Donairs, a Nova Scotian Gyro

There are many dishes that remind me of my childhood in New Brunswick, Canada. Some meals were better than others, and would have me practically salivating in anticipation, such as:

• Tourtière—meat pie
• Fricot—chicken and dumpling stew
• Tarte au sucre—sugar pie
• Bouilli acadien—salted spare rib dinner
• Paté chinois—similar to shepherd’s pie
• Poutine râpée—baked potato dumpling
• Ragoût—thick stew
• Tchaude—fish chowder

However, no matter how delicious those foods were, there is one that stands out the most because we didn’t get to eat it very often. We didn’t eat out much when I was growing up, so it was a treat to get something from a restaurant. So, what was this special treat? It was the donair.

If you’ve never heard of a donair, that’s okay. Most people outside of the Maritime provinces have never heard of it either. So what is it?

It’s a sandwich similar to a gyro, and it was invented by a Greek immigrant who settled in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Back in 1973, Peter Gamoulakos, a restauranteer, wanted to introduce the local residents to Greek cuisine. However, people were unfamiliar with lamb and tzatziki sauce. They found the first a little weird, and the latter yogurt-based sauce too sour.

Being an enterprising sort of guy, Mr. Gamoulakos decided to tweak the original recipe for the döner, or gyro, so that it would be more palatable for the locals. So, what did he do? He swapped out the lamb with beef and concocted a sweeter sauce. Unlike the gyro that often comes with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, olives, and other vegetables, the donair is topped with tomatoes and onions only.

Thus, the Donair King restaurant was born, and almost every pizza joint in Atlantic Canada serves donairs. In my own hometown, the best place to order and enjoy donairs is Pizza Delight. The restaurant has been a fixture in town for a long time, a to-go place for pizza, calzones, and, of course, donairs.

When I recently served donairs for dinner, our son remarked that the donair sauce was so sweet that it wasn’t surprising that donairs hadn’t caught on outside of the Maritimes. He’s just lucky I didn’t prepare the sweetened condensed milk version of the sauce!

Original Donair Recipe

Makes six servings

Meatloaf

1 ½ lbs. ground beef (15% fat)
1/3 C bread crumbs (I prefer Panko brand)
1 ½ tsp. paprika
1 tsp. cayenne pepper (if desired, but be prepared to feel a lot of spicy heat on your tongue!)
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. ground black pepper (I would strongly recommend reducing this to ½ tsp.)
½ tsp. salt

Sauce (runny)

2/3 C nonfat evaporated milk (I like Carnation brand)
2/3 C white granulated sugar
1/3 C white vinegar

Other

6 pita bread rounds (I like Papa Pita brand)
3 tomatoes, diced or chopped
1 lg. onion, diced or chopped

Cooking instructions

Preheat oven to 300°F.

Prepare the meatloaf:

Mix together ground beef, bread crumbs, and spices in a large bowl until well blended. Then press very firmly into a metal, non-stick 8x8 baking pan. Bake in the pre-heated oven until cooked all the way through. This usually takes about 2 hours, and should register 160° on a thermometer.

Set aside to cool. I highly recommend letting it cool at room temperature for 20-30 minutes before putting it in the fridge for 2-4 hours. Doing so will make slicing the meat much easier.

Make the sauce

Combine milk, sugar, and vinegar in a jar with a lid. Shake well to blend. Put in fridge.

Final steps and assembly

When ready to assemble the donairs, heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cut meatloaf into thin slices. Fry until meat is browned on both sides. Remove from the skillet and keep warm. Flick a bit of water into the hot skillet and brown pita bread rounds on each side to soften. Layer meat and toppings in the center of each pita round. Drizzle with some sauce and enjoy!

Alternate donair sauce recipe (thick)

2/3 C sweetened condensed milk
¼ C white vinegar
½ tsp. garlic powder

Whisk condensed milk, vinegar, and garlic powder together in a bowl until well combined. Refrigerate for at least an hour before using.