Spicy Donairs [Smoke Optional]
- NASH
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Spicy Donairs [Smoke Optional]
Spicy Donairs with traditional sauce are somewhat an adaption of a Greek Gyro, supposedly born in Atlantic Canada, more particularly in Halifax, Nova Scotia in the early '70's. I've spiced these ones up a bit so if you are afraid of the heat back off on the dried chilies and cayenne pepper a bit. These are truly delicious!
Ingredients:
Donair Meat:
4 lb. Ground Beef
1 lb. Ground Lamb
5 tsp. Flour (optional - used for binder - see 'method' below)
5 tsp. Salt
5 tsp. Oregano
2.5 tsp. Dry Mustard
2.5 tsp. Granulated Garlic
2.5 tsp. Cracked Black Pepper
2.5 tsp. Cayenne Pepper
2 tsp. Crushed Dried Chilies
1.5 tsp Paprika
1 tsp. Italian Seasoning
Sauce:
1 can Evaporated milk (12oz)
3/4 cup White Sugar
2 tsp. Garlic Powder
~ 4 tbsp. White Vinegar (or as needed to thicken)
Method:
Meat:
- Mix the flour and all the spices well.
- Knead the spice mixture into the meat VERY WELL - this is very important for the smooth texture, the more kneading and pounding, the better! Plan to spend ~ 20 minutes kneading, this can be shortened to ~ 5 - 10 minutes if using the flour as it helps bind the meat together a lot. Alternatively you can triple grind the mixture and/or grind it very fine, you want the finished product after cooking to be similar to a processed meat - so it can be sliced thinly and fried without crumbling.
- Roll the meat out into a loaf and bake at 300 - 350F indirect to internal of at least ~ 160F or well done.
- Rest tented with foil for at least 30 mins to an hr on a drip rack to allow juices and fat to run free from the loaf. It's much easier to slice for Donairs after an overnight rest in the fridge.
- Cut as desired and serve as desired (see below), or portion it off and freeze for later use.
Sauce:
- Stir together the evaporated milk, sugar, and garlic powder.
- Gently stir in the vinegar until thick - the mixture will thicken QUICKLY to a thick gravy consistency, don't over-stir or add too much vinegar as this will cause the sauce to become thin.
Serving:
- Traditionally, the meat is roasted on an upright electric spit, then shaved off in strips as seen in the photo below. A Donair is served on pita bread with the meat cut in thin uneven 1/8" - 1/4" strips, garnished with diced onion and tomato, the sauce poured over it, and then wrapped in foil. Sometimes topped with mozza cheese too.
Meat & Pita Prep:
- Saute sliced Donair meat in a hot skillet or flattop until starting to crisp on the edges then remove.
- Quickly and lightly rub pita bread with water and briefly fry in the same hot pan the meat just came out of, turning once to soften and warm, don't let it dry or crisp - this step is important so don't leave it out.
- Slather some sauce on the pita, top with meat, chopped onions, diced tomatoes and finish off with lots more sauce.
- Put on some old clothes, roll it up in foil then go nuts - these things are messy! For the more refined they can be eaten open-faced on a plate with a knife and fork
More recently Donair meat has been used to make subs, burgers and pizza. Use your imagination to dream up any possibility, Donair burgers or steaks are great, they are great as a wrap in flour tortillas with shredded lettuce, onions, tomatoes and sauce too. It's good stuff :
Basic Donair
The real deal!
Donair Pizza
Electric Donair Spit
Open Faced Donair
Here is the 5 lb log from this recipe ready to grill
And here it is fresh off the grill @ 165F internal about 2.5 hrs later, with a little smoke, of course
Ingredients:
Donair Meat:
4 lb. Ground Beef
1 lb. Ground Lamb
5 tsp. Flour (optional - used for binder - see 'method' below)
5 tsp. Salt
5 tsp. Oregano
2.5 tsp. Dry Mustard
2.5 tsp. Granulated Garlic
2.5 tsp. Cracked Black Pepper
2.5 tsp. Cayenne Pepper
2 tsp. Crushed Dried Chilies
1.5 tsp Paprika
1 tsp. Italian Seasoning
Sauce:
1 can Evaporated milk (12oz)
3/4 cup White Sugar
2 tsp. Garlic Powder
~ 4 tbsp. White Vinegar (or as needed to thicken)
Method:
Meat:
- Mix the flour and all the spices well.
