Kontosouvli

Kontosouvli is a traditional Greek dish, which is made at home as well as taverns and restaurants. It is a dish with meat, usually pork but it can also be made with lamb and chicken, which as the name suggests it, is cooked on a souvla (skewer).

Like kokoretsi, kontosouvli is traditionally eaten during Easter but it can also be enjoyed all over the year, therefore it is prepared during all seasons. It is a tasty but fatty type of food as meat and fat are alternately placed on the skewer. The fat is useful, as it will keep the moisture in the meat while it cooks. Most of the fat will melt while the meat cooks, however the little that remains on the meat will give extra flavour.

The meat must be cut into in the same size , which are usually large pieces about 7-8 centimetres or 5 centimetres for a smaller skewers. You can marinate the meat for one day before cooking it. The marinate can include salt , black pepper , oregano , olive oil dry white wine and lemon. If you want to make it a bit spicy add some paprika. Tomatoes, green peppers, and onions can also be passed on the skewers with the meat in order to give extra flavour and make the meat juicier. Again the vegetables must be of a similar size to the meat.

The kontosouvli is ready to be placed on the fire. It is cooked on a slow fire, on coal, which has been lit for a while for about 2 hours. The cooking time is about one and a half hours. As the meat cooks, fat will drip therefore make sure that there aren’t any coal pieces that can create flames, and allow the ashes to soak up the fat.