Döner kebab
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Döner Kebab (as döner kebap in Turkish and often simply döner, doner, donner or donair), which literally means "rotating roast meat" is the name given to a Turkish dish made with mutton. A version developed to suit German tastes by Turkish immigrants in Berlin has become one of the world's most popular fast food dishes.
History
In travelogues from the 18th century, döner kebab is described as a dish from Asia Minor, consisting of mutton grilled on horizontal rotating skewers. Traditionally, it was served on a plate with rice and a hot sauce with melted butter and ground paprika.
The original form of today's döner kebab is Oltu kebab. Oltu is a small town near Erzurum, Turkey. The original form is grilled horizontally and the slices are cut thicker, after inserting a special L shaped Oltu shish along the surface. In the 19th century, the modern form was invented in Bursa. The original form is still served in many cities of Turkey.
Today, döner kebab is typically served as a kind of sandwich in pita (flat bread). This type of döner kebab has been available in Istanbul since about 1960. The döner kebab with salad and sauce served in pita, which is predominant in Germany and the rest of the world, was invented in Berlin-Kreuzberg in 1971, because the original preparation was not appealing enough to the German taste. The döner has been the most popular fast food dish in Germany since the 1980s.
Preparation of meat for döner kebabs
The meat used for making döner kebabs may be lamb, beef or chicken, but never pork. After the BSE crisis (mad cow disease), even fish was used. Generally a döner kebab sandwich is served with a salad made from shredded lettuce. Usually there is a choice between a hot sauce, a yoghurt sauce containing garlic and a yoghurt sauce containing herbs. Sometimes sheep's cheese (Turkish: beyaz peynir, or "white cheese") can be added.
There are two basic ways of preparing meat for döner kebabs:
- The most common and authentic method is to stack seasoned slices of lean meat onto a vertical skewer in the shape of a cylinder. The stack is cooked by radiant heat from electric elements or gas fired infrared burners. Often fatty meat, tomatoes, and onions are placed at the top of the stack to drip juices over the meat keeping it moist.
- Some cheaper shops serve a combination of seasoned sliced and ground meat cooked on a grilltop as döner kebab. In Germany the amount of ground meat is not allowed to surpass 60% (Berliner Verkehrsauffassung).
- by using a long and very sharp knife.
- by using an electric knife with a rotating disc blade which produces thinner pieces of meat and thus increases the number of portions obtained from a stack.
Döner kebab around the world
Döner kebab is now widely available across Europe, mostly in the variant developed in Germany.Germany
In Germany, the Turkish Döner Kebab, Pita, Vegetarischer Döner, Falafel... are far more popular than Hamburgers or Sausages, especially with young people, who eat a "Döner" (as it is usually just called) for lunch, dinner and late at night after returning from clubs and bars (costs: between € 2 and 4,50).
Statistically, the Germans consume 200 to 300 metric tons of döner kebab per day. In 1998, they spent about €1.5 billion on döner kebab. Germany's large Turkish minority is probably the biggest reason for the widespread sale of döner kebab sandwiches there: After World War II, large numbers of Turks were invited to come to Germany as "guest workers" (Gastarbeiter), to help with the German reconstruction effort and fill an acute labor shortage caused by the loss of manpower in WWII. A certain share of these Turkish workers eventually stayed in Germany and opening small food shops and takeaways was an excellent option in terms of progressing from more menial jobs.
