Pork spit roast today
Besides it being spiced, I'll also show you a way
for a thick kontosouvli, a spit roast that has thick pieces
slow grilled, long-hour grilling
to soften inside and be crunchy outside.
Let's see all these, starting with the spices.
Hello dear friends! I'm George (Yorgos) Mallioras
Along with my brother Andreas we construct grills and ovens.
Our passion for grilling and also cooking is great
and we share it with you
on our YouTube channel "Grill philosophy"
and also our Facebook page "Greek bbq club".
Every Thursdays we're here to give you an idea
for grilling or cooking to gather your friends.
Because getting together with our company is what this is all about.
Happy grilling to everyone!
The spices
For 6 kg of meat we'll use
3 g of black peppercorns and
3 g of green peppercorns
6 g white peppercorns
9 g coriander seeds
and 6 hipped teaspoons thyme
We'll bash all these in the mortar
to release their full aroma.
After bashing the spices
and, when we do have a larger amount of spices
it's best to bash them alone before adding the salt.
Now it's the time to also add the salt.
We'll add 75 g fleur de sel.
We'll mix it and bash it along with the spices
so the aroma of the spices can blend with the salt
so we can have a scented salt.
If you cannot find fleur de sel or rock salt that I use
you can use thick salt.
It's better than table salt.
We're ready!
The meat
It's meat time.
The meat is of free-range pork, it's small
and I'm using meat of the sirloin
till the entire tenderloin
till the point, that is, that the ribs begin.
Deboned.
I believe it's the best piece for kontosouvli (spit roast)
and I'll also enrich it with 1 more kg of pork belly
of the same animal
mostly to also add fat.
I've also separated the tenderloin
which I'll keep separately to grill on the small rods
for appetizer.
I won't be marinating it.
As we've said, we'll be making a thick kontosouvli, so
we'll cut in large pieces.
We first cut in stripes alongside.
And then in large pieces.
Of this size approximately.
We'll also cut the pork belly
this also in large pieces.
We'll skewer the pork belly in between
the pieces where the fat is not enough.
Let's go now
to marinate it.
The marinade
Our first task
is to soak the meat in orange juice.
300 ml for 6 kg of meat approximately.
We pour and mix the meat to spread it everywhere.
We'll leave it this way for about 20 minutes.
So the meat can absorb as much juice as possible.
And, every now and then, we mix again
until the juice is absorbed as much as possible.
After the 20 minutes have passed and the orange juice is almost fully absorbed by the meat
it's time to add the spices.
We're adding
and mixing.
We also turn them upside down, to spread it on the opposite side, too.
It's important that the salt and spices are evenly distributed to the entire meat.
That's why we don't just throw them at once on one spot
but we're adding and mixing.
And now it's time to add
one of the main marinade ingredients
which is the leek that we have already pulped.
600 g pulped leek for 6 kg of meat.
Here as well we're adding and mixing.
The leek smells great. With all its juice.
And we couldn't do here without sunflower oil.
250 ml sunflower oil for 6 kg of meat.
I'm not using olive oil, I've mentioned it many times,
because here I want an oil that doesn't have flavor
with a neutral taste and scent.
The only thing I want is its oiliness
and his ability to soften the meat, as is with all oils.
One last mixing
and massage
so the aromas, the spices and the juices of the marinade
pass easier to the meat.
We'll cover with a plastic wrap
and we'll marinate in the fridge for 18 to 24 hours.
24 hours is better
more than 24 hours is even better.
In the fridge of course.
During the marinating period,
we'll bring out the cooking tray from the fridge
and during this 24 hour period, it's best to mix it 4-5 times.
Tomorrow I'm expecting company.
Andreas will also be here with his appetizers and his own company
and it will be a family gathering.
The following day
Skewering and grilling
Well, I just arrived to start the grilling.
Also, I couldn't leave such a roast for George alone to enjoy it...
Besides, a good company is what counts.
Exactly that. So let's light the charcoals
and we light it the same way we've been showing in almost all of our videos
with the kindling placed on top, alcohol soaked cotton.
This way the charcoals light easily, quickly and without smoke.
Many times you have asked me about charcoals, which ones are best
which ones I use
and my answer is always the same
that I'm still trying them.
Today I'll show you one of my trials
I won't share with you the results yet
because I want to do all the testings first
Here where I now lit the kidling
it's charcoals that I usually use, Marabu charcoals
because it has scent
and here on the side, I lit a pile of briquets
which briquet is new, is not yet available on the market
and it's quite promising.
It will undertake many testings before I say anything on this product.
We'll be grilling here small kontosouvli, one on each pile.
The things I'm looking for is the strength of fire
but also the scent.
I want the charcoals to give some kind of scent to the roast.
The first testing that we do on charcoals is to see if they light well.
And, as it seems, this particular briquet lights well.
As we can see, the briquet is almost fully lit.
And we will soon be ready to grill above it.
So, here as I can see the pile has lit
we break them a bit to spread them.
The fire is very strong
our hand can withstand it for 3 seconds the most
so here we need to add adequate charcoal ash.
And we start with the grilling to see how it goes.
One of our kontosouvli
of the marinated ones
and the tenderloin which we had cut in pieces.
Two more of these will be grilled on the other pile.
