Weber kettle set up for GYROS

Charcoal cookers (such as Weber Kettles)
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HeatnSmoke
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Joined: Fri Jan 25, 2013 5:40 pm

Weber kettle set up for GYROS

Post by HeatnSmoke »

I'm itching to try my hand at Gnol's legendary recipe for Gyros.
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=9153&sid=a3c19ba092 ... 01dac4f2f6

I'll be using my weber kettle with with the weber rotisserie ring and skewer.

My question has to do with the charcoal / heatbead set up and I'm looking at a few options:

A) Have two lit weber charcoal baskets on the charcoal grate, parked on the left and right side (the standard set up for roti chook). My butcher said this wouldn't give the nice charcoal flavour I'm looking for, which leads me to the next option...

B) No baskets on the side but have a line of ashed over charcoal / heat beads in the middle of the charcoal grate. This copies the open spit we see in most gyros / kebab shops.

C) Just one charcoal basket on the side + the line of ashed over coal in the middle.

In any option above, I assume I would leave the kettle uncovered for max air flow.

Any guidance from those who done gyros in a kettle would be most welcome :)
Davo
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Re: Weber kettle set up for GYROS

Post by Davo »

Not having any exp. With rotiserie type cooking myself, i would go with the butcher's suggestion.
By using a charcoal chimney, evenly spread hot coals in a single layer all over the coals grate ensuring all the meat will be evenly cooked and that it won't get too hot.
Leave the food grate off so you can evenly add more coals as they burn down.

The dripping of fats etc will help to flavour your food.

Use the heatbead charcoal briquettes in the grean bag for mor authentic charcoal flavour or the kingsforn original if you can get them.

Mallee root lump charcoal would be good to but they take longer to get started but burn slow.

Thats about all i can suggest.

Cheers

Davo
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12x7
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Re: Weber kettle set up for GYROS

Post by 12x7 »

Laying a bed of charcoal is the way I would go.

If I was using briquettes like heat beads I would make sure they are fully lit/ashed over so they wouldn't get that musky heat bead smell in the meat.

Kingsford are good as they are made from wood and adds a nice wood smell. Original heat beads are made from brown charcoal.

Using lump charcoal is probably more natural. Except when you use charcoal made from Australian trees as there probably wasn't too many of them in ancient Greece. If you want modern Greek, of course use Australian charcoal as Australia has one of the largest Greek populations in the world. Similarly original heat beads are popular for home charcoal set-ups.
HeatnSmoke
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Joined: Fri Jan 25, 2013 5:40 pm

Re: Weber kettle set up for GYROS

Post by HeatnSmoke »

Thanks for the tips Davo and 12x7 -- looks like a bed of charcoal it is! :D
Charstone1
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Joined: Mon Jul 24, 2017 7:16 pm

Re: Weber kettle set up for GYROS

Post by Charstone1 »

I always put the line of charcoal (I use lump) directly underneath. Don't pile them up though, spread a little coal out to the sides. You will enjoy the results! Cheers CS
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