Greek Style Gyros

Another Style Kebab

@kungfuBBQ did an awesome looking Gyros cook last year. He did this as a series of recipes he developed for Angus & Oink. I have been meaning to get round to cooking this, and whilst I haven’t done one the same size as Nathan, I used the same ingredients to put this one together. To be honest, mine was more of a kebab!

Graig Farm Organic Chicken

For this cook, I used some free-range organic chicken from Graig Farm. They are based in Montgomeryshire, Wales. The farm has been in the family since the 1940s, and Jonathan Rees, the proprietor of Graig Farm Organics, has lived there all of his life. The farm is very much a family affair, with Jonathan’s parents continuing an active role, and his wife Sally and three young sons, Maldwyn, Max and Archie, and Daughter Annie also involved!

All of the butchery and processing is carried out at the new processing facilities on the farm. The Head Butcher, Mariusz Hetman, and his team ensure that high standards are achieved and maintained at all times. Jonathan and his family have won a series of prestigious awards, including the ‘True Taste’ awards, in recognition of the quality of their organic meat. Welsh lamb is argued to be the best in the world and the Rees’ have won awards for their lamb five times. This year they won the Silver Award for their organic lamb, and last year achieved the top prize for their organic sirloin of lamb.

The Preparation and Cook

I used 2 boneless chicken thighs for this cook and cut them up into cubes, leaving the skin on, which is not something I normally do. The plan leaving the skin on was that I hoped it would crisp up but it didn’t really work so I would remove next time.

I mixed all the ingredients together to make the marinade and then added the cubed chicken thigh to the mixture, which it sat in for around 5 hours.

The Russian Skewers were out again with this cook. The chicken was cooked direct over charcoal for around 15 minutes, turning regularly. I love the Russian Skewers as you can take out the grate in the Weber and just lay the skewers across the Weber. They are a nice height away from the coals and with not laying them on the grate they don’t end up sticking.

I made some home-made pittas and like the ones Nathan did, these were the greek style ones that are flat and you can wrap them around the food. Finally, I made some Tzatziki and spread this on the pitta before adding the cooked chicken.

The Verdict

The quality of the chicken for this cook was outstanding. It is expensive in comparison to supermarket bought chicken, but you are paying for an organic free-range chicken. I only used 2 thighs and you can see the amount of meat they produced.

The Greek rub from Angus and Oink was lovely. I am looking forward to trying this next time I cook Souvlaki. I would marinate for longer next time (overnight) to really let the flavour get absorbed by the chicken.

I loved this with the home-made pitta and Tzatziki – both really easy to make from scratch. I think with a few tweaks next time this could be a winning dish.