Gyros
{{short description|Greek dish}}
{{About|the Greek dish|the moth genus|Gyros (moth)|other uses|Gyro (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox food
| name = Gyros
| image = Pita giros.JPG
| image_size = 235px
| caption = Gyros in Greece, with meat, onions, tomato, lettuce, fried potatoes, and tzatziki rolled in a pita
| country = Greece
| region =
| course = Main course
| served = Hot
| main_ingredient = Pita bread, pork, fried potatoes, lettuce, tomato, onions, tzatziki or yogurt
| variations = Chicken, ground beef, or lamb instead of pork
| calories =
| other =
}}
Gyros, sometimes anglicized as a gyro{{Cite dictionary |url=http://www.lexico.com/definition/gyro |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210920210821/https://www.lexico.com/definition/gyro |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 20, 2021 |title=gyro |dictionary=Lexico UK English Dictionary |publisher=Oxford University Press}}{{cite Merriam-Webster|gyro}}"[https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/gyro Gyro] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220503090054/https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/gyro |date=2022-05-03 }}". Cambridge Dictionary. Cambridge University Press. 2022. ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|j|ɪər|oʊ|,_|ˈ|dʒ|ɪər|-|,_|ˈ|dʒ|aɪ|r|-}}; {{langx|el|γύρος|yíros/gyros|turn}}, {{IPA|el|ˈʝiros|pron}}), is meat cooked on a vertical rotisserie, then sliced and served wrapped or stuffed in pita bread, along with other ingredients such as tomato, onion, fried potatoes, and tzatziki. In Greece, it is normally made with pork{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QQgwVl22fXkC&pg=PA6 |title=Street foods |date=2000 |publisher=Karger |isbn=9783805569279 |editor-last=Simopoulos |editor-first=Artemis P. |editor-link=Artemis Simopoulos |location=Basel |pages=6 |oclc=41711932 |editor-last2=Bhat |editor-first2=Ramesh Venkataramana Bhat |access-date=2019-03-17 |archive-date=2023-03-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230307201333/https://books.google.com/books?id=QQgwVl22fXkC&pg=PA6 |url-status=live }} or sometimes with chicken, whilst ground beef and lamb are also used in other countries.{{Cite news |last=Segal |first=David |date=2009-07-15 |title=The Gyro's History Unfolds |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/15/dining/15gyro.html |access-date=2023-11-07 |issn=0362-4331}}
Name
The name comes from the Greek {{lang|el|γύρος}} ({{transl|el|gyros}}, {{gloss|circle}} or {{gloss|turn}}). It is a calque of the Turkish {{transl|tr|döner}}, from {{transl|tr|dönmek}}, also meaning {{gloss|turn}}.Babiniotis, {{lang|el|Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας}}
In Greek, "{{transl|el|gyros|italic=no}}" is a nominative singular noun, but the final 's' is often interpreted in English usage as plural,{{Cite web|url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/gyro|title=Gyro |website=dictionary.cambridge.org|language=en|access-date=2019-07-14|archive-date=2019-07-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190714082641/https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/gyro|url-status=live}} leading to the singular back-formation "gyro".{{Cite web|url=https://www.houstonpress.com/restaurants/greek-101-6435779|title=Greek 101|first=Jay|last=Francis|date=2009-01-09|website=Houston Press|access-date=2019-10-28|archive-date=2021-06-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210608105153/https://www.houstonpress.com/restaurants/greek-101-6435779|url-status=live}} The standard Greek and English pronunciation is {{IPA|el|ˈʝiɾos|}}. Some English speakers pronounce it {{IPAc-en|ˈ|dʒ|aɪ|r|oʊ}}, likely because the word is a heteronym of the (only indirectly-related) word "gyro".{{Cite web |last=Cutolo |first=Morgan |date=24 July 2024 |title=Gyro Food Pronunciation: What Is the Correct Way? |url=https://www.rd.com/article/how-to-pronounce-gyro/ |access-date=16 October 2024 |website=rd.com}}
