# gyros **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 10, 2000, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gyros/40666 "2000-11-10T17:21:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![fatcat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fatcat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fatcat)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2000, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gyros/40666/1 "2000-11-10T17:21:30Z")
gyro meat is usually lamb, right? but how do they get it in that big hunk on the rotating stick? the hunk appears to be larger than any part of a sheep’s body. also, how is it cooked? ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2000, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gyros/40666/2 "2000-11-10T17:30:38Z")
IIRC it’s mostly lamb which has been ground or chopped and then formed into the cylinders used on the skewer. Perhaps it has other meat added, but it must have a binder of some type. Still good eatin’ though. ---
**Author:** ![G.B.H.Hornswoggler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c67d28/32.png) [@G.B.H.Hornswoggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G.B.H.Hornswoggler)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2000, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gyros/40666/3 "2000-11-10T17:35:51Z")
“They taste better when you say yee-ros.” ---
**Author:** ![writefetus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9de053/32.png) [@writefetus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/writefetus)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2000, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gyros/40666/4 "2000-11-10T18:41:18Z")
here is the deal on gyros, as I know it When I was working in a gyro place it was explained to me thusly: cooked spiced beef and lamb (@ a 1:3 ratio) along w/ binders, fillers and whatnot ( more on that later) are turned into a pureed meat slurry or chum of sorts w/ the texture of thin pea soup, then it is expressed through a fuel injector type spray valve and extruded onto a rotating base into a cone shaped pillar o’ meat,then when you slice it off as ordered, you slice it vertically against the (spray extruded) grain , giving it a somewhat meat-esque texture as consumed. We would routinely find all sorts of uneatable things inside gyros, wouldn’t a week go by but someone would find a stone or a bolt or a bit of metal machine part or fragment in their sandwich. The MOST appalling object discovered entombed within a gyro during my tenure: A corroded AA battery that had ruptured and sent out a greenish corona surrounding it, extending some 1" in all directions. …I still eat 'em though :eek: ---
**Author:** ![occ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8c91f0/32.png) [@occ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/occ)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2000, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gyros/40666/5 "2000-11-10T20:32:02Z")
Guess I’ll stick with tacos and falafel. ---
**Author:** ![retsin2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@retsin2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/retsin2000)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2000, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gyros/40666/6 "2000-11-10T20:44:14Z")
Writefetus, please tell me that the place you worked bought the cheap gyro meat that didn’t pass any inspection and wasn’t really legal to sell but the owner paid off somebody. The gyro meat at the place I buy gyros probably isn’t like that right? Please. ---
**Author:** ![writefetus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9de053/32.png) [@writefetus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/writefetus)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2000, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gyros/40666/7 "2000-11-10T20:53:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by retsin2000 \* > \*\*Writefetus, please tell me that the place you worked bought the cheap gyro meat that didn’t pass any inspection and wasn’t really legal to sell but the owner paid off somebody. The gyro meat at the place I buy gyros probably isn’t like that right? Please. \*\* …yeah,that’s right,what he said… ---
**Author:** ![missbunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/76d3ee/32.png) [@missbunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missbunny)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2000, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gyros/40666/8 "2000-11-10T20:58:41Z")
Oh my god, writefetus, that’s revolting. I feel sick now. ---
**Author:** ![writefetus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9de053/32.png) [@writefetus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/writefetus)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2000, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gyros/40666/9 "2000-11-10T21:09:19Z")
…but, you know, when I lived in NYC and would go to Astoria,Queens for eats,the Gyros that you get there were made of individual cuts of meat, skewerd on a spindle, rotating in one of those upright gyro-cooking-thingies, and they would just carve off enough for a sandwich as you ordered…so it is not the same everywhere bon appetite!!! ---
**Author:** ![Commander\_Fortune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Commander\_Fortune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Commander_Fortune)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2000, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gyros/40666/10 "2000-11-11T09:00:43Z")
I’ve made gyros at home a few times by adding my own beef and lamb to a mix by (I think) _Near East_. To make them at home I have to form them into little patties and fry them. They come out kind of like little gyro-burgers. I suppose writefetus’ explanation of how they’re commercially made would explain why the texture was always “off”. But the flavor with that mix is spot on. ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2000, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gyros/40666/11 "2000-11-11T14:06:23Z")
Well if the gyros are grossing you out, try a doner kebab. Just don’t think about the donor. (Barry Humphries’ joke) ---
**Author:** ![Tansu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/67e7ee/32.png) [@Tansu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tansu)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2000, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gyros/40666/12 "2000-11-12T11:00:23Z")
The OP is actually describing a doner kebab. Gyros are made from marinated cuts of lamb skewered on the spit to form a kind of stack, just as writefetus says. Your kebab shop is falsely advertising its doner as gyros.