Donair.org
You're out on the town, having a few drinks with some good friends. Things are starting to close down, it's around 2:30 in the morning. You have the munchies. Suddenly, it hits you. You want a donair. A real, honest-to-goodness Halifax Donair. Tomatoes, onions, strip after strip of meat cut right from the spit as it turns... what could be better?
- Donair Recipes
- Donair Links
- In the Moment
- Queen of Donairs
- The View from in Here
- Donair Culture on Facebook
- The Wired 96.3 BIG Show Blog
- Zach's Famous Donair Emporium
- Germans go for doner kebabs - Shawarma outstrips sausages, fries as the country’s No. 1 fast food
- DMBLog on Donairs
- Donairs – What those Funky Canadians eat
- Beer and News And you will know us by our trail of empties…
- A Donair Road Trip to Milton, Ontario
- Why do Canadians eat donairs?
- Donair History
- Donair Pizza from King of Donair
- 2015: The Year of Donair
- Donair Tacos at Pizzatown Sackville
- Donair Eggs Benedict at The Foggy Goggle
- Some people love donairs even more than we do!
- Donair Sushi. You heard it here first.
- Little Known and Well Loved - Burnside Pizzeria
- The Fuzz Box: Do not pass go, do not collect $200, just go get a donair. Seriously.
- Donair glamour for those that need it
- Top Ten Nova Scotia Inventions
- Are Toronto’s donairs any good? We asked two guys from Sloan to taste test them.
- donair.org expands into Ontario and beyond!
- Doinkballs. Really. And they're AMAZING!
Donair Recipes
Donair "Loaf"
This makes a nice loaf of Donair meat.
1 teaspoon each of
- ground oregano
- salt
- all-purpose flour
- ground black pepper
- garlic powder
- onion powder
1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
1 pound of medium or lean - not extra lean! - ground beef
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
- mix together the salt, oregano, flour, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and cayenne pepper in a small bowl
- mix in the spices to the ground beef as if you were making bread, folding and kneading the dough (meat!) as you go
- the more you "abuse" the meat by kneading it and such the better it will stick together once cooked
- shape the meat into a loaf and place it on a broiler pan or baking sheet
- bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes, turning the loaf every 30 minutes
- let the meat cool over night
- slice the meat into thin strips, heating them in a frying pan with perhaps a touch of oil or non-stick cooking spray
At this point you have some pretty awesome donair meat! Just add a fried pita and some donair sauce and you're golden!
Donair Sauce Recipe #1
This makes a nice thick donair sauce - very much like what you'd get in Halifax.
Ingredients:
- a can of evaporated milk, cold
- a can of sweetened condensed milk, cold
- 1 teaspoon of onion powder
- 2-3 tablespoons of garlic powder
- 3-5 tablespoons of white vinegar
To make:
- Mix the cans of milk, the onion powder and the garlic powder in a bowl.
- Add vinegar a tablespoon at a time while stirring, until the mixture thickens.
- Refrigerate until ready to use.
Donair Links
In the Moment
http://flash-in-the-moment.blogspot.com/2009/02/donairs.html
My husband and I came to Mississauga 4-1/2 years ago and began our donair history, geography and home economics education.
The GTA (Greater Toronto Area) is a melting pot of every culture so we assumed that there would be donair shops here and were surprised to find none.
Queen of Donairs
http://www.saveyourfork.com/2006/09/05/queen-of-donairs/
A couple of weeks ago, someone posted to the Toronto LiveJournal community, asking about where to get Nova Scotia style donairs. After we collectively determined that there is no place in Toronto to get this much-loved street food, I fessed up and admitted that I have a copy of the original recipe created and marketed by the chain King of Donairs. And despite encouragement to start my own donair stand here in Toronto, I’d still rather just make the things at home.
The View from in Here
http://viewfrominhere.blogspot.com/2006/03/cbc-and-donairs-two-of-my-favourite.html
Now, for those not from Queen's or Halifax, you may wonder, what's a donair? As a quick overview, it's slices of this meat concoction shaved off a stick (beef, bread crumbs, spices), seared, topped with tomatoes, onions, donair sweet sauce (which makes or breaks the donair, personally) and all wrapped in a pita WAY too small for the amount it has to hold. Consequently, eating it is a mess, but is it oh so delicious (especially after a night of drinking)!
