Gyro / Donair Meat


(Steve) #1

This was requested over on the “Greek Restaurant” thread by @Victoria_McCoy so here you go. :slight_smile:
(had to work out the macros before I posted it).
It has been a couple years since I made any. Memory serves that it’s not a 100% match of what you get at the vendors…but it’s quite close (and MUCH better than the mass produced stuff you can get at some of the big box stores!) I know…I tried that stuff…I still ate it, but it wasn’t very good.
Heh…and before anyone complains that I didn’t have any carbs in my bacon - I’m using macros for ingredients that I have - and my “Presidents Choice” bacon says that there’s 0 carbs per 2 slices. :stuck_out_tongue:

Combined Gyro Recipe

Meat Mixture:
1 lb (454g) ground lamb - 1280 calories, 104g Fat, 77g Protein, 268mg Sodium, 1008mg Potassium
1 lb (454g) ground beef - 965 calories, 67g Fat, 83g Protein, 293mg Sodium, 1339 Potassium

Spices:
1 tsp ground cumin - 8 calories, 0.47g Fat, 0.73g Carbs, 0.37g Protein, 4mg Sodium, 38mg Potassium
1 tsp dried marjoram - 1.6 calories, 0.4g Carbs, 0.1g Protein, 0.5mg Sodium
1 tsp ground rosemary - 3 calories, 0 Fat, 1g Carbs, 0 Protein, 0 Sodium
1 tsp ground thyme - 3.9 calories, 0.1g Fat, 0.4g Carbs, 0.1g Protein, 0.8mg Sodium, 11.4mg Potassium
1 tsp ground black pepper - 5.8 calories, 0.1g Fat, 0.9g Carbs, 0.2g Protein, 0.5mg Sodium
2 tsp Kosher salt - 2240mg Sodium

Ingredients for the next day:
10 slices of bacon - 430 calories, 32.5g Fat, 30g Protein, 1370mg Sodium, 450mg Potassium
1/2 medium onion, diced coarsely - 20 calories, 0 Fat, 4g Carbs, 1g Protein, 2mg Sodium, 73mg Potassium
1 tbsp minced garlic - 45 calories, 2g Fat, 3.6g Carbs, 0.75g Protein, 3mg Sodium, 48mg Potassium

Total: 2762 calories, 206g Fat, 11g Carbs, 193g Protein, 4182mg Sodium, 2967mg Potassium

I normally take the non-ground spices in a recipe like this into my mortice and trowel and grind them together. Then mix with the other spices, so they’re distributed evenly through your meat.

Try to sprinkle as evenly as you can over the waiting ground meat in your big bowl.

Knead the meat together by hand until uniform in composition and distribution of spices, then form into a ball and wrap in cling wrap.

Put in the fridge overnight, to give the spices a chance to infuse the meat.

Next day:

Put oven rack in the middle of your oven and pre-heat the oven to 325F.

Line rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil.

Place meat mixture, chopped onions, bacon and garlic in your food processor and turn into a puree (scrape down sides if required with a spatula to get all of it processed)

With moist hands, form meat mixture into a 5”W x 1 1/2”T x 8”L loaf in the middle of your cooking sheet.
(mine turned out to be about 14” long)

Bake until centre is 155F (about 30 minutes)

Let rest at room temperature for a few minutes, then refrigerate for an hour. (wrap it in cling wrap again, so it doesn’t dry out).

To finish meat:

Put oven rack at highest position. Pre-heat broiler.

Slice loaf crosswise about 1/4” to 1/2”. (try to be consistent) :slight_smile:

Lay strips on rimmed sheet covered in foil and broil until edges are brown and crispy (about 2 minutes)

You can either prepare other ingredients for serving or batch the meat for freezing at this point.

(You’ll likely have to do the last broiling in two batches with a large baking sheet).

Appears to make enough for 15 gyro’s!! :slight_smile: (at ~1/2” thick - you only use two slices per sandwich - appears to make 30 slices) :slight_smile:

Nutrition per slice:
If 30 slices (<1/2”)

  • 92 calories, 6.9g Fat, 0.4g Carbs, 6.4g Protein, 139mg Sodium, 99mg Potassium

If 60 slices (<1/4”)

  • 46 calories, 3.4g Fat, 0.2g Carbs, 3.2g Protein, 70mg Sodium, 49mg Potassium

Now the food porn (yes, I still have the pics from the 1 time I made it) :smiley:





Apologize for my shadow in the shots. :frowning:

Edit: One last thing - I really wish I had kept track of all of the gyro meat recipes that I reviewed so I could attribute them here, but I didn’t record them (wasn’t religious about using my Paprika app back then). This recipe is the amalgamation of a few different recipes I’ve found. Would LOVE feedback to make it better!!! (then we all win!!!) :smiley:


Going to a Greek Restaurant
(Rob) #2

Bravo!! One of my keto treats (sans pita) when I go home! May try this, but even if not, it’s good to know it’s there.

Any chance you could export from Paprika as a paprika file and upload it here so we could import it?


(Steve) #3

Well, I would, but the site actually doesn’t allow that…now, mind you, we are able to post links, so I created a shared folder on my google drive called “Paprika Exports” that I’ll export my recipes to.

Here’s the link (the Gyro meat recipe’s already there):

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1aiQMn6XWsbF4U51wsuX7tNuscxcZmrbx?usp=sharing

I am going to, however, do two more exports later on today (have a couple more recipes to import / change that I’ve been working on). Which will include:

  • all 100+ recipes in my Keto category (the ones with star ratings are the ones I’ve tried)
  • all 356+ recipes in my entire Paprika app (really DO need to audit the whole thing and try to make Keto versions of everything) :slight_smile:

Will update once I’ve done that. :slight_smile:


(Banting & Yudkin & Atkins & Eadeses & Cordain & Taubes & Volek & Naiman & Bikman ) #4

If anyone were interested, you could replace the first bake with a not terribly long (8hr) sous vide cook at maybe 150, maybe lower if you wanted it medium rare (like 135x12) before chilling and oven blasting.


(Steve) #5

I really don’t see that you’re adding a lot by trying to make the meat more tender here…if anything, that may make it not have as much integrity in terms of holding together. (it’s pretty fragile as it is before you broil it)

That last step is where it firms up enough. Also, it’s thin enough that your broiling is going to remove any colour you’ve managed to save by doing it sous vide.


(Steve) #6

Ok, so I’ve uploaded an export of my Keto category (105 recipes as of today) as well as all of my recipes (360 - includes Keto category) to the shared Google drive.

Enjoy!! :slight_smile: