How to cook the perfect souvlaki | Felicity Cloake
Fillet or shoulder? Lemon juice or vinegar for the marinade? Heres the definitive way to make souvlaki be sure to finish with a sprinkling of paprika
Souvlakis name derives from the medieval Greek for skewer, but grilling meat on sticks was a practice taken from the Muslim cooks of the near east. As the Oxford Companion to Food notes, these days theyre often made of un-Islamic pork. Often, but not always, you will find chicken and lamb versions (indeed, in Australia, where post-pub souvas are an institution, lamb is apparently the default).
But the consensus on Twitter seems to be that pork is the classic iteration in souvlakis homeland, albeit consumed in very different ways depending on where you are wrapped in bread or on a plate; on its own or with chips, salad, onions, pickles, herbs, and a whole array of sauces; or simply eaten straight from a pointy piece of wood by the side of the road. But whats the best way to make it at home?
The meat
The two most common cuts used in the souvlaki recipes I try are tenderloin (generally called fillet in this country), or neck and shoulder. The latter, Belinda Harley notes in her book Roast Lamb in the Olive Groves, should have a little fat left on so that it doesnt dry out. As a devotee of the fat-means-flavour school of thought, I expect that the well-marbled shoulder I try will be far superior to the lean fillet, and that the pork belly used by Tonia Buxton in the Real Greek Cookbook will be better still. But we decide that, cooked quickly on a high heat, the tenderness of the fillet wins us over. That said, theres little to beat the taste of good-quality chargrilled pork fat, so Ive decided to use a combination of shoulder and fillet; belly is a little too rich, even for us.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/food/2019/sep/04/how-to-cook-the-perfect-souvlaki-greek-kebab