Where does gyro meat come from? If you said Greece, try again. The world's largest manufacturer of gyro cones -- the ubiquitous cylinders of pressed meat in every Greek restaurant -- is in Chicago. In fact, all the gyro producers are in Chicago.
The New York Times had an article yesterday on the first gyro kings and how they made the food a dietary staple in the late '70s:
"We didn't have a distribution deal in the early days," said [Gyro's Inc. owner] Mr.The point of the article is that while the economy is hurting, gyros are experiencing a resurgence. The perfect meal for people who suddenly don't have a lot of money but still crave somewhat exotic food, they're like the 21st century hot dog.Parthenis.... "So the first gyros
ever shipped out of Chicago we put on a Greyhound bus, headed to
Atlanta. Frozen in a double corrugated box, with the luggage."
There's even a video of the process. It's not all lamb's meat; there's beef in the gyros too. As for how gyros get their consistency:
The meat is run through a four-ton grinder, where bread crumbs, water,The biggest controversy isn't about what happens in a gyrooregano and other seasonings are added. A clumpy paste emerges and is
squeezed into a machine that checks for metal and bone. ("You can never
be too careful," Mr. Tomaras said.) Hydraulic pressure -- 60 pounds per
square inch -- is used to fuse the meat into cylinders, which are
stacked on trays and then rolled into a flash freezer, where the
temperature is 20 degrees below zero.
factory, but about how the word is pronounced.
According to the New York Times it's YEE-ro. But I've always heard it pronounced GEAR-ro. Other pronunciations include YUR-o and GUY-ro. As one commenter noted, the Times doesn't even follow its own advice, pronouncing it JI-ro in the video.
However you say it, Kansas City could always use more good gyro places.
(Image via Flickr: Moriza)
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