whoever their big meat supplier is, just made their own gyro meat to Arby’s specifications. Second, one of those big-3 gyro meat suppliers is part of/owned by whoever their big meat supplier is.
I just don’t see Arby’s going through all the gyrations necessary to bring on a new supplier, if they can get Cargill Processed Meat products (or whatever/whoever their supplier is) to just produce something like that. Economies of scale and all that…
On occasion, a steakhouse restaurant here will have lamb chops as a special. They are terribly expensive, the little chops. A rack of lamb is $50-$70, at least, just to buy in a grocery store, and only around Christmas or Easter.
But lamb in a gyro meat mixture, that’s a different thing altogether.
Not super common, but also not uncommon around here. I mean, Greek, Middle Eastern, and Indian restaurants will all have them (and there’s a LOT of all those here in Chicago.) Almost all the grocery stores I frequent carry it, and it’s not necessarily crazy expensive unless you’re buying lamb chops. Lamb shoulder could be quite affordable. When my grocery carries ground lamb, sometimes it’s on par with 80-20 ground beef prices, though usually it is ~$2/lb more expensive. And it usually is cheaper than the 95% sirloin ground beef.
Braised lamb shank is bog standard at Middle Eastern or Greek places. Broiled lamb chops are frequently on the Specials of the Day menu at duners and ‘family’ spots. Here’s one local to me with roast leg of lamb on Sundays (honestly, any of those daily specials sound great):
This actually clears something up for me about a local restaurant. This place was once a German restaurant but became a Mexican restaurant. However, the locals missed the German food so they made it both (It’s not fusion, but you can get burritos or schnitzel). Anyway, I went in and immediately said to my wife “I don’t know about German or Mexican, but the owner is clearly Lebanese!”
Huh, maybe it’s regional? I have had rack of lamb and tandoori lamb at restaurants. I’ve had an appetizer that was tiny lamb chops. I’m not a huge fan of lamb shanks, but I’ve seen them at restaurants, as well as other lamb (and kid) Indian dishes.
I think the issue is that sheep don’t do well in factory farms. Apparently they are skittish and get overly stressed or something. If you buy pastured meat, the lamb and beef cost about the same, in my experience. The pork and chicken are a bit less.
I was at a friend’s farm giving him a hand with a project. He told me he had two sick sheep that needed medicated and I offered to help since I was there.
He had his dog round the sheep up and move them into a barn. He told me he’d point out the sick ones and I could keep track of them.
As the sheep ran by, one dropped over dead. He pointed and said, “that’s one of the sick ones”. That’s how sheep are.
For what it’s worth, I had one of the Arby’s gyros for the first time the other day. It was surprisingly pretty good-- Not “ohmygod this is amazing”, but better than most fast food, and better than some other gyros I’ve had.