In Athens and other parts of southern Greece, the skewered meat dish elsewhere called souvlaki is known as {{transl|el|kalamaki}}, while {{transl|el|souvlaki}} is a term used generally for gyros, and similar dishes.{{cite book|first1=Joyce-Ann|last1=Gatsoulis|title=Night+Day Athens|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vdp1BOQIR40C&pg=PA43|publisher=ASDavis Media Group|date=2006|isbn=9780976601302|via=Google Books|access-date=2019-10-28|archive-date=2023-03-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230307201324/https://books.google.com/books?id=vdp1BOQIR40C&pg=PA43|url-status=live}} In other regions, for example in Thessaloniki, {{transl|el|gyros}} only refers to the meat on the spit, and what English speakers refer to as a "gyros wrap" is called a {{gloss|sandwich}} ({{lang|el|σάντουιτς}}).{{Cite web |title=Θεσσαλονίκη VS Αθήνα. Όταν θέλεις να παραγγείλεις ένα σουβλάκι και δεν μπορείς! |url=https://minisite.marnellos.gr/gr/blog/thessaloniki-vs-athina--otan-theleis-na-paraggeileis-ena-soublaki-kai-den-mporeis-187 |access-date=2025-02-08 |website=Minisite Marnellos.gr |language=el}}
=Similar dishes=
Gyros is made in a similar manner to other dishes such as the Arab shawarma, Canadian donair, Mexican al pastor, and the Turkish doner kebab.{{Cite book|title=Food and Language: Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cooking 2009|last=Kremezi|first=Aglaia|publisher=Prospect Books|year=2010|isbn=9781903018798|editor-last=Hosking|editor-first=Richard|volume=28|location=Totnes|pages=203–204|chapter=What's in the Name of a Dish?|oclc=624419365|author-link=Aglaia Kremezi|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3ilvBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT202}}
History
File:Dönerci, 1855.jpg (meat cooked on a vertical rotisserie) by James Robertson, 1855, Ottoman Empire]]
Grilling a vertical spit of stacked meat and slicing it off as it cooks was developed in BursaKenneth F. Kiple, Kriemhild Coneè Ornelas, eds., Cambridge World History of Food, Cambridge, 2000. {{ISBN|0-521-40216-6}}. Vol. 2, p. 1147 in the 19th century in the Ottoman Empire. After the 1922–23 population exchange between Greece and Turkey, the Greeks brought their variation with them to Greece. Following World War II, gyros made with lamb (called shawarma) was present in Athens.{{cite magazine|title=(unknown title) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qp8RAAAAIAAJ&q=doner+kebab|magazine=Sports Illustrated|volume=3|pages=116|publisher=Time, Incorporated|date=1955|via=Google Books|access-date=2020-10-08|archive-date=2023-03-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230307201324/https://books.google.com/books?id=Qp8RAAAAIAAJ&q=doner+kebab|url-status=live}} It was likely introduced by immigrants from Anatolia and the Middle East.{{cite book|first1=Alan|last1=Davidson|title=The Oxford Companion to Food|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bIIeBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA259|publisher=OUP Oxford|date=21 August 2014|isbn=978-0-19-104072-6|via=Google Books}} The Greek version is normally made with pork and served with tzatziki, and became known as gyros.{{Cite conference |last1=Kremezi |first1=Aglaia |author-link1=Aglaia Kremezi |date=2010 |editor-last=Hosking |editor-first=Richard |title=What's in the Name of a Dish? |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3ilvBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT202 |conference=Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery |publisher=Prospect Books |pages=203–204 |isbn=978-1-903018-79-8 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115045842/https://books.google.com/books?id=3ilvBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT202 |archive-date=2023-01-15 |access-date=2018-10-19 |via=Google Books |book-title=Food and Language: Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cooking 2009 |url-status=live}}Γιάκωβος Σ. Διζικιρικής, Να ξετουρκέψουμε τη γλώσσα μας 'Let Us De-Turkify our Language', Athens 1975, p. 62, proposes substituting {{lang|el|γυριστό}} for {{lang|el|ντονέρ}}, but The New York Times was already using the word gyro in English in 1971 (4 Sept. 23/1) according to the OED, 1993 online edition, [http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/243308 s.v.]
