bout de papier, Vol. 30, No. 1 (2017), pp. 43–44
DONAIR It seems that only those who have spent some serious time in the Maritimes will drool at the mention of donair. That’s too bad, because a good donair will seriously upgrade your life for about 20 minutes or so. And it’s a Canadian invention.
“What is a donair?” you may ask. My response begins that it is more than the sum of its parts. So bear with me: Pita. Spiced and thinly sliced mystery meat. Tomato and raw onion. Sweet garlic sauce. I know. It sounds horrendous.
Let’s break it down. The pita should be served warm and usually comes from a bag, but is far superior if you take the time to make it yourself (and it isn’t hard to do). The meat is much like a densely-packed meatloaf, highly spiced with oregano, garlic and onion powders. Traditionally, this is put on a rotating spit like shawarma and sliced off as needed, which makes for delicious crispy edges on the meat. At home, you can just put it in the oven after forming it into a loaf. Add the raw veggies — I cannot tell you why that combo, but it is perfection — and don’t you dare violate it with lettuce, pickled turnip or other unauthorized shawarma toppings. Finally, the sauce. Discussing this with my colleague from Saskatchewan makes her grimace every time. Some type of canned milk, sweetened condensed or evaporated (adding sugar to compensate), vinegar and garlic powder or garlic salt. I know. Just breathe.
Roll the sandwich. Wrap in foil if you don’t especially want to do laundry. Luxuriate in what can only be called junk food nirvana, as you would be hard pressed to argue it has any nutritional value whatsoever. But it’s great after a long evening of socializing with friends on the town or when your need for instant gratification
Recipe // Recette
If you’re making your own pita, I highly recommend the recipe in David Tanis’ 2014 NYT article. So worth it. Then drop the oven temperature and prep the meat. This is adapted from the 2011 Mmm Is For Mommy blog recipe by “Heather”, but go crazy on the interwebs until you find the Donair of your Dreams.
Donair % tsp all-purpose flour % tsp oregano % tsp cayenne 1 % tsp paprika % tsp onion powder 1% tsp garlic powder % tsp pepper % tsp salt I lb lean or regular ground beef
Combine all spices in a large mixing bowl. Add meat and work the spices in well. Pick up the meat and smash against the bowl a few dozen times, which will help condense it into the right texture. See? It’s therapeutic too! Bake on a rack over a foil-covered pan in a 325F oven for 1.5—2 hours, until cooked a uniform brown throughout. Let cool 15 minutes to firm up before slicing thinly.
Sauce: Thoroughly mix a can of sweetened condensed milk, % cup of vinegar, I tsp garlic powder and % tsp salt in a glass measuring cup or small bowl. That’s it. Throw as much of this as you can handle over a pile of pita, meat, tomatoes and onions. Cutting the veggies into long strips instead of small cubes makes them less likely to fall out.
exceeds your need for self-control and weight maintenance.
Some of you may still be seething from the first paragraph, where I claim that the donair is Canadian. Indeed it is, but it is a close cousin to several street food sandwiches from the Mediterranean. Greece has its gyros and Turkey has is donair kabob. Both are fine, I’m sure, but in 1973, a certain Peter Gamoulakos tweaked the Greek classic by chucking the lamb for beef and sweetening the traditional garlic sauce to make us very, very happy. Pretty bold, when you think about it, selling mystery meat with milk sauce.
This unlikely, sacred Maritimer creation has sustained students with Ferrari metabolisms, for decades; this has made some very proud. Halifax, Nova Scotia made donair its official food in 2015. Seriously. Google it. And I have seen many a mild-mannered Haligonian develop a smarmy smirk while claiming that the best donairs must come from Pizza Corner in Halifax. Pfft. Whatever.
Try making it at home. And if you find yourself unable to eat it all at once, put everything in the fridge and wait in great anticipation for tomorrow. Then put a few pitas on a baking sheet, slather with sauce, top with meat, veg and mozza and bake it all up into donair pizza. Side benefit: significantly easier to eat. Also, cheese. It won’t be quite the transcendental experience of getting the loaded Pizza Delight donair with cheese and pepperoni (may the nutritional gods forgive us), but it will present an alternative form of Awesome. And for all the leftover sauce, make the donair’s best friend, garlic fingers. Pizza dough, garlic butter and mozza. Once baked, cut the pizza-shaped goodness in half, then transect the cut many times into narrow fingers. Oh yeaaah. And maybe eat a salad tomorrow.
Originally published in bout de papier, Vol. 30, No. 1 (2017), pp. 43–44. Read the rest of this issue →
