Hey! Does anybody know if gyro meat has gluten in it? Today for lunch I had falafel- that they say has no flour in it, hummus, and gyro meat. I feel totally glutened. I'm guessing it was the gyro meat b/c I've eaten the falafel and hummus before with no problem.

Anybody know? What's in that stuff??

Falafel often contains gluten.

Here's an example of a recipe. You can see it contains bulgar.
http://www.recipezaar.com/114320

I've seen lots of other versions of falafel that contain wheat in various forms (not neccesarily flour). The gyro meat could have also been marinated in or spiced with something that consisted of gluten.

Hope you feel better!

the local gryo place has gluten free meat (they let me physically read all the seasonings they use), but it's the local place and they may have a slightly different recipe. I would just ask next time if you can see what they use to cook it, most of the time they will let you see if you explain that it's for health purposes.

I do know that the cucumber sauce here has gluten in it

Why on Earth would they put gluten in cucumber sauce? All it should be is yogurt, cucumber, lemon juice or vinegar, and salt. Maybe some dills. Honestly, that's nuts!!!

Most greek restaurants get their gyro meat from the same company in the states, and you can tell which by the posters they have around with the pretty Greek lady eating a gyro, I can't remember which though. One is corfu, but there's another major one. Kronos maybe?

Make sure you pronounce gyro properly...it's pronounced yee-rrrroh (rolled r like in spanish)

I like pronouncing it AND eatin it!

Unfortunately, I can't get them to tell me what's in it. The owner doesn't speak much English. Hmmm....

Falafels are chickpeas with spices, deep fried... No meat. In addition, there is cross contamination (more than likely) in the fryers.

I'm not so worried about the falafel, it's the gyro meat I'm concerned about. I just can't seem to find out what's in it. I had falafel AND gyro meat- no pita, no cucumber sauce, no tahini.

I thought Falafel had gluten in it...

I always get sick when I eat gyro meat (prior to being dx'd - I don't eat gyro anymore!).

A standard gyro meat recipe (you can find them simply by doing a google search) would be gluten-free. Lamb or lamb and beef mixed with spices and herbs and then cooked. But nobody here can tell you if the specific one you ate had gluten because we don't know the brand. You'd need to go back to the restaurant itself and find out the brand. Ask to see the ingredients. Call the company. But it's impossible for us to guess whether or not it's gluten-free.

richard

I stopped eating gyro meat when I went gluten-free because I looked up some recipes, and they all included SOY SAUCE (which usually has wheat in it).

If it's authentic gyro meat, there is no way they would put soy sauce in it. I've never seen a greek recipe with soy sauce in it.

Wheat in greek is "stitos" bread is "psomi" meat is "kreas"

I forget how to ask questions in greek, since I haven't had the opportunity to speak it in a year, but if you say something along the lines of:

"e-nay stitos sto kreas?" - Is there what in meat?

"e-nay psomi sto kreas?" - Is there bread in meat?

It's really crude, and I'm pretty sure I didn't conjugate anywhere near correctly, but if you're at a greek place where the guy hardly speaks english, it'll get you by.

Here's a link for a restaurant card in greek http://www.celiactravel.com/gluten-free-cards/16-greek.html

And most recipes for falafel call for flour in the chickpea mixture. I'm willing to bet it was the falafel that glutened you.

Here is a good recipe for gyro meat: http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/cooking/re...6_30420,00.html. I've made this with ground chicken and it tasted really good, which surprised me.
It does not contain gluten--but the frozen gyro meat our supermarket sells DOES. I assume that many gyro meats do--it's basically a meatloaf, after all.

Also, the mix for falafel that I used to use (I think it was made by Fantastic Foods) contains wheat starch--I think most do. Here is a recipe for falafel--omit the bread crumbs and substitute instant potato flakes:

http://vegetarian.allrecipes.com/az/SnsFlflndCcmbrSc.asp.

The cucumber/yogurt sauce in Greek restaurants might have wheat starch in them to thicken the yogurt so it doesn't get runny, especially if it is commercially prepared.

In Ontario, there is a restaurant called Mr. Greek. They are all over the place. I looked at the packaging for the Gyros, and the 2nd ingredient was toasted wheat crumbs. So - if you are eating at a chain restaurant, chances are you are being glutened. I was quite upset, because that was my favorite dish there!

Hate to burst your bubble on this but most falafel do contain gluten. Here is a recipe for example...

300 g chickpeas
4 tablespoons bulgur
3 garlic cloves
3 tablespoons plain flour
1 egg
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
3 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground red chili pepper
1 tablespoon tahini

They use the bulgur to hold the stuff together when it is fried.

By the way, if you're ever making your own falafel, Joy of Cooking has a GREAT recipe. I just substitute the 2T flour with 2T chickpea flour. Delicious!

I'm going to go to the Gyro place tomorrow morning to see if I can get their recipe before they get swamped for lunch. My fingers are totally crossed!!