File:Pitagyros_mit_Beilagen_und_Bier_(Gaststätte).jpg
By 1970, gyros wraps were already a popular fast food in Athens, as well as in Chicago and New York City.{{cite magazine |first1=Milton|last1=Glaser|first2=Jerome|last2=Snyder|date=7 December 1970 |title=Spit and Image |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tBAZFl0GHqUC&pg=PA88 |magazine=New York |publisher=New York Media, LLC |access-date=22 January 2024|via=Google Books|archive-date=15 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115045842/https://books.google.com/books?id=tBAZFl0GHqUC&pg=PA88|url-status=live}}{{cite news |url=http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodsandwiches.html#gyros |title=The Gyro, a Greek Sandwich, Selling Like Hot Dogs |date=September 4, 1971 |newspaper=The New York Times |pages=23 |access-date=February 22, 2016 |archive-date=March 23, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160323175224/http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodsandwiches.html#gyros |url-status=live }}{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/15/dining/15gyro.html?_r=0| title=The Gyro's History Unfolds| author=David Segal| date=July 14, 2009| newspaper=The New York Times| access-date=June 4, 2016| archive-date=July 21, 2016| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160721103623/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/15/dining/15gyro.html?_r=0| url-status=live}} At that time, although vertical rotisseries were starting to be mass-produced in the US by Gyros Inc. of Chicago, the stacks of meat were still hand-made. There are several claimants to have introduced the first mass-produced gyros to the United States, all based in the Chicago area in the early 1970s, and of Greek descent. One of them, Peter Parthenis, has said that the mass-produced gyro was first conceptualized by John and Margaret Garlic; John Garlic was a Jewish car salesman who later ran a restaurant featuring live dolphins.
The Halifax donair in Canada which was based on the Greek gyros was invented in the 1970s by Peter Gamoulakos. Originally from Greece, he started selling Greek gyros (a pita stuffed with grilled lamb and tzatziki) from his restaurant located off the Bedford Highway.{{Cite web |last=corusadmin |date=2022-04-27 |title=The Delicious History Of The Halifax Donair |url=https://www.foodnetwork.ca/article/the-delicious-history-of-the-halifax-donair/ |access-date=2023-08-20 |website=Food Network Canada |language=en-CA}}
Preparation
In Greece, gyros is normally made with pork, though other meats are used in other countries. Chicken is common, and lamb or beef may be found more rarely.{{citation needed|date=April 2022}} Typical American mass-produced gyros are made with finely ground beef mixed with lamb.
For hand-made gyros, meat is cut into approximately round, thin, flat slices, which are then stacked on a spit and seasoned. Fat trimmings are usually interspersed. Spices may include cumin, oregano, thyme, rosemary, and others.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}} The pieces of meat, in the shape of an inverted cone, are placed on a tall vertical rotisserie, which turns slowly in front of a source of heat or broiler. As the cone cooks, lower parts are basted with the juices running off the upper parts. The outside of the meat is sliced vertically in thin, crisp shavings when done.{{cite book|first1=Ken|last1=Albala|title=Food Cultures of the World Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NTo6c_PJWRgC&pg=RA3-PA168|publisher=ABC-CLIO|date=2011 |isbn=9780313376269|via=Google Books}}
The rate of roasting can be adjusted by varying the intensity of the heat, the distance between the heat and the meat, and the speed of spit rotation, thus allowing the cook to adjust for varying rates of consumption.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}}
In Greece, it is customarily served in an oiled, lightly grilled piece of pita, rolled up with sliced tomatoes, chopped onions, lettuce, and fried potatoes, sometimes topped with tzatziki, or, sometimes in northern Greece, ketchup or mustard.{{cite book|first1=Bruce|last1=Kraig|first2=Colleen|last2=Taylor Sen|title=Street Food around the World: An Encyclopedia of Food and Culture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9XCjAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA150|publisher=ABC-CLIO|date=9 September 2013|isbn=9781598849554|via=Google Books|access-date=21 September 2019|archive-date=7 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230307201347/https://books.google.com/books?id=9XCjAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA150|url-status=live}}{{cite web |title=A guide to ordering "gyros" in Greece |url=https://www.itinari.com/a-guide-to-ordering-gyros-in-greece-xfr8 |website=Itinari |date=26 May 2019 |access-date=12 December 2019 |archive-date=12 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191212061503/https://www.itinari.com/a-guide-to-ordering-gyros-in-greece-xfr8 |url-status=live }}{{cite web |title=Great Street Food in Thessaloniki: A Round-the-Clock Guide |url=http://www.greece-is.com/great-street-food-thessaloniki-round-clock-guide/ |website=Greece Is |date=4 July 2017 |access-date=12 December 2019 |archive-date=12 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191212061501/http://www.greece-is.com/great-street-food-thessaloniki-round-clock-guide/ |url-status=live }}
See also
{{Portal|Greece|Food|}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category}}
- {{Wiktionary-inline|gyros}}
{{Cuisine of Greece}}
{{sandwiches}}
{{Street food}}
Category:Greek words and phrases
Category:Mediterranean cuisine