# Shawarma



## CraigC

From the rotisserie.







Served with a fresh, homemade cumin flat bread, Tzatziki and a watermelon, cucumber, mint  salad with tzatziki dressing.


----------



## blissful

Yum Yum Yum, you must share your recipe, it looks delicious!


----------



## medtran49

The rest of the pics. 











I'll post the recipe later.  There are some tweaks I want to make in it for next time, including cook time/temp, as it needs to be cooked a bit less.  But it was very good.  Spices need to be adjusted a bit as well.


----------



## GotGarlic

Mmmm, I bet that was good. Will you post the recipe for the bread, too? We don't have a rotisserie. Is there another way to cook it to get a similar result?


----------



## Dawgluver

Wow!  That looks awesome!


----------



## CraigC

GotGarlic said:


> Mmmm, I bet that was good. Will you post the recipe for the bread, too? We don't have a rotisserie. Is there another way to cook it to get a similar result?



Steve said he did one in the oven by roasting it. I wanted the added flavor of the charcoal.


----------



## Steve Kroll

That looks fantastic, Craig!


----------



## medtran49

Okay, the original recipe came from here:  My Adventures in BBq'in and Grillin': Rotisserie Grilled Greek Gyros .

I thought it had a bit too much of all the spices and the garlic needs to be handled a bit differently because there were still some good size chunks of garlic even though I had rough chopped it.  So, here's what I am going to do next time. 

2 lbs ground lamb or a mix of lamb and ground beef (which is what we did, mostly lamb though)
1 medium white onion 
4 cloves of fresh garlic
1/2 tablespoon dried ground basil (recipe called for marjoram but I can't stand it so changed)
1/2 tablespoon dried ground rosemary
1/2 tablespoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon fresh grated lemon peel (called for dried but that's useless as far as I am concerned)
2 teaspoons sea salt
3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper (may drop this to 1/2 after we make again)
1 teaspoon white pepper


Quarter the onion and place in a food processor with the garlic, pulse several times, scraping down, until very finely chopped. Remove the onion and the garlic from the food processor and wrap in a clean towel or piece of cheesecloth and squeeze to remove the liquid.  Put the onion/garlic mixture back in the food processor.

If you are using coarse ground spices, grind them to a powder in a spice grinder.  

Next, add the spice mixture and other ingredients to the food processor and let it run until everything is mixed thoroughly, about 2 minutes. Scrape down from time to time.  You may have to pre-mix all the ingredients in a large bowl and process smaller amounts individually.  The meat mixture needs to be very finely chopped to where it creates a seasoned meat paste. 

Remove the mixture and place on 2 layered pieces of plastic wrap 14-16 inches long, with the long side facing you.  Form the meat mix into a roll about 6-7 inches long and start to roll at the edge of the plastic wrap.  Twist the long ends to close.  

WARNING:  It may pop open along the seam edge as you compact it.  I solved that problem by wrapping it again the opposite way, with short end facing me.  I then did another long way wrap with doubled plastic.  Or you can just use a piece of cheesecloth like I used to the wrap the torchon that I made.  It would probably be easier to compress in the cheesecloth since it will let air out as you tighten it down.  

Once I got it wrapped to where nothing would escape, I twisted 1 end to close tightly, then stood it up and squeezed/tightened the twist of the plastic wrap until it was firm and compacted (like the torchon, http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/f17/foie-gras-torchon-95876.html , refer to post #3 for wrapping). 

We let the loaf set up overnight in the fridge and then placed in the freezer for 2 hours before cooking.  Before putting in the freezer, remove the plastic wrap and re-wrap in heavy-duty foil.  

For cooking, build a 1-zone fire with medium heat.  The charcoal caddies for the Webber come in handy so the coals can be easily moved later.  When the fire is ready, take the meat out of the freezer and place the log on your rotisserie spit, centered and with forks set opposite each other.  Place your charcoal caddy directly under the meat for about 30 minutes.  After the 30 minutes, move the charcoal caddy off to one side.  Remove the foil from the loaf.  You want to brown the outside and give it a nice crispy crust.  Try to keep the top on as much as possible to keep the heat in.  Pull the loaf at 150 (subject to change).  We let it cook to 160 per ground lamb recommended guidelines and it was overcooked. 

Serve with your favorite tzatziki sauce, feta, sliced tomatos, lettuce, whatever you want.  

I will update this next time we make it.  I will probably also cook some of the meat mixture in a skillet as soon as it is mixed since I am drastically altering the spice amounts to check on the taste.   

Bread recipe to follow.​


----------



## medtran49

The bread pictured above is our flatbread recipe, which can be found at http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/f153/flat-bread-recipe-multi-use-96105.html. I divided the dough into 10 portions instead of the usual 6. I added about 3/4 tsp of ground cumin to the flour/salt mix before adding the liquid, and also sprinkled with ground cumin after I brushed the tops with olive oil.

This recipe makes a mostly soft, chewy bread, with crispy parts here and there at edges.


----------



## medtran49

GotGarlic said:


> Mmmm, I bet that was good. Will you post the recipe for the bread, too? We don't have a rotisserie. Is there another way to cook it to get a similar result?


 
Like Craig said, Steve does it in the oven.  I personally would do it on a rack and then use the broiler to brown/crisp the crust, but you'll have to watch it like a hawk and turn to get an even broil all the way around.


----------



## GotGarlic

Cool, thanks


----------



## medtran49

Just got finished putting another 1 of these together, only took 15 months  .  Made a couple of little patties to taste.  We'll see what it tastes like tomorrow after it melds and cooks on the rotisserie, but it still had a good amount of spice burn at the end and I only used a rounded 1/2 tsp.  Also, we used all lamb this time.


----------



## medtran49

I think Craig took some pics on his phone while it was cooking, I'll look in a bit, but here is plated dinner.

Definitely pull at 150, maybe even 145.  It was much juicier this time.  Also, I think I'll reduce the red pepper flakes even more.  I used a rounded 1/2 tsp this time and it was still.pretty spicy, so maybe half of that.  The rest of the spices were good.  I did chop the garlic fairly finely before it went in the food processor with the onions.


----------

