Donairs ~ A Halifax Classic!

If you've been to Halifax, or know someone from here, you've probably heard of a donair or have had one forced upon you in a drunken late-night feast.  While the origins of the donair are not 100% clear, popular legend states that King of Donair sold the first donair as we know it in 1973 after failing to win us Haligonians over with the traditional Greek gyro or the Middle Eastern doner kebab.  Since yours truly was born a year later, I am relieved to say that I have never know life sans donair... phew!

After years of fiddling, I have come up with the recipe I like best, including the easiest donair sauce ever!  If you like a bit more heat, up the cayenne, but try it as is first and then adjust to your liking.  The key to making donairs at home is the grinding.  If the meat isn't ground together enough, you will end up with meatloaf.  A delicious meatloaf, but that's not what you want.  Also, as good as your house smells when its cooking, you have to try to let it cool and set in fridge to get the nice thin slices you want.  Hard, I know.

My Donairs & Donair Sauce

Makes 3 lbs of meat and enough sauce for that much... how many it'll feed depends on how long since it's been since they had their last donair...

3 to 3.5 pounds lean ground beef

2 tsp flour (all-purpose or whole wheat)

2 tsp dried oregano

1.5 tsp cayenne pepper

4 tsp paprika (not smoked)

2 tsp onion powder

4 tsp garlic powder

1.5 tsp black pepper

1 tsp salt

For the sauce:

1 can (300ml) sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk)

1/3 cup white vinegar

1 tsp garlic powder

Pita bread, diced tomatoes, diced onion and shredded mozzarella (optional) for putting the donairs together... and lots of napkins.

To make the meat, mix all ingredients together in a food processor.  Process until it comes together into a ball, and then a bit more.  You might have to do this in two batches, depending on the size of your processor.  You can do this by hand too, and is great if you are stressed out... grind and grind and grind the meat, throwing it down on the counter... basically beating the crap out of it.  Form into a log shape and put on a cooling rack on a foil-covered baking pan.  Bake at 325 degrees for 2 hours.  Allow to cool completely, and preferably refrigerate before slicing.  

For the sauce, mix the three ingredients together, don't worry, it will come together.  Once it does, it will never separate... another benefit of this recipe.  It is also very thick and will thicken up even more once refrigerated.

To assemble a donair, warm a pita bread by slightly dampening it's surface with water and laying it in a hot frying pan... letting it go about 30 seconds on each side.  Thinly slice donair meat and quickly fry it in the same hot pan, either to simply heat or to crisp it... a personal preference.  Lay the cooked meat on the softened pita, top with a generous spoon of sauce, diced tomatoes and onions.  Roll it up if you can, or wrap it in foil to keep it together.  

Donair meat & sauce also make delicious pizza toppings... add the onions and tomatoes when it comes out of the oven and serve with extra sauce for dipping.

Like most of life's best offerings, you might feel like you need a shower after a feed of good donairs ;)

Enjoy!