- Knead the spice mixture into the meat VERY WELL - this is very important for the smooth texture, the more kneading and pounding, the better! Plan to spend ~ 20 minutes kneading, this can be shortened to ~ 5 - 10 minutes if using the flour as it helps bind the meat together a lot. Alternatively you can triple grind the mixture and/or grind it very fine, you want the finished product after cooking to be similar to a processed meat - so it can be sliced thinly and fried without crumbling.
- Roll the meat out into a loaf and bake at 300 - 350F indirect to internal of at least ~ 160F or well done.
- Rest tented with foil for at least 30 mins to an hr on a drip rack to allow juices and fat to run free from the loaf. It's much easier to slice for Donairs after an overnight rest in the fridge.
- Cut as desired and serve as desired (see below), or portion it off and freeze for later use.
Sauce:
- Stir together the evaporated milk, sugar, and garlic powder.
- Gently stir in the vinegar until thick - the mixture will thicken QUICKLY to a thick gravy consistency, don't over-stir or add too much vinegar as this will cause the sauce to become thin.
Serving:
- Traditionally, the meat is roasted on an upright electric spit, then shaved off in strips as seen in the photo below. A Donair is served on pita bread with the meat cut in thin uneven 1/8" - 1/4" strips, garnished with diced onion and tomato, the sauce poured over it, and then wrapped in foil. Sometimes topped with mozza cheese too.
Meat & Pita Prep:
- Saute sliced Donair meat in a hot skillet or flattop until starting to crisp on the edges then remove.
- Quickly and lightly rub pita bread with water and briefly fry in the same hot pan the meat just came out of, turning once to soften and warm, don't let it dry or crisp - this step is important so don't leave it out.
- Slather some sauce on the pita, top with meat, chopped onions, diced tomatoes and finish off with lots more sauce.
- Put on some old clothes, roll it up in foil then go nuts - these things are messy! For the more refined they can be eaten open-faced on a plate with a knife and fork
More recently Donair meat has been used to make subs, burgers and pizza. Use your imagination to dream up any possibility, Donair burgers or steaks are great, they are great as a wrap in flour tortillas with shredded lettuce, onions, tomatoes and sauce too. It's good stuff :
Basic Donair
The real deal!
Donair Pizza
Electric Donair Spit
Open Faced Donair
Here is the 5 lb log from this recipe ready to grill
And here it is fresh off the grill @ 165F internal about 2.5 hrs later, with a little smoke, of course
Last edited by NASH on Sun Jan 19, 2014 11:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- Jimmy
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Re: Spicy Donairs [Smoke Optional]
Nice. Donair anything is the way to my heart!
- canuck
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Re: Spicy Donairs [Smoke Optional]
Ummmm yeah, I'm sooooooo going to make this! Thanks for posting it up, Nash!!
- sleepyjamie
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Re: Spicy Donairs [Smoke Optional]
canuck wrote:Ummmm yeah, I'm sooooooo going to make this! Thanks for posting it up, Nash!!
same here. donair meat in calgary just isnt the same. the calgarians think it is but they dont understand.
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Re: Spicy Donairs [Smoke Optional]
Remember this old post:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/15/dinin ... d=all&_r=0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/15/dinin ... d=all&_r=0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: Spicy Donairs [Smoke Optional]
Gonna do that baby up this week! My favorite Donair in the city is the Greek Donair at pizza delic .... A Greek salad slapped on top of a Donair with feta and mozzarella then baked !
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Fermenting/Conditioning:
Future Projects:Chimney Sweepers Wife dark peated Scottish Heavy, Ginger bread brown, Home for the holidays spiced rum Brown Ale, Black Eye RyePA, Black Ryno Swartzbeir
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Re: Spicy Donairs [Smoke Optional]
FYI using a dough hook with a kitchen aid mixer is a very nice alternative to kneading. Makes it nice and smooth.
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Re: Spicy Donairs [Smoke Optional]
Would be a great superbowl recipe. Where is a good place in halifax to get ground lamb?