Now we're ready to skewer.
It's best to remove it from the fridge 1-2 hours beforehand
so the pieces can come in room temperature because they are large.
And then, before the skewering,
arrange them in the same way that they will be on the spit.
We always grill on two spits,
we're dividing the amount of meat in two spits instead of one
to make better use of the fire in the middle.
The charcoals are almost ready for the two spits.
Meanwhile, Andreas does his thing with the appetizers
Florina pepper
Tsakonian aubergine, skewered zucchini
and the two kontosouvli in rotation.
For our appetizers
to enjoy some tsipouro.
The charcoals are ready
but it's very strong. We've talked about a slow grilling
in low heat.
So, add plenty of charcoal ash.
We grill with the spits in the outer holders, indirect grilling
far from the charcoals
with the heat also being low.
We have our appetizers, we don't need to rush.
So, slow grilling
for a unique kontosouvli, soft inside
crunchy outside.
We also placed these here
to the other charcoal that I usually use
I'm moving the pepper closer.
We have them for almost 15 minutes on the charcoals
and they still haven't changed color, it will go slow
we have our appetizers.
And also rich salads.
We're now grilling farther from the charcoals
After a while, we will move them to the inner holders and closer to the pile.
Lemon juice is a must and oregano.
Quality salt and quality oregano.
Let's try them guys.
- Take one!
Our foreign friends will also try
Good
With pork, lemon goes really well.
Here that we also have leek, it goes even more.
Let's also try this.
Excellent.
It's similar to fried pork with leek.
The appetizers still go on.
Second round.
Andreas in the making.
We are also a large group today
we have to provide for appetizers.
Because if we wait for the kontosouvli...
we still need 2.5 hours at least.
- Brother, how to survive in zucchini alone...
- To make our appetite!
- Well, cheers!
Andreas also put bread on the grill
a classic case, he really likes skewered bread
- Andreas, the tenderloin seems ready
- It has a difference.
This one is excactly like the one I make at home
- Yes, since you use the same charcoals, yes.
- I can also tell a small difference.
Here we didn't put anything else, neither extra salt or oregano,
nor lemon juice.
- This one I could tell that is exactly like my own. It's very easy to tell.
- The other one had a clear difference, I cannot describe it though...
Let's try the other one.
- Come on, Dimitris!
- Come on, take a bite.
We also removed the other one, the marinated.
We'll pour some lemon juice because it goes really well here.
Leek, pork, and lemon make a perfect combination!
Let's try it.
Very nice as well.
- You can also tell the difference in this one.
- Yes.
- Yes.
- The only thing is that I cannot describe the difference in the taste that the other one had.
It was slightly better, it had something to it.
We'll review it again.
We've lowered the roast one spot and also placed it in the inner holders.
Now we're grilling closer to the charcoals
The heat that our roast receives is now stronger
but there has been 1 hour since we placed it on the grill.
We are now at 2 hours into grilling.
As we've said, we're going slow
it will need 1.5 hours more at least
of course, we will also check the temperature internally to see
what's going on.
We haven't spread the charcoals yet
but the heat is still strong and steady.
The charcoals give a constant and steady heat.
Of course, when we're done with the small spits
we detach the horizontal worm driver
and place it on hold in the outer spot to stop rotating.
Now we have lowered it in the lowest spot.
We've come closer to the charcoals.
Now, our charcoals take more heat
but we still won't spread the charcoals to make the heat higher
we'll only do this towards the end
to give color on the outside.
At this moment, our roast has an internal temperature of
around 70°C (158°F)
At this temperature, the collagen has started to break.
The longer it stays at this temperature the better.
For the end, we're leaving the "caramelizing" process, to give color.
The charcoals are in the middle
the two spits receive evenly the charcoals' heat
and stay close to each other.
This way, it's easier for us
to grill the kontosouvli in two spits instead of one
and make the most of the charcoals.
3 hours precisely.
It has started to gain color. The temperature is near 80°C (176°F)
and now in a bit, we'll spread the charcoals.
We're spreading the charcoals so the charcoals can give their full strength.
Now, they release a very strong heat.
We'll be grilling this way for at least 30 more minutes
until our roast gains color on the outside.
It has started to gain a nice color.
To "caramelize".
And slowly,
its color will get even better
and its taste, as I can imagine, will be great.
It has started to foam.
We will remove it before it stops foaming
and after it has gained the color we want.
We're grilling in a very strong fire.
The charcoals release a very strong heat.
We're very close to the fire.
And we're at the final grilling stage.
Total grilling time: around 3.5 hours
We'll remove it in 3 minutes.
We have covered them both with aluminum foil
and we'll be leaving them for 7-8 minutes
to hold their juices internally,
So, it's ready.
Some lemon would go really well
because it really goes well with leek and with pork
I would also add some salt and oregano
because the salt I had added wasn't enough (those 12 g) to also add in the end
And, of course, for extra spicy taste
some freshly ground pepper of the pepper mixture
we used in the beginning of the marinade.
Let's try it guys.
- Try it, guys. Let's see.
- What do you think, Dimitris?
- It's good.
- Very nice taste.
Very soft
and juicy
- It was removed on time.
Happy grilling to everyone!
Happy grilling from me, as well!
