INGREDIENTS
- Pork sirloin, loin, and belly
- For 1kg (2.2lb) of pork meat:
- 12g sea salt (preferably fleur de sel)
- 1g black pepper
- 1 tsp savory
- 1 tbsp mild mustard
PREPARATION
Make the spice mix with the salt. Cut the pork meat into large chunks and cover them with mustard evenly. Then, add the spice blend gradually and mix well to spread it evenly. Marinate the meat for 3-4 hours. After marinating, skewer the pieces onto the spits and make sure that you have distributed the pieces with a lot of fat evenly. Choose the grilling method you prefer out of the two mentioned and refer to the video above for the matching technique.
COOKED ON amber.q A
COOKING
Before skewering the meat, light the charcoals in your charcoal grill. Pile up the charcoals inside the fire cabin of your grill. The pile should be located in the middle of the cabin and cover the cabin’s surface under the pork. Since we’ll be using two spits, the charcoal pile will be between the two spits (grilling them side by side requires fewer charcoals). Place the kindling, alcohol-soaked cotton, on top and light them. The charcoals light upside down, from top to bottom, easily, quickly, and without smoke. It takes 25-30 minutes. When they are fully lit, place the spits with the skewered meat on your grill.
In the first case, we place the back rod right above the charcoals, as close as possible, and grill for 10-15 minutes until a crust forms externally (a step similar to searing). Then, move the spit higher and slowly roast until the internal temperature reaches 75⁰C (167⁰F). We’ll see what happens next later on.
In the second case, we place the other spit very close to the charcoals, as well except we won’t move it at all. We will apply a different method instead. The meat on this spit will get a nice external crust very soon, whereas it will be still undercooked internally. So, when it gets a nice color, we’ll move it higher above the charcoals and we’ll slice-off the outer layer - like shaving “gyro”- using a sharp knife. Cut only the parts of meat that are well-cooked (the outer layer essentially). Put the rod back at its lower position, close to the charcoals. Shave-off the main body of meat 2-3 more times. This process shortens cooking time and allows you to enjoy crispy and juicy pork “kontosouvli” with your company.
The pork on the first spit definitely needs more time, though. When the internal temperature is 75⁰C (167⁰F), move it closer to the charcoals (lowest position). Grill on high heat until it gets a nice color and its internal temperature is 85⁰C(185⁰F). Remove from the grill and cover with aluminum foil for 7-8 minutes. Slice it off and it’s ready to be served. Slow-roasting, in this case, takes 2-2.5 hours. If you use the second method, it takes 1.5 hours to get all the roasted meat out of the spit. You’ll be slicing it off gradually after just 30 minutes of grilling.
Good wine, good company and the result can be nothing less than perfect.
Happy grilling everyone!
