Can I crash your tailgate?

EagleD · November 1, 2012

Bringing wife and kids to Denton for our only trip this season. It's Homecoming, so I assume there will lots of activites for the kids (ages 5 & 3). But I'd like to crash a tailgate or two and meet some like minded folks. Maybe trade a beer for some brisket, talk some sports (I favor the run to set up the pass), politics (I'm strictly Torie party, so no Whigs please), etc.

Any invites or suggestions to make this trip to "Dada's school" a memorable one? Thx.

EagleD

TheTastyGreek · November 1, 2012

Bringing wife and kids to Denton for our only trip this season. It's Homecoming, so I assume there will lots of activites for the kids (ages 5 & 3). But I'd like to crash a tailgate or two and meet some like minded folks. Maybe trade a beer for some brisket, talk some sports (I favor the run to set up the pass), politics (I'm strictly Torie party, so no Whigs please), etc.

Any invites or suggestions to make this trip to "Dada's school" a memorable one? Thx.

EagleD

Yes.

No brisket... We're hopefully doing gyros, though. And you will have to listen to blistering Know-Nothing political screeds. Other out-of-towners coming from Wisconsin, so you wouldn't be the only irregulars under the tent.

oldguystudent · November 1, 2012

Yes.

No brisket... We're hopefully doing gyros, though. And you will have to listen to blistering Know-Nothing political screeds. Other out-of-towners coming from Wisconsin, so you wouldn't be the only irregulars under the tent.

Did you finally get the gyro spinning thing?

I bought some fancy schmancy beer for your brother/whoever because I drank half of theirs last home game. Blonde Bimbo beer or something like that.

EagleD · November 1, 2012

Cool. I'll get back to you on details.

TheTastyGreek · November 1, 2012

Did you finally get the gyro spinning thing?

I bought some fancy schmancy beer for your brother/whoever because I drank half of theirs last home game. Blonde Bimbo beer or something like that.

I wasn't able to get a gyro broiler... The power even a small one of those things uses apparently overcomes a standard wall outlet. My father-in-law designs and oversees power plants, and he STRONGLY advised against it. To use one in my kitchen apparently would have required a special line run down from the attic. Safely hooking one up to a generator and cooking in the parking lot would have been quite a challenge.

HOWEVER... We have successfully cooked gyros without the broiler. Buy incompletely cooked gyro meat from the rotating vertical spit at a local market. They cook it just long enough to seal it in the way you can only get from the vertical spit. Then, pan/tray cook it like fajita meat on the grill to cook thoroughly. Tastes right, and it can be done in the parking lot.

Green Lantern · November 1, 2012

HOWEVER... We have successfully cooked gyros without the broiler. Buy incompletely cooked gyro meat from the rotating vertical spit at a local market. They cook it just long enough to seal it in the way you can only get from the vertical spit. Then, pan/tray cook it like fajita meat on the grill to cook thoroughly. Tastes right, and it can be done in the parking lot.

Who said the Greeks on UNT's campus don't do anything to add to the gameday atmosphere.

oldguystudent · November 1, 2012

I wasn't able to get a gyro broiler... The power even a small one of those things uses apparently overcomes a standard wall outlet. My father-in-law designs and oversees power plants, and he STRONGLY advised against it. To use one in my kitchen apparently would have required a special line run down from the attic. Safely hooking one up to a generator and cooking in the parking lot would have been quite a challenge.

HOWEVER... We have successfully cooked gyros without the broiler. Buy incompletely cooked gyro meat from the rotating vertical spit at a local market. They cook it just long enough to seal it in the way you can only get from the vertical spit. Then, pan/tray cook it like fajita meat on the grill to cook thoroughly. Tastes right, and it can be done in the parking lot.

I was thinking that you could rig something with the heat source fueled by propane, a la the very similar (and outdoor) setups for pastor tacos in Tijuana (don't laugh. Those things are amazing). But then I realized you could build this pretty easily with a simple rotisserie.

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TheTastyGreek · November 1, 2012

I was thinking that you could rig something with the heat source fueled by propane, a la the very similar (and outdoor) setups for pastor tacos in Tijuana (don't laugh. Those things are amazing). But then I realized you could build this pretty easily with a simple rotisserie.

The problem with a horizontal spit is that much of what makes gyros taste like gyros is the fat melting out and rolling down the length of the cone. You'd get cooked meat, but it wouldn't taste like the real thing. You can blend gyro meat and cook it in the oven, but it doesn't taste right, either.

Now, something like that would be ideal if we ever go big and cook a lamb on a spit. When I was a kid, we spent a year or two in Ohio, and one family did that in their back yard for Easter. Doing it right is basically an overnight cook, though... And it needs a lot of active attention. Something for a very special occasion.

oldguystudent · November 1, 2012

I understand the horizontal problem. Now you've got me pondering.

TheTastyGreek · November 1, 2012

I understand the horizontal problem. Now you've got me pondering.

There's a website by a guy who built his own broiler that was powered on a standard outlet. I think the power it took to spin it without breaking the motor required a compromise... I think it was at a 45-60 degree angle on the spit. Otherwise, it would burn out, or spin too slow (makes the outside of the cone char and spoils the cooking).

oldguystudent · November 1, 2012

There's a website by a guy who built his own broiler that was powered on a standard outlet. I think the power it took to spin it without breaking the motor required a compromise... I think it was at a 45-60 degree angle on the spit. Otherwise, it would burn out, or spin too slow (makes the outside of the cone char and spoils the cooking).

I just saw that very page. He used the exact rotissierie motor I used to have at my house, and I can testify that it's a little weak on its torque. I don't know if the electric burner he used is as hot as you'd want the thing to be though. In the end, I don't think that getting a vertical, rotating spit is the issue. It's getting a safe, efficient, heat source that's up to the task of browning/rendering the meat to the degree that it would satisfy a persnickety Greek like yourself.