JUST BREW IT
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Re: Spicy Donairs [Smoke Optional]
You can get it at ss and sobeys almost always, frozen, and occasionally fresh.
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Re: Spicy Donairs [Smoke Optional]
Quite often I have been to sobeys and superstore and found a very poor selection of ground lamb. May try the farmers market this weekend, I know meadowbrook at the dartmouth farmers market has ground lamb.
JUST BREW IT
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Re: Spicy Donairs [Smoke Optional]
They also carry frozen tubes at cash and carry, super store in bedford always has it and sobeys on Larry utteck does as well
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Re: Spicy Donairs [Smoke Optional]
Yeah, it's NZ lamb in the green tubes. I have no idea on the quality, just know it's there.
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Re: Spicy Donairs [Smoke Optional]
They usually have it fresh, from Martock Glen at SS Barrington.
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Transmitted from the Hop-phone.
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Re: Spicy Donairs [Smoke Optional]
There fixed it for youNASH wrote:Spicy Donairs with traditional sauce are somewhat an abomination of a Greek Gyro, supposedly born in Atlantic Canada, more particularly in Halifax, Nova Scotia in the early '70's.
Almost puked when I tried a "maritime donair" for the first time. I was expecting something similar to the döner kebabs in Europe (lamb or chicken, served with onions, lettuce, taziki and hotsauce), but that awful sauce completely ruins it
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Re: Spicy Donairs [Smoke Optional]
Same reaction here. I was so disappointed, I thought it was going to be a proper "doner kebab" when I first tried one. It wasn'tgm- wrote:There fixed it for youNASH wrote:Spicy Donairs with traditional sauce are somewhat an abomination of a Greek Gyro, supposedly born in Atlantic Canada, more particularly in Halifax, Nova Scotia in the early '70's.
Almost puked when I tried a "maritime donair" for the first time. I was expecting something similar to the döner kebabs in Europe (lamb or chicken, served with onions, lettuce, taziki and hotsauce), but that awful sauce completely ruins it
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Re: Spicy Donairs [Smoke Optional]
Here be your recipe:
viewtopic.php?f=24&t=1779&p=19861" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
viewtopic.php?f=24&t=1779&p=19861" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: Spicy Donairs [Smoke Optional]
You cooking it direct on the grill, using a drip pan, or have it on tinfoil?
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Re: Spicy Donairs [Smoke Optional]
'You' meaning me?Jimmy wrote:You cooking it direct on the grill, using a drip pan, or have it on tinfoil?
Cook it on the grill indirect with drip pan under, or on a rack in an open roaster. You'll be wanting to let the fat render out and away from the meat
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Re: Spicy Donairs [Smoke Optional]
Yes you
That's kind of what I figured. I saw the tinfoil and thought you might have been cooking on that, but didn't think it would hold together well if cooked that way.
That's kind of what I figured. I saw the tinfoil and thought you might have been cooking on that, but didn't think it would hold together well if cooked that way.
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Re: Spicy Donairs [Smoke Optional]
Just finished rolling one of these bad boys up
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- NASH
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Re: Spicy Donairs [Smoke Optional]
Looks wicked!
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Re: Spicy Donairs [Smoke Optional]
Oh, and if anyone goes to the grocery store looking for crushed dry chilies, good luck finding them. Nash sent me on a wild goose chase last night, only to find out I had the "chilies" at home already. It's the crushed red pepper flakes that you're looking for
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Re: Spicy Donairs [Smoke Optional]
Indian Food Store on Robie, or Tian Phat in Bedford.
Costco as well, and C&C if you want a lifetime supply.
Costco as well, and C&C if you want a lifetime supply.
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Re: Spicy Donairs [Smoke Optional]
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- NASH
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Re: Spicy Donairs [Smoke Optional]
Not my fault you don't know what crushed dried chilies areJimmy wrote:Oh, and if anyone goes to the grocery store looking for crushed dry chilies, good luck finding them. Nash sent me on a wild goose chase last night, only to find out I had the "chilies" at home already. It's the crushed red pepper flakes that you're looking for
Looks epic! I want some, now
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