Donair Culture on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=25688336242
Basic Info
Name: Donair culture Category: Common Interest - Religion & Spirituality Description: Donairs and the lifestyle around them Privacy Type: Open: All content is public.
The Wired 96.3 BIG Show Blog
http://www.wired963.com/blog/mornings/?p=20
Alright, today on the show we talked about donairs. For some reason I can’t figure out, the donair doesn’t exist in Saskatchewan. I’ve eaten Donairs in Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, and the home of the best Donair joint on the planet….Nova Scotia.
Zach's Famous Donair Emporium
http://www.zachsfamousdonair.com/index.php
In 1995 the first Zachs Famous Donair Restaurant opened in Edmonton, Alberta. This restaurant featured a delicious line of a new product called the "donair" which is made with spiced beef garnished with onions, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, hot peppers and special "donair" sauce served on warmed pita bread. The public responded with overwhelming approval to this exciting new taste. Zachs is a family run business and we consistently strive to create a friendly family atmosphere for our valued customers.
Germans go for doner kebabs - Shawarma outstrips sausages, fries as the country’s No. 1 fast food
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Travel/1176441.html
Germans go for doner kebabs - Shawarma outstrips sausages, fries as the country’s No. 1 fast food By The Associated Press Sat. Apr 10 - 4:53 AM BERLIN — Forget about bratwurst, currywurst and other kinds of sausages — doner kebab, or shawarma, has overtaken traditional German fast food as the country’s favourite snack on the go. First brought to Berlin by Turkish immigrants in the 1970s, the grilled meat snack that comes wrapped in a pita bread with shredded lettuce, tomatoes, onions and different dressings, is now being sold everywhere in Germany from the Baltic Sea to the Bavarian Alps.
DMBLog on Donairs
http://dmblog.com/2008/03/20/donairs/
My favorite place for donairs, (and the best I’ve been able to find in Calgary), is A & A Foods at 1401 – 20 Ave NW. Everything is very fresh, the donair meat is seasoned perfectly and is exceptionally moist. The donairs come in three sizes: small, medium and large. The small size is adequate for most people and is equivalent to what is considered a “large” everywhere else.
Donairs – What those Funky Canadians eat
http://slightlyfunky.com/?p=112
For anyone who has ever watched the Trailer Park Boys, you’ll hear constant references to donairs and the King of Donair. Well I had to do a little research and I discovered an incredibly delicious sandwich/wrap. The sandwich is really a combination of a bastardized donar kebab and a gyro with a very funky sauce. The meat is rather simple to prepare – like a meatloaf.
Beer and News And you will know us by our trail of empties…
http://beerandnews.wordpress.com/2007/08/12/donair-the-breakfast-of-hungover-champions/
A quick story about east coast Donairs.
A Donair Road Trip to Milton, Ontario
http://tyronewarner.com/2010/01/09/trekking-to-milton-for-a-real-donair/
So on a crispy January afternoon, this guy and myself, along with this guy and another guy who doesn't have a blog, piled into the car drove off to scenic Milton, Ontario (I heard it has a Go Train station) to find out if "Halifax Donair and Pizza" are indeed slinging authentic east-coast donairs.
Why do Canadians eat donairs?
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/004823.html
There is a meat dish which in slightly different forms is widely eaten in the Eastern Mediterranean as well, in recent years, in many other countries. (See the Wikipedia articles Döner kebab and ドネル ケバブ.) In the United States, it is usually called gyro(s), from Greek γύρος, sometimes pronounced [dʒaiɹow] according to its spelling, with the 's' taken to be the plural morpheme, sometimes [jiɹos] as in Greek. In Canada, the same dish is almost always known as doner, from Turkish döner, also spelled donair. A few restaurants in Ontario seem to call it gyros, but here in British Columbia, and in my experience in Alberta as well, gyros is virtually never used. This is true even in restaurants run by Greeks. A new place specializing in doner just opened here in Prince George. The owners are Greek,but they use the term donair on their menu and even in the name of their restaurant. I have been wondering for a long time why it is that this dish almost always goes by its Greek name in the United States but by its Turkish name in Canada.
