Souvla

Ingredients

• Pork shoulder — in 200 g pieces2.5 kg
• Lemons3
• Dried oregano2 tbsp
• Cypriot pita6
• Red onion2
• Tomatoes3
• Parsley40 g
• Salt and pepperto taste

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Cut the meat into large pieces of about two hundred grams, keeping the fat; it is needed.

   15 min

2. 2

   Salt and pepper them generously all over and leave them half an hour at room temperature.

   32 min

3. 3

   Light the coals and rake them to the sides, leaving the centre clear. Direct heat under the meat is not wanted.

   30 min

4. 4

   Thread the pieces onto the spit, leaving a centimetre between them.

   10 min

5. 5

   Turn the spit slowly and continuously for two hours. The meat should darken gradually rather than crust at once.

   125 min

6. 6

   Dust with oregano ten minutes before the end and squeeze lemon over.

   6 min

7. 7

   Take it off, cut it coarsely and serve in pita with onion, tomato and parsley.

   10 min

About the dish

Souvla differs from souvlaki in size and time: two-hundred-gram pieces and two hours over a low fire instead of ten minutes over a fierce one.

The spit turns constantly and slowly. The meat cooks in its own fat, which runs round and back onto the surface — something neither a grate nor an oven gives.

There is almost no marinade: salt, pepper and sometimes dried oregano. The Cypriot logic matches the Greek — over slow heat, meat becomes good on its own.

Worth knowing

• — Direct heat under the meat is the main mistake. The outside blackens while the inside stays raw.
• — The pieces must not touch. Heat has to travel between them, or the sides never cook.
• — The oregano goes on at the end. Added at the start it burns off in the first twenty minutes and leaves only bitterness.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

720 kcal

Protein

52 g

Fat

42 g

Carbs

28 g

More from Cyprus

• Grilled halloumi with watermelon — Cypriot cheese seared to a crust, with cold watermelon and mint. The island's summer plate.