Döner kebab

From Free net encyclopedia

Image:Döner kebab.jpg 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.

1 History
2 Preparation of meat for döner kebabs
3 Döner kebab around the world
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit]

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. Therefore, as the "modern" döner is very dissimilar to the traditional dish except by name, it can be argued that the döner as most people know it is a "traditional" German dish. The döner has been the most popular fast food dish in Germany since the 1980s.

[edit]

Preparation of meat for döner kebabs

Image:Döner kebab slicing.jpg 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 yogurt 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).

There are two ways of cutting meat from the cone:

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.

[edit]

Döner kebab around the world

Döner kebab is now widely available across Europe, mostly in the variant developed in Germany.

[edit]

Germany

Image:Doener berlin kraeuter.jpg In Germany, döner kebab is far more popular than hamburgers or sausages. 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.

Image:Tavuk doner.JPG

[edit]

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. Image:Doner kebab, partitioned tray, uk.JPG

[edit]

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 (popular in the East Midlands);
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.

UK doner kebab often uses a different mixture of spices, because immigrants from Cyprus operate a major proportion of the takeaways. Menus typically offer doner, shish (lamb and chicken) and kofte kebabs, with a 'special' including portions of each with bread and chips. "Doner meat" is often also offered as a pizza or burger topping in such establishments.

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. Although the kebabs are eaten en masse, consumption is generally between midnight and 6 a.m. thus giving them a bad social image, as this associates them with the heavy drinking culture of the city. Kebab shops are often the scene of angry confrontations and drink-fuelled skirmishes, and accordingly are staffed by burly security staff and doormen.

[edit]

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.

[edit]

Finland

In Finland, kebabs have gained a lot of popularity since Turkish immigrants have opened restaurants and by that bringing their own traditional food; and the popularity can be noticed in everyday life, especially around downtown areas. Kebab foods are generally regarded as a fast-food, often served in late-night restaurants also serving pizza. There are at least 913 currently active restaurants that serve kebab foodsTemplate:Ref 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" or "reel kebab") kebab, salad (tomatoes, pickles, cucumbers and cabbage included), mayonnaise, hot sauce (usually optional), and all rolled up in a thin pita bread. A standard sized rullakebab would weigh from less to more than one kilogram. A larger one is almost always present on the menu, called tuplarulla (double-roll/double-reel), which is identical to rullakebab, but with an extra quantity of meat. When "hot" is ordered, jalapeño peppers are usually served with the meal (separately).
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 a salad dressing (mayonnaise and/or anything hot). Salad is also often served with it.
Kebabpizza (kebab pizza) pizza with kebab and hot ingredients such as jalapeño as toppings. Other ingredients include pickled cucumbers, salami and tomatoes.
Pitakebab (pita kebab) (or simply kebab on the menu) same ingredients as for rullakebab except its small size compared to the rullakebab and thick pita bread also wrapped differently.

[edit]

Japan

Döner kebabs are also starting to be seen in Japan, where they are known as doneru kebabu. In some cities they may be sold from vans similar to ice cream vans.

[edit]

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.

[edit]

Brazil

Döner kebabs are sold as "churrasco grego" (greek barbecue).

[edit]

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 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.

[edit]