Donair History
Donair History
Donairs - in the past - are traditionally either Greek or Turkish in origin, also known as "doners", "gyros", "doner kebabs", "kebabs" and "donners".
The history of the donair goes back far past Halifax, to either Greece or Turkey. For matters of simplicity and convenience, our donair history starts in Halifax.
Wikipedia claims that the modern fast food doner was invented by Mahmut Aygun, a Turkish immigrant in Berlin, in 1971.
Velos Pizza, then located in Bedford, invented the "Halifax" donair in the 1971-1973 area. This "Halifax" donair was characterized by having a very sweet sauce, made from condensed milk, sugar, garlic, and vinegar.
Velos merged / was purchased / etc with King of Donair, thus giving King of Donair claim to being the first to introduce donairs to Canada, which they claim proudly to this day.
Regardless of who brought donairs to Canada, the "Halifax" donair is slowly spreading westward, with many parts of Quebec, Ontario and Alberta serving Halifax donairs due to the high concentration of maritimers who have gone west looking for work.
Donair Pizza from King of Donair
I can't imagine living somewhere that donair pizza wasn't a thing. Yet in parts of Canada you can't get good donair pizza! As my first Year of Donair post, let's take a moment to celebrate some donair pizza.
King of Donair has been making donairs in Canada since 1973 and has often won "best of" awards from The Coast.
I ordered an extra large donair pizza from King of Donair Clayton Park and picked it up about 25 minutes later. It was one of the coldest nights of the year, -16C or so, and I was sure that all of that luscious melted cheese would have started to solidify by the time I got back to somewhere warm.
Even with the cold, KOD hits the donair pizza right out of the park. Just the right level of spice to the donair meat, lots of cheese, onions and tomatoes, and of course plenty of donair sauce.
If you're going to go to any reputable place that does good donair, make sure you pick up some donair egg rolls as well. These are just an intense collection of donair meat wrapped up in an egg roll wrapper and then deep fried - they are typically served with donair sauce for dipping. The crunch of the wrapper adds a nice texture change to the whole experience. Definitely awesome!
That's the first Year of Donair post - look for more tasty donair coming up soon!
2015: The Year of Donair
Here we are a week into 2015, and donair is everywhere. Montreal has a donair shop now, donair is slowly taking over Fort Mac, and even Vancouver has donair on the mind.
Therefore, we're declaring 2015 the Year of Donair, and every week you're going to see something new and donair-y posted here. Look for the first donair delights this week!
Donair Tacos at Pizzatown Sackville
The fine folks from Pizzatown in Sackville, after much poking and prodding by folks on Twitter, announced on Friday past that they were going to produce the mythical donair taco. How could I not go check out an epic event like this?
My only concern was that Pizzatown Sackville likely hadn't ever done tacos of any sort before, and therefore donair tacos were truly a voyage into madness.
Thankfully my fears seem to have been unfounded.
I ordered 3 donair tacos ($3 each), and after a short wait I was presented with a plate filled with taco goodness. They looked - and smelled - amazing. I walked them to one of the tables in the restaurant hoping that these mythical tacos weren't a 6 dressed up as a 9.
Gently prying open a taco so as to not shatter the baked shell, the truth was revealed. Inside was 2 strips of donair meat, red onions, tomatoes, salsa, grated cheese and lettuce. While donair purists everywhere know that lettuce on a donair is an affront to all that's tasty, new foods require an open mind.
Turns out that if you order your donair taco with the meat heated and the rest of the taco cold, it's even better (suggestion from Hanah.) The shell stays soft, all the taco-ness isn't overwhelmed by the donair side of the house and you don't need to worry that a big bite of shell will cause it to suddenly crack and without warning turn your clean shirt into an excuse to buy Spray-n-wash.
The big question remains, however - sour cream or donair sauce? I think the answer really depends on how sauced you want your tacos. The in-house sour cream isn't the extra thick and tangy style, so you can safely load your taco up as much as you like without overwhelming the taste of the donair.
If, however, you don't want your taco completely filled with sauce and want a more authentic donair experience, you can get away with using only a little bit of donair sauce. You don't need a lot to get the taste to come through, and too much sauce leaves things overpowered. Plus, over-saucing can leave a real mess afterwards as it causes the tomatoes, onions and friends to leak out the back side of the shell. Eat it or wear it, however, it's still amazingly tasty.
