- [Andrew] This episode of "Basics"
is presented by The Singleton.
The Singleton is an award-winning single malt
that tastes great from the first sip.
It's great neat, over ice, or mixed into a cocktail.
Perfect for someone who's new to scotch.
Today, I'll be mixing it up in a refreshing tasting cocktail
to enjoy while you hang by the grill with friends.
Let's get down to basics.
(upbeat music)
All right, so today we're making souvlaki.
First thing we gotta do is negotiate our meat,
the most common candidates for which are pork and chicken.
So I got myself a pair of pork tenderloins here
that I'm going to disassemble down into one-inch pieces,
and likewise, with a few pounds of chicken breasts.
These are the most traditional meats used,
but you could probably use whatever you want
as long as it doesn't taste bad.
Once we got everybody broken down into one-inch cubes,
it's time to marinate.
Per two pounds of beef,
we're gonna combine three ounces of olive oil,
one tablespoon dried Greek oregano,
two ounces of lemon juice,
one tablespoon of honey, a teaspoon of kosher salt,
and half teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper,
plus two crushed and minced garlic cloves.
The pastier the better.
So you can see that I'm pressing and smearing my garlic,
so there won't be any big chunks stuck
to the outside of the meat so it won't burn.
Throw your meat in a food safe container,
pour the marinade over top, and give it a massage,
ensuring even coating
and deep penetration of flavors and tenderness.
Then we're covering these guys up
and fridging them for at least one hour up to twelve.
In the meantime,
we can optionally make the other stuff
that goes on souvlaki.
First up, and perhaps easiest, tzatziki sauce.
We're starting by grating and lightly salting two cucumbers
in the large holes of the box grater and squeezing them out,
not only creating delicious cucumber juice,
but some slightly more dry cucumbers,
which we're gonna combine with one cup
of full fat Greek yogurt, a tablespoon of red wine vinegar,
one clove of garlic, crushed,
a quarter cup of fresh dill, packed and chopped,
about a half teaspoon each of kosher salt,
freshly ground black pepper,
and two tablespoons of high quality Greek olive oil.
Go ahead and mix this up,
perhaps in a slightly larger bowl
until it's the creamy homogenous sauce
that Greek dreams are made of.
Now, if you really want to go crazy,
you can make your own pita.
Now, I've got a batch of pizza dough here
that I've had cold fermenting in the fridge for three days.
If you don't wanna make your own,
you can grab a ball of pizza dough from your favorite grocer
because pizza dough makes an excellent pita dough.
I'm starting by dividing it into 160-gram pieces
that I'm going to roll into tight, taut little balls
and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet for proofing,
either under oiled plastic wrap or in a proofing drawer
for one to two hours or until they've grown by about 50%.
In the meanwhile, I've got a carbon steel skillet
that I'm cutting a piece of parchment paper into a round,
just slightly larger than it's bottom.
And we're gonna place this strange contraption
over on the stove top while we prep our dough.
We're generously coating each piece
on each side with semolina flour.
Then we're gonna start by poking it repeatedly
out to size as much as possible
before beginning stretching.
Then slowly but surely, we can start stretching
and pressing it out into about an eight-inch round.
Go ahead and keep that and the other dough
under a damp towel while we get ready to fry.
We're placing the paper pan over medium high heat
with a squirt of water both underneath
and overtop the parchment paper
along with a little squirt of neutral-flavored oil.
Go ahead and cover that.
Let it preheat for one to two minutes
until everybody's bubbly and steamy and smokey
and ready to receive our round,
which we're gonna carefully lay down flatly
in the middle of the pan,
making sure there are no creases or overlaps.
Cover and cook for anywhere from three to five minutes
until the edges become pale and flat
and are starting to brown, kinda like a pancake.
Give it a flip once it's charred.
Add a little squirt of water if necessary.
Cover, reduce the heat to medium,
and finish cooking for another three to five minutes
on the second side.
This should yield a warm, puffy, delicious, charred pita,
which we're gonna keep warm and help them retain moisture
by covering with a clean dish towel
and keeping them in a stack.
Rinse and repeat with the remaining pita.
And look at that.
A steaming stack of homemade, fluffy, crispy pita.
These obviously take a little bit of effort,
but they're world's better
than anything you're gonna get in the store.
Now, if you really want to go insane,
you can make your own Greek-style french fries.
