The small pork skewer of Athens, where 'kalamaki' (little reed) denotes the stick itself while northern Greeks call the same thing souvlaki; it is eaten off the stick with bread and lemon, distinct from pita gyros, whose stacked rotating spit is a 20th-century import of the doner technique. The kalamaki/gyros split preserves Greece's two separate kebab inheritances: the ancient skewer and the Ottoman vertical roast.
Also known as: kalamaki, καλαμάκι, souvlaki kalamaki, pita gyros vs kalamaki
Watch it made
Ingredients
- 700 g pork shoulder or leg, in 2 cm cubes
- 3 tbsp olive oil, plus more for the bread
- 1 tbsp dried Greek oregano (rigani)
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1.5 tsp salt
- 2 lemons
- pita or thick bread slices
How to make it
- 1
Toss the small cubes with the olive oil, oregano and pepper; 30 minutes is plenty — kalamaki is a fast dish, not a marinated one.
- 2
Slide five or six cubes onto thin bamboo sticks without squeezing them together.
- 3
Grill over your hottest coals 7-8 minutes, turning twice, salting as they sizzle.
- 4
Hit them with lemon the second they leave the fire and serve on oil-brushed grilled pita with a last pinch of oregano.
Pro tip: Keep the cubes at 2 cm: the 'little reed' is built to cook in minutes, and anything bigger toughens outside before the middle is done.
