Tag Archives: Donair

The secret life of kebabs and donairs

Posted on by
Reply

Like Sloan’s Patrick Pentland, I used to be a fan of donairs, kebabs and street meat. Or late-night chinese food. Anything heavy and greasy tastes good after a few beers, but the places serving them have to know the risks associated with what they are serving, and where things might go wrong.

About a decade ago donairs or kebabs were linked to three outbreaks of E.coli O157 in Alberta, and I stopped eating them.mega-donair

Outbreak investigators found that traditional cooking practices including a rotating a cone of meat next to a heat source, were problematic.

Often, especially in the post-bar-closing rush, the heat sources are turned up so the outside of the cone gets scorched, but meat just below the surface doesn’t reach safe temperatures (because it’s being cut off quickly to meet demand). The cooking practice, along with the tendency for the meat cones to be made with ground meat and stored frozen can cause a perfect outbreak scenario.

A national committee was created to look at donair risks associated and the group recommended grilling post cone cut-off to ensure pathogen-killing temps. Good call.

And for those in Australia looking to learn more about kebab culture, according to news.com.au, there’s a reality show for you.

No matter your choice of filling, it’s almost a rite of passage to end up at a kebab shop after a big night out.

A kebab shop worker witnesses everything you would rather forget in the morning.
He sees when you spill the sweet chilli sauce down your white shirt or shamefully profess your love to a stranger.

Mustafa Mohammed has owned Smith Kebabs in Collingwood for more than four years. He has seen it all and has never had a dull moment.

“We get a lot of drunk people in our area, there are a lot of clubs and we have to be patient every day,” he said.

“The challenges are people drink too much and they can’t stand and sometimes can’t even talk.

“They just come in and say ‘I want a kebab’ and you have to try and communicate with them politely to find out what they want.”

Mr Mohammed’s story and the antics in his shop will be revealed on a new miniseries on SBS called Kebab Kings.

Executive producer Michael Cordell said cameras were set up in the kebab shops during peak periods.

“We thought the kebab shops provided an unusual window into contemporary Australia,” he said.

 

Maybe we should start kebab-blog

Posted on by
Reply

As a follow-up to last week’s kebab/street meat post, today, the FSA published results of a survey of the content of 494 kebabs across the UK.

The study’s authors report that without salad and sauces, the average kebab contains:
* 98% of daily salt
* nearly 1000 calories
* 148% of daily saturated fat

The authors also report the mislabelling of kebab meat, with meat species not declared or declared wrongly. In some instances, pork was present in samples labelled as Halal.

The Food Standards Agency’s Chief Scientist Andrew Wadge said:
‘We welcome this new study. It is important that people are properly informed about the food they eat. However, our advice is that people don’t need to avoid doner kebabs altogether because of these findings. Like all types of food that is high in fat and salt they do not need to be cut out of your diet altogether."

Wonder if they sampled for pathogens, and if they found any.

Creator of the Kebab (or donair, the after-bar street meat) dies

Posted on by
Reply

Following up on my last post on the passing of the dude who helped create the microwave (and indirectly, caused lots of illnesses in Minnesota) there’s news out of Germany that the creator of the kebab (or donair as it’s known in Halifax or Calgary) has passed away.

 Mahmut Aygün, snack visionary and dab hand with a meat carver, has died of cancer at the age of 87, almost 40 years after permanently changing the drunken dining habits of millions.

The chef was born in Turkey but later moved to Germany in the hope of one day opening his own restaurant. He was serving customers at a snack stall when it dawned on him that kebab meat – a mix of roasted lamb and spices traditionally eaten with rice – could be served differently.

‘I thought how much easier it would be if they could take their food with them,’ he once said.

 (in celebration of the Conchords returning to HBO — the line "I’ll buy you a kebab" is at 2:11)

Donairs have been linked to at least three outbreaks of E.coli O157 in Alberta since 2004. Outbreak investigators found that the cooking practices traditionally used in kebabs and donairs, rotating a cone of meat around a heat source, were problematic.  Often, especially in the post-bar-closing rush, the heat sources are turned up so the outside of the cone gets scorched, but meat just below the surface doesn’t reach safe temperatures (because it’s being cut off quickly to meet the customer demands).  The cooking practice, along with the tendency for the meat cones to be made with ground meat and stored frozen can cause a perfect outbreak scenario.

And then cause the squirts. Or worse.

In response to the outbreaks a national committee was created in Canada to look at the risks associated with the food.  The group recommended that donairs/kebabs/shawarmas/street-meat-on-a-stick should be grilled after cutting off the cone to ensure pathogen-killing temps.  Good call.

I’m all for donairs and street meat. Or late-night chinese food.  Basically anything heavy and greasy tastes good after a few beers, but the places serving them have to know the risks associated with what they are serving, and where things might go wrong. Public health officials and food safety folks need to help businesses with this. If you don’t know what could go wrong, you shouldn’t be serving it.

Here’s a food safety infosheet on donairs from a couple of years ago.