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Gyro Loaf

Alton Brown
Print Recipe
Course Main Course
Cuisine Greek

Ingredients
  

  • 1 medium onion, finely chopped or shreddeed
  • 2 lbs ground lamb ( see below )
  • 1 tbsp finely minced garlic
  • 1 tbsp dried marjoram ( or oregano )
  • 1 tbsp dried ground rosemary
  • 2 tsp kosher salt
  • 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
  • Process the onion in a food processor for 10 to 15 seconds and turn out into the center of a tea towel. Gather up the ends of the towel and squeeze until almost all of the juice is removed. Discard juice.
  • Return the onion to the food processor and add the lamb, garlic, marjoram, rosemary, salt, and pepper and process until it is a fine paste, approximately 1 minute. Stop the processor as needed to scrape down sides of bowl.
  • Place the mixture into a loaf pan, making sure to press into the sides of the pan.
  • Place the loaf pan into a water bath and bake for 60 to 75 minutes or until the mixture reaches 165 to 170 degrees F.
  • Remove from the oven and drain off any fat. Place the loaf pan on a cooling rack and place a brick wrapped in aluminum foil directly on the surface of the meat and allow to sit for 15 to 20 minutes, until the internal temperature reaches 175 degrees F.
  • Slice and serve on pita bread with tzatziki sauce, chopped onion, tomatoes and feta cheese.

Notes

I tried beef-pork mix, which worked just fine, but needed a ton more seasoning. I assume you can use pretty much any ground meat. You'll need to add more fat (olive oil, bacon grease, duck fat, etc.) if you're using lean meat, especially bison. 
Instead of the brick, you can use something else that's heavy and will press down while the loaf is cooling (nesting loaf pans are a great option for this, and I weighed mine down with a cast iron pan on top).