The sourdough pita is baked to-order in a wood-fire stove and the meat is prepared over 3 days with garlic, paprika and chilli, prior to it’s prepared on a straight rotisserie.
Anyone that has actually checked out Greece will likely have a warm food memory of consuming gyros: those cosy pita cones loaded with paprika-dusted hen or pork, juicy tomato and intense onion in an appetizing, lemon yoghurt sauce.
Yet, numerous Aussies have a tough time locating those exact same flavours when they return home. “You hear a lot of people say that the food here doesn’t taste the same way it does in Greece,” states Timothy Cassimatis, proprietor and cook of Marrickville grill home Olympic Meats.
“A lot of Greek restaurants will use pre-made pitas or packet filo, they will buy a lot of stuff in. When I think about how my grandparents or my family would cook, they would be making their own cheeses, their own yoghurt, they would even slaughter the pig.”
Cassimatis accepts these time-honoured practices at Olympic Meats concentrating on modest, village-style food comparable to what you would certainly discover in the Peloponnese, where his household originates from.
Preparing the meat for the gyros is a three-day procedure. The hen is brined for someday, after that seasoned in a mix of garlic, paprika and bukovo– a dried out north Macedonian chilli– in the past striking the spit where it’s prepared over the coals. “Not a lot of people cook on a horizontal rotisserie. They use an electric or gas burner, but you just can’t beat the aroma and flavour that comes from cooking on charcoal,” Cassimatis states.
Then there’s the sourdough pita, which takes 2 days to make. Timothy utilizes a mix of neighborhood flours, consisting of semolina, to provide the bread that exact same wonderful, light yellow colour you see inGreece Each round of dough is presented to purchase and prepared in a wood-fire stove till light and puffy.
As for that abundant, thick yoghurt that trickles over the gyros and improves the dips, it’s likewise made in home from a probiotic-rich lamb’s milk example that Cassimatis brought over from Greece inJanuary
One point you might observe concerning the gyros at Olympic Meats is that there are no contribute them. “We don’t do it. It’s very controversial, but I stand by the decision. We’ve put so much effort into the meat and the bread, we didn’t want to take away from that.”
You can still purchase chips on the side. The potatoes are prepared in beef tallow for a distinctively delicious flavour.
The food selection focuses on the pork, hen and politiko (spiced dice) pitogyros, yet likewise consists of a choice of fresh, light meze meals to appreciate on the side. There’s fava bean dip covered with timber discharged mushrooms, a Greek salata with Kytherian paximadia– wheat rusks that imitate crispy, oil-soaked croutons– and the hand-rolled spanakopita, called after Cassimatis’ yiayia,Olympia “She brought the recipe with her when she came to Australia in 1961.”
The dining establishment is partially called after his grandma, Olympia, and partially after the epic Greek top. “It’s been a very long and difficult journey to get here; it’s felt like climbing a mountain at times.”
Cassimatis functioned his method as much as the setting of head cook at Barzaari in Marrickville, prior to COVID-19 hit and the dining establishment shut. For the previous 4 years, he’s been running his wedding catering company, Tim Fresh, from the rear of his moms and dads’ home so he might conserve up and ultimately open his location.
Olympic Meats is Cassimatis’ method of lugging the household lantern, returning to the dynamic Greek neighborhood he matured in, and training individuals concerning genuine Greek food.
“You’ve got the Corinthian (Rotisserie Restaurant), the Lamia Super Deli. But they won’t be around forever. I’m doing my best to help capture the essence of this area and tell my story, and my grandparents’ story too.”
Olympic Meats, 12 Dudley St,Marrickville Open Wednesday toSunday More details at www.olympicmeats.shop
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Erina Starkey– Erina is the Good Food App Editor for The Sydney Morning Herald andThe Age Previously, Erina held a variety of modifying duties at delicious.com.au and composing duties at Broadsheet and Concrete Playground.