By now I suspect you're hungry or at least curious - but you're going to have to wait. Pizzatown Sackville is only offering donair tacos on Tuesday night alongside their donair egg rolls. Patience is a virtue.
If a Tuesday night finds me craving both donair and tacos, I know where I'm headed.
Pizzatown Sackville
225 Cobequid Road
902 865-1111
http://www.pizzatown.ca
Donair Eggs Benedict at The Foggy Goggle
I am a firm believer that more people need to interact with the world around them rather than just accepting things as they are. When The Foggy Goggle mentioned on Twitter that they had both Lobster or Arugula Avocado Benny, I was quick to suggest that they do donair eggs benedict as well.
Guess what? they did.
The Foggy Goggle is one of those pubs that everyone needs to visit when they travel to Halifax. Their food is outstanding, comforting, and always has that little twist that makes it memorable. They don't have a deep fryer in the kitchen, which just makes things that much more interesting. They even make their own donair meat on-site, an impressive undertaking.
Ordering the donair benny was a little tricky; they don't make it all the time and instead have it as a special. Their other specials - lobster benny, for example - are all equally as interesting.
The smell that hit me when this plate of nirvana was set in front of me was just wonderful. The taters smelled warm and inviting, the eggs benedict had that gentle hollandaise scent to them - everything just worked together to befriend your nostrils. Nothing overdone, nothing missing, this was a package that had been assembled by an expert.
I've always been impressed with any of the potato dishes the Foggy Goggle cooks up, since they manage to get them right every time and don't use a deep fryer. These spuds are no exception, cooked just the right amount so that they perfectly straddle the line between undercooked and mushy. Perhaps The Foggy Goggle has a potato whisperer on staff?
Another reason to love the Goggle's taters - they don't oversalt them, leaving it up to whoever's devouring the dish to salt the taters as they see fit.
The made-in-house donair meat was near textbook perfect. (unrelated - if someone finds a donair textbook, let me know.) It had a spicy kick to it that most donair doesnt, but it worked very well with the comforting taste of the eggs benedict. Onions and tomatoes were in reasonably equal proportion, just as they should be.
The hollandaise sauce was neither in such short supply that anything was dry and not so prevalent that I was feeling the need to throw the egg a life preserver lest it sink. Hollandaise sauce is really just breakfast donair sauce and if ever that statement was put to the test, this dish may just prove it to be true.
If ever you feel the craving for an early morning donair - this may just be your best option for something awesome.
The Foggy Goggle
1667 Argyle Street
902-444-1414
thefoggygoggle@gmail.com
Some people love donairs even more than we do!
Wow... just wow. I can't say I ever thought I'd see this, but it looks too real not to be true.
Someone has a rather awesome looking donair tattoo!
Thanks to Cailin O'Neil for the photo of her friend's leg. Find her on twitter @CailinONeil.
Donair Sushi. You heard it here first.
I'm going to let this twitter conversation speak for itself:
How cool is that?
Little Known and Well Loved - Burnside Pizzeria
After my Toronto donair experience my return to Halifax left me with a craving.
I decided to take a trip to Burnside Pizzeria, a long time favorite of mine and of many folks in Burnside industrial park. Lots of folks who don't work in the park don't have any idea that this gem of a place even exists, they're only open till 7:30 pm weeknights and 3 pm on Saturday. Not your typical pizza and donair shop.
Things were pretty quiet when I dropped in about 4 pm, usually that's a bad sign for your upcoming donair. The meat will be dried out, or cold, or both.
I ordered a small donair, and it was served open face rather than wrapped as many places do. If you're eating at a table, this is probably easier assuming you get a fork and knife. Worried that I'd get a less-than-stellar donair since this wasn't one of their busy times, I took my first bite.
This donair was a home run hit right out of the park. Perfectly cooked, meat that was just the right level of chewy vs crispy, hot all the way through and juicy without being overly greasy. Every single bite was melt-in-your-mouth donair goodness, the sauce was exactly the right texture, and the onions and tomatoes were fresh and flavorful.
I really did mean to take more photos of this delightful morsel. I guess I enjoyed it too much. These things happen when your donair is that good!