Turkey
In Turkey, the "German" döner was generally frowned upon. However, in the southern coastal areas where tourism is a major economic factor, it turned out that from the early 1990s on, German and other European tourists were demanding what they considered "real" döner, that is, the Germanized variety. Nowadays, in tourist areas, the salad-sauce-sandwich type of döner is becoming more and more widespread or even dominant. The traditional method of preparation (no minced meat, marination before grilling) and serving (as a main course with sliced pita, pilaf (of bulgur or rice), and melted butter) is still most accepted at restaurants. However, the prevailing variant sold as fast-food is known as döner sandviç or ekmek arası, a sandwich prepared with döner, a half a loaf of bread (not pita) and a salad (with tomatoes, onions, lettuce, and pickles) but no dressing.United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland
The döner kebab (usually doner kebab; sometimes donner kebab; the Arabic name "shawarma" is also commonly used) with salad and sauce is also a very popular dish in both the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. The typical kebab supplier (known as "kebab shops") in the UK will offer hot chilli sauce, a barbecue sauce, and garlic yoghurt-style sauce (the most common), though a mint sauce similar to raita is also common. Usually, a customer can ask for a mild, a medium or a hot sauce, but it is not made clear what the ingredients are. Kebabs are often eaten as take-away food on the way home after a night out. They are very much part of the Friday and Saturday night culture rather than, say, lunchtime food. There are several common ways in which döner kebabs are served in the UK:
- Wrapped in pita bread;
- On naan bread;
- Served in a partitioned tray with separate areas for salad and meat;
- Served as a dish of "doner meat and chips", typically including neither bread nor salad.
In Dublin, Ireland, increasing numbers of Turkish and other immigrants from Asia Minor have led to something of an explosion in the number of late-night kebab eateries, hugely popular with party-goers and evening revellers in the vibrant city centre.
France
Kebabs are, along with pizza and hamburgers, one of the few widely available fast foods, and at a standard €4 almost everywhere, probably the cheapest. Most kebab shops (themselves known simply as kebabs) are run by some of the many Turkish immigrants in France. The basic kebab consists of Turkish bread stuffed with grilled beef shavings, onions and lettuce, with a choice of sauce from sauce blanche (yoghurt sauce with garlic and herbs), harissa (spicy red sauce originally from Tunisia), ketchup, or several others. Very frequently kebabs are served with chips, often stuffed into the bread itself. Other variations include turkey or chicken, fish, falafel or sausage, and replacing the Turkish bread with pita bread.
Australia
In Australia, kebabs are also very popular and are perceived as a healthier alternative to McDonald's or KFC, due to immigration from Greece, Turkey, former Yugoslavia, and Lebanon. Kebabs are usually served in pita bread, rather than in a sandwich. Australian States with a larger Greek population than Middle Eastern refer to kebabs variously as souvlaki, gyros or yiros. Kebabs often include a fried egg in Western Australia. Meat (beef or lamb) and chicken kebabs can be easily found in Sydney where most suburbs have take-out shops that offer them. They are commonly served with cheese and a salad consisting of lettuce, tomato, onion, and tabouli on pita bread (also known locally as 'Lebanese bread'). The most commonly used sauces are tomato sauce (ketchup), barbeque (BBQ) sauce, hummus (made with chickpeas), garlic sauce and chilli or sweet chilli sauce. Doner kebabs in Sydney can be served with all the ingredients placed onto or next to the pita bread on a plate, or more commonly, with the ingredients rolled into the pita bread in the form of a 'wrap'. There are two primary ways to serve the wrapped version, it can be toasted once it's been wrapped, which has the effect of melting the cheese (if any) and baking the bread so that it hardens and becomes crisp, the alternative is just serving it without toasting. Both versions are then wrapped in paper to stop the filling from falling out and usually placed in a foil/paper sleeve. In Brisbane Kebabs are influenced most strongly by the Lebanese variation.Shops or vans selling kebabs are colloqually referred to as "Kebaberies" in some parts of Australia.
Finland
In Finland, kebabs have gained a lot of popularity since Turkish immigrants have opened restaurants and imported own traditional food. The popularity can be noticed in everyday life, especially in larger cities. Kebab foods are generally regarded as fast-food, often served in late-night restaurants also serving pizza. There are at least 908 currently active restaurants that serve kebab foods[#endnote_finlandrestaurants] in Finland. Beef is dominantly used instead of lamb due to the fact that Finns are familiar with the taste and consume beef significantly more than lamb which also means that it is cheaper and has good availability. Some döners can be a mix of lamb and beef.Popular serving methods and dishes include (but not limited to):
- Rullakebab (lit. "roll kebab") consists of kebab meat, tomatoes, pickles, cucumbers and shredded cabbage or salad, mayonnaise based sauce, a tomato based spicy sauce all rolled up in a thin pizza crust. A standard sized rullakebab can weigh up to one kilogram. A larger version is almost always called tuplarulla (double-roll), which is identical to rullakebab, but with an extra quantity of meat. Jalapeño peppers are sometimes served with the meal, though usually the chilies are of the Turkish variety . Rullakebab was invented in the city of Turku, located in the southwestern corner in Finland. [[Citing sources citation needed]]
- Kebab riisillä (kebab with rice) and kebab ranskalaisilla (kebab with French fries) kebab and rice or French fries served on a plate and often accompanied by salad dressing (mayonnaise and/or anything hot). Salad is a common condiment.