You might notice that I'm filling this pan with olive oil
because we are gonna deep fry our fries in olive oil.
You wanna make sure to use light
or non-extra virgin olive oil
because we're heating this stuff
to about 375 degrees Fahrenheit,
past the smoke point for extra virgin olive oil.
We're also gonna use some frozen store-bought fries,
which are parfried before they're frozen.
So it's basically recreating the step
that we would take to make fries at home.
Now, you'll notice that this first batch is way too crowded.
This cools off the oil too much,
preventing the fries from properly browning,
even during a protracted cooking time.
As you can see,
a batch with only half the fries I had frying
in the last batch,
turned out browner, goldener, and crispier
than their overcrowded brethren.
So don't save the time if you can't live with the crime.
You're right. That doesn't really make sense.
Next step, we're soaking our wooden skewers
for about 30 minutes in water.
This is a debatably necessary step
because the sticks still tend to burn.
And science shows us
that the water doesn't penetrate the wood very deeply
in that amount of time.
So I don't know.
Maybe don't do this before beginning
to skewer on your meats of choice.
We wanna leave about a two-inch handle at the bottom
and virtually no room at the top of the stick,
so that they are at maximum meat capacity
while still having a handy handle to manipulate the kebobs
on the preheated grill, which is where we're headed,
just as soon as we're done making our souvlaki spices.
Combining one teaspoon each kosher salt,
freshly ground black pepper, and garlic powder,
two teaspoons of dried thyme,
and two tablespoons of dried oregano.
This is the spice mix that you can finish your souvlaki with
and make a sort of post-grilling lemon brush
by combining half a cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice
and a few generous pinches of our souvlaki spice mix.
Now, I've had my gas grill preheating on maximum heat
for about 10 minutes.
I'm gonna give it a spirited brushing with a wire brush
and lay down my souvlaki kebabs
on where I know the hottest parts of my grill are.
Shut that down. Maybe drop the heat down to medium.
If you're on a gas grill, keep it covered
and grill about three to five minutes per side.
These times and instructions can vary wildly,
thanks to about a million factors, mainly your grill.
So the general idea is to get a nice char on all sides
and get the chicken up to about 155 degrees Fahrenheit
and pork up to 145.
Set those aside and keep them warm
because finally, we are brushing down our homemade pita
with Greek olive oil
and grilling it for about one or two minutes per side
until they've got a deeper char and they're heated through.
And with that, everything's cooked,
and we can start assembling our souvlaki.
First, we can give our meat
that optional lemon and herb brush down
that I was talking about.
Then we're gonna grab our pita,
throw it down on a square of light-gauge aluminum foil,
give it a generous all-over spread of tzatziki.
Then if you're real souvlaki pro,
you can use the bread to take the meat off the skewer.
I, obviously, found it challenging.
So, you know, you could also just take the meat off
with a fork and throw it in the sandwich.
Flank your meat of choice with some thinly sliced tomatoes,
top it with some sliced red onion,
couple of whole parsley leaves
if you wanna be fancy about it,
a handful of french fries,
a gluggle of high-quality Greek olive oil,
a pinch of our spice mixture,
and there you have it,
entirely and optionally homemade from scratch souvlaki.
To wrap it up, we're meeting two corners of the square
in the center and folding up the bottom of the foil,
creating a sort of meaty, snacky Greek cornucopia.
This is a positively essential sandwich experience
and the more you make it yourself,
the more it really comes through
in the flavors and textures.
And now all it needs is a light,
refreshing tasting cocktail to enjoy by the grill.
Starting by spraying
down a tall Tom Collins glass with absinthe,
adding one-and-one-half ounces of The Singleton 12-year-old,
the juice of one to two limes,
depending on how lucky you are in life with limes,
and then topping the rest of the way with ginger beer.
Give it a little stir,
garnish with a lime wheel and fresh mint,
and there you have it.
The Speyside Mule. Happy grilling season.
Thanks again to The Singleton single malt scotch whiskey
for partnering with me on this episode
and more episodes to come this year.
If you're intimidated by scotch, don't be.
The Singleton 12-year-old is easy to enjoy
because it's light, slightly sweet,
versatile, and approachable.
This means you can come up with a fun signature cocktail
to pair with whatever you're grilling this summer.
To get a bottle for yourself,
head to the link in the video description.
(gentle jazz music)