How to make The Famous Atlantic Canadian “Halifax Donair”

Introduction to the Halifax Donair

Chances are that if you've never been to East Coast Canada or don't know a Maritimer personally, you've probably never heard of a donair before, and that's a shame because they are amazing! Many of us Maritimers consider it to be one of the east coast's signature dishes!

Well, if you're not yet familiar with the beloved Donair, allow me to introduce you.

Halifax, the capital of Nova Scotia in Canada, is famous for its delicious donairs! They can be found at most downtown restaurants and bars or sold by street vendors throughout the city all hours, day and night. Although originating in Halifax, you can also find donairs all across Atlantic Canada in the pizza shops of New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.

Unfortunately, outside of the Maritimes, it's truly a challenge to find real authentic donairs. Being an East Coaster from New Brunswick myself, now living in the big city of Toronto, this yummy Maritime delicacy is very difficult to find in restaurants around here. So I've spent quite a few years working on my own homemade version!

What is a Canadian “Halifax Donair”?
What's so special about a donair, and how would I describe one?

A donair (similar to the doner kebab) is a type of sandwich or wrap that originated in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The meat is made with spiced beef or lamb that is roasted on a spit and then sliced into thin strips. It is served in a pita bread wrap with tomatoes, onions, and a sweet sauce made from condensed milk, sugar, and vinegar; an optional add-on is shredded mozzarella cheese.

Donairs have also been compared to the Greek gyros wrap and the Middle East's shawarma; however, the meat is all beef and seasoned with different spices. The meat is traditionally cooked on a spinning grill, much like the picture to the right.

Donair sauce is something that's unique to the dish. Its flavour is deliciously garlicky and sweet and is also often used as a dipping sauce for pizza crusts and garlic “fingers”. Garlic fingers are what we Maritimers like to call pizza dough topped with Mozzarella cheese and garlic – they're very similar to cheezy garlic bread slices… BUT even better! 😛

The thinly sliced donair meat is wrapped up in a pita with toppings such as diced tomatoes, diced onion, mozzarella cheese and topped with its traditional sweet and garlicky Donair sauce.

Why do Canadians call it donair?

Donair is the Anglicized form of the Turkish “döner”, which literally means “rotating” – which refers to how the meat is cooked on a turning spit. The exact history of how donairs came to be known as donairs is not known, but as the name is so closely similar to ‘doner', most believe this is where the name originated.

What are the differences between a donair, doner, gyro, and shawarma?

Actually, very little, but there are some very important differences!
A traditional ‘doner,' gyros, and shawarma are made in much the same way as the Halifax donair, but donair is completely different in flavour!

Doner, gyros, and shawarma are made with beef, lamb, or chicken layered upon a large rotating vertical spit which may be flavoured and moistened with suet or fat. The meat is then shaven from the inner surface of the spindle and served into a warmed pita (or flatbread), topped with vegetables and sauces.

There are a few differences that set the traditional Halifax Donair apart from doner, gyro, and shawarma:

• Donair is most often made with beef rather than lamb or chicken.
• Donair meat is seasoned with different spices than doner, gyros, or shawarma.
• Typically the only toppings used on donairs are diced tomatoes and onions. Occasionally, mozzarella cheese is also used as a topping. I've also heard that in some places, lettuce is is also added, but this seems to be very rarely used and not considered a traditional topping.
• Donairs are topped with lots of donair sauce! This sauce is uniquely Canadian and distinctly different from doner, gyro, or shawarmas sauces. If it doesn't use donair sauce, it's not a donair!

The legend behind the Traditional East Coast Canadian Donair (aka Halifax Donair)

Different regions claim to have “invented” the doner, usually as variations of earlier Turkish kebabs, which were adapted to Middle Eastern cuisine such as the shawarma, but in today's post, we'll focus on Halifax's famous donair!

The popular pizza place “King of Donair” in Halifax, Nova Scotia, claims to be the famous dish's inventors. The basic gist of the story goes that in the 1970s a man named Peter Gamoulakos from Greece immigrated to Atlantic Canada and wanted to set up a traditional restaurant with his country's food. He tried selling traditional gyros but unfortunately had little success with the locals. The tzatziki sauce was apparently too sour, and the lamb was too unusual!

So Peter began experimenting and adapted the traditional wrap on his menu to the tastes of the east coast Canadians by using beef for the meat, some familiar spices, and a sweet garlic sauce. The Maritimers loved it and the Donair was born!

If you'd like to know more about the origins of this delicious wrap, check out this awesome article! It's a neat story and quite epic! lol

How to Make a Homemade Donair – Overview

In the recipe at the bottom of the page, you'll find the full instructions on making delicious homemade donairs, but first, here's a quick overview of how easy it is to make this recipe.

Making the meat is actually quite simple, and you don't need to have one of those “spinning meat grill things', also known as a rotating spit!

All you have to do is combine ground beef with the spices in the recipe along with some bread crumbs and form it into a tightly packed oval-shaped loaf and bake in the oven at 300°F for 2 ½ hours. It's essential that the loaf cook for this length of time in order to get the closest taste as possible to an authentic donair.

Once the meat has cooked, it needs to be chilled overnight in the fridge. Chilling the meat overnight makes it much easier to slice thinly and to portion it out, plus it gives more time for the flavors to develop.

The recipe you'll find at the bottom of the page will create enough meat for about 6 good-sized donairs, so I like to portion the meat into separate zip-lock baggies and put them in the freezer. This makes it convenient and easy for the next time we're craving a one!

I've been making donairs according to this recipe for years now and have tested this over and over again to get a flavor that's as close to the authentic Halifax Donair as possible. I'm quite proud of it!

Many of us Maritimers who've moved or relocated across the country think of this as homestyle comfort food, and it helps ease the homesickness just a little bit!

How to Assemble and Serve the Halifax Donair

Detailed instructions on preparing and assembling a donair can be found in the recipe card at the bottom of the page, but first, here's a quick overview of how to do it.

1. Heat the slices of donair meat in a frying pan with a little cooking oil.
2. While the slices are warming up, take a piece of pita bread and quickly wet both sides under running water. Now quickly, put the pita on top of the meat in the pan while it's cooking. Once the pita has been over the meat for about 1 minute, flip it over and let the pita steam for another 1 minute on the other side. I know this sounds like a weird step, but it's necessary to make sure the pita is soft enough to wrap around all that delicious meat!
3. Place the pita on top of a square of aluminum foil, then top with donair meat, diced tomatoes and onions, along with a generous helping of sweet donair sauce! Fold it, then wrap it up in the aluminum foil, and close the ends. Place the donair in the oven for about 10 minutes to keep warm until you're ready to serve.
4. When you're ready to eat, peel the aluminum foil away as you eat the donair. Make sure you have lots of napkins in hand – donairs are famously messy and delicious! Proper etiquette calls for using your hands! lol

How to Store Donair Meat

When stored in an air-tight container or baggie in the fridge, donair meat will be good for about a week.

Donair meat freezes very well, and it makes it super convenient to have on hand when you're craving your fix! I like to store individual portions of the meat in small zip lock baggies, then place them all into a more giant bag. Frozen donair meat should keep in the freezer for about 3 months.

Other ways to use Donair Meat

Below are some ideas on using the meat in recipes other than the traditional wrap. As time permits, I'll be posting recipes for these on the blog, so be sure to check back soon!

• Donair Pizza
• Donair oven sub sandwiches – served open-faced is best!
• Donair egg rolls – Greco restaurants back home make these!