Greek traditional souvlaki today!
The souvlaki we used to eat as kids
and which is still loved by kids and grown ups.
It's very easy to prepare and grill
and is also great for novice grillers.
Let's see it.
Hello dear friends! I'm Yorgos (George) Mallioras
and along with my brother Andreas
we construct grills and ovens.
Through our channel Grill philosophy
we share with you our passion for grilling.
This passion is what drives us each time
to give you a new excuse to get together with your company.
Because this is the grill philosophy.
Happy grilling to everyone!
The preparation
The piece of meat that I have chosen for the souvlaki
it's from top sirloin to loin
and here we can see there is also the tenderloin
which I'll cut out
(Greek traditional souvlaki is always made of pork meat.)
and I'll grill it a different way which I'll show you later on.
So..this piece of meat is suitable
we could also make souvlaki of the pork neck.
Attention must be paid to the cutting of the meat.
It needs to be cut in small pieces
because the traditional Greek souvlaki is made of small pieces of meat
skewered in small wooden skewers.
With a good knife we first slice the meat in stripes.
As you can see we slice thinly.
I'll know show you how to cut it from now on.
We slice again in stripes, long ones this time.
And then we cut in small cubes.
The pieces should be like this size
to be able to be skewered
this way.
It's best to have an even fat and lean meat distribution.
It's also best to start with a piece that has fat in the outter side.
We leave a space here like this
four fingers wide approximately
to able to hold the skewer and turn it.
And we continue on
with alternate skewering of lean meat and piece with fat.
We pay attention to skewer evenly
to have an even grilling.
And it's best to always end with a piece with fat on the outer side.
This is the Greek classic souvlaki.
We don't marinade the meat, the pieces are very small
we don't marinade it and any flavoring we wish to add goes in the end.
We will see all these later.
Each souvlaki is 100gr (3.5 oz)
and as for the tenderloin
we skewered it in a small rotating skewer
and we'll grill it with rotation.
Lighting of the charcoals and grilling
We're lighting the charcoals
and as I've said many times now
the charcoals light upside down from top to bottom.
Easily, quickly and without smoke.
The fire has spread
and as you can see the bottom charcoals were lit first
and last will light the top charcoals.
We're spreading them
inside the firecabin
the ones that aren't fully lit are placed on the side.
We have put more charcoals because I won't be grilling only souvlakia
since we are many people here today.
At this point I should say that the Greek traditional souvlaki
needs a strong fire.
We begin with the tenderloin in rotation.
And we will place two aubergines as well
to make a salad.
We are placing the skewers on the grilling grate side by side.
With no space among them.
And since we have a small space left on the back
we will also grill some Florina peppers
to make a salad.
Be careful with the turnings.
We make the first turning early
to the opposite side (180°)
We have to grill on each one of the four sides
to grill them properly.
When a griller grills skewers (souvlakia)
all his attention needs to be here
because they need constant turnings.
Now we're going to turn them on the side (90°), not on the opposide side
because they need to be roasted on every one side.
Be careful with the grilling, because they need to end up juicy.
We're placing them side by side to stay put on the right side.
And we're adding some more.
The tenderloin is slowly being grilled.
I also have a helping hand today.
Because the guests have to participate as well...
-Isn't it so, Sifis?
-Yes, of course, I totally agree!
Today with us is Sifis, our knifemaker.
-Hello!
We've already said that grilling needs participation.
This is the grill philosophy.
Here today the very grown-ups as well.
91 years old, our uncle Thanasis.
We're turning them until each one takes color.
Be careful though not to dry them.
They may not be all ready for turning at the same time.
This is up to the griller to judge.
If it hasn't take color it isn't ready for turning.
This one needs turning.
This one too.
This grilling is simple and easy
Every novice griller can start with souvlaki.
The griller needs to be allerted.
-Allerted, yes, yes...
Otherwise he'll lose the souvlaki...
-What do you think uncle Thanasi?
-This one over there, what is it?
-This one is tenderloin.
-And it rotates here on its own.
We will slice it to try it out.
This is the color that souvlaki has to have.
This is ready.
We're removing it.
More will be ready very soon.
The criteria here is color.
Judging by the color we'll know when it's time to remove it.
This is also ready.
Those two are ready too.
You can see their color.
-Yes, yes..
In two tablespoons of seasalt I prefer fleur de sel
we will add a tablespoon of oregano.
I'll mix them well to grind the salt a bit because it's granuled
and for the oregano to release its aroma
blend with the salt
and give a wonderful taste to the souvlakia.
The souvlaki need lemon, necessarily
plenty of lemon.
And salt with oregano.
And the slices of bread underneath to soak with the taste of the souvlakia.
And I will show you how we used to eat it when we were small
and how we still enjoy eating now.
This is the way to eat the Greek souvlaki.
Full taste!
No matter how many years you eat it, it's never enough.
Happy grilling to everyone.
The shared table is already ready
the company has gathered
Bon appetit!
-Bon appetit everyone!
-Bon appetit!