- Kebabpizza (kebab pizza) pizza with kebab and hot ingredients such as jalapeño or Turkish chilies as toppings. Other ingredients include pickles, salami and tomatoes.
- Pitakebab (pita kebab) (or simply kebab on the menu) similar to the traditional pita kebab served in many other countries.
Canada (Donair)
A variation on the döner kebab known as a Donair was introduced in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada in the early 1970s. A restaurant called King of Donair claims to have been the first to serve this version in 1973.The meat in this version of the döner kebab (Halifax donair, as it is sometimes referred to) is sliced from a loaf cooked on a vertical spit, made from a combination of ground beef, flour or bread crumbs, and various spices, while the sauce is made from evaporated milk, sugar, vinegar, and sometimes garlic. The meat and sauce are served rolled in pita bread with diced tomato and onion. This version is generally so packed with ingredients, that the pita is almost there for ceremonial purposes; the pita of any true Haligonian donair will be so soaked in sauce that attempts to pick it up will be fruitless.
This version of the donair is very popular across Canada, with many fast food pizza restaurants also featuring donairs on the menu. Many of them also offer a donair pizza featuring all of the donair ingredients served on a pizza crust. Donair subs are also not uncommon. Halifax, in particular, seems to take a certain pride in the donair as its own defining fast food. There are long lines to buy them at 3 A.M., after the bars close. The donair sauce on its own is often provided free with garlic bread or as a pizza topping (e.g., Barbecue chicken pizza with donair sauce) by Halifax pizza restaurants — even local franchises of chains not based in Halifax.
A very similar variation of the Donair has popped up in Ontario and is called the Shawarma. This is especially popular in Windsor, Ontario as this border city has a great concentration of people from the Middle East. The city borders Detroit, Michigan which has the greatest concentration of Middle Easterners in North America. A section of Ouellette Avenue in Windsor is jokingly referred to as the "Shawarma Capital of Canada" with its great concentration of Shawarma Shops.
Japan
Döner kebabs are also starting to be seen in Japan, where they are known as doneru kebabu. They are predominantly sold from parked vans. Döner kebabs have been adjusted to suit Japanese tastes; the salad is usually omitted in favour of shredded cabbage, and the sauce is composed primarily of mayonnaise.Also of note is the fact that employees of döner kebab stands (along with those of Indian restaurants) are among the most visible non-Asian, non-European immigrants in Japan. This phenomenon has only become prevalent in the last five years, and is perhaps indicative of changing attitudes towards foreigners.
Other
In Western countries, döner kebabs are a very popular late-night dish as their stores tend to open late and cater for people who are going out.See also
- Kebab for other kinds of kebab
- Gyros, a similar Greek dish made from flattened strips of spiced ground lamb.
- Iskender kebap, döner served with tomato sauce and yoghurt.
- Shawarma, the Arabic term for an identical dish.
- Taco al pastor, a similar dish from Mexico, made from spiced pork and served in a tortilla.
References
↑ (Finnish) Kebabille.com main page stats (number of restaurants) [link]External links
- [Domer Kebab and More] at Turkishcook.com
- [Kebab Journal blog community] - reviews of (mostly British) kebab shops.
- [A search engine for doner kebab] (international coverage, but still focus on German kebabs)
- [Collection of Döner Kebab paper bags]
- [recipe for a Halifax-style donair]
- [Video : Preparation of Döner Kebab]
- http://www.naks.org.uk (National Association of Kebab Shops - UK)
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