cook.

Souvla

Name: Souvla
Total time: 180 min
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: Cypriot
Ingredients: 2500 g pork shoulder or neck, in fist-sized pieces; 3 tbsp salt; 2 tbsp coarsely ground black pepper; 2 lemons, halved; 6 pitta breads; 1 onion, sliced thin; 200 g halloumi, sliced and grilled; 1 lemon, in wedges, to serve

Fist-sized lumps of pork turned slowly on a long skewer for two hours over low charcoal...

Ingredients

2500 g pork shoulder or neck, in fist-sized pieces

3 tbsp salt

2 tbsp coarsely ground black pepper

2 lemons, halved

6 pitta breads

1 onion, sliced thin

200 g halloumi, sliced and grilled

1 lemon, in wedges, to serve

Method

Cut the pork into pieces roughly the size of a fist, keeping the fat on. Smaller pieces cannot survive two hours over coals, and that is the whole technique.

Season them heavily with salt and pepper an hour ahead and leave them at room temperature. No marinade, no oregano, no oil.

Thread them onto a long skewer through the grain, packed together so they hold each other and turn as one.

Build a low fire and let it burn right down. Souvla is cooked over coals too cool for anything else - if you can hold your hand over them for five seconds, it is about right.

Turn the skewer continuously for 2 to 2½ hours. A rotisserie does it for you; by hand, give it a quarter turn every few minutes and do not walk away.

Resist raising the heat. If the outside is colouring fast the fire is too hot - move the skewer higher or rake coals away, or you will have a burnt crust on raw pork.

Squeeze lemon over the meat in the last 15 minutes and let it catch.

Rest it for 10 minutes, then cut it off the skewer into chunks and serve in warm pitta with raw onion, grilled halloumi and more lemon.