Genuine London Doner kebab recipe?
Posted: Fri May 12, 2006 4:36 am
Ahh, I'm writing this for about the 20th time. Please bear with me.
I've got a feeling this place is the place to find this out though, and I know one of you actually made doner 'legs' as I've read the posts.
I'm English and lived in NE London for the first 24 years of my life.
I ended up marrying an American girl and I've been living in America for the last 7 years. I really miss doner kebabs.
Americans have Gyros and Canadians have Donaires but I've yet to find one that wasn't different enough from the London Doner to make it just somehow unsatisfying and every single recipe I've ever tried online (it's been a lot now) has been either somehow too authentic in it's Greek or Turkish origins to make it like the huge juicy London doners I miss so much and the ones sold in shops here just aren't the high quality of the average London Doner (even the pretty poor grease shop variety).
Generally even if advertised as Lamb they're mainly made from beef and sometimes flavoured with lamb fat a little bit.
In my experience from the ones I've tried, the lowest quality doner I've ever eaten in London has been better than the best Gyro I've had here (tried them now in California, Washington and New York - New Yorks were the best but still not right).
So heres the possibly slightly embarrassing bit...I bought a small electric commercial Doner rotisserie. It's an American brand (Kronomatic) but it's the equivalent to the smallest autodoner brand that can handle a 10 pound leg. It wasn't cheap.
I've tried emailing manufacturers of pre made doner legs in england (As this is the kind I want to replicate) and received absolutely no replies.
The only luck I ever had in finding out the construction of the generic chip shop style doner leg was by saying I was interested in purchasing their product and asking for nutritional information.
From this I discovered some trends.
Most of them have a 30 percent fat content and a good amount of filler (usually rusk) to soften the finishing product and help it remain juicy (I suppose to basically make it absorb and hold fat), MSG, and an emulsifier.
Knowing an average fat content was very useful, and reading on here was a breath of fresh air about using near frozen meat mixtures to construct the cone. That was a new one and made sense.
I've spent a lot of money on meat and I just cannot get that perfect mix of crispness with juiciness while retaining that almost near leathery characteristic (for want of a better word) while still remaining soft enough to be pleasing that a good doner meat should have.
My attempts haven't ever been truly awful, but they're just nowhere near right.
I'm not too unhappy with my spice mixture and onion juice seems to work a great deal towards that doner smell and taste, but the meat texture has been rubbish.
From what I understand the processed meat mix (or very very finely ground) should resemble English pork sausage meat and be kind of bouncy after the fat has truly bound with the meat but I found when cooking (tried from frozen and defrosted, my mix tends to split on the spit and be tough and difficult to carve. It's just not right.
If I could just find some vague amounts from a commercial mix recipe to help me over these stumbling blocks I would frankly be deliriously happy.
I'm basically lacking those amounts of the cheap padding ingredients to make it authentic to the London item.
If any of you can help or know of ANYONE in the business who might know of a commercial recipe I'd be forever grateful.
Many thanks in advance.
Rob.
I've got a feeling this place is the place to find this out though, and I know one of you actually made doner 'legs' as I've read the posts.
I'm English and lived in NE London for the first 24 years of my life.
I ended up marrying an American girl and I've been living in America for the last 7 years. I really miss doner kebabs.
Americans have Gyros and Canadians have Donaires but I've yet to find one that wasn't different enough from the London Doner to make it just somehow unsatisfying and every single recipe I've ever tried online (it's been a lot now) has been either somehow too authentic in it's Greek or Turkish origins to make it like the huge juicy London doners I miss so much and the ones sold in shops here just aren't the high quality of the average London Doner (even the pretty poor grease shop variety).
Generally even if advertised as Lamb they're mainly made from beef and sometimes flavoured with lamb fat a little bit.
In my experience from the ones I've tried, the lowest quality doner I've ever eaten in London has been better than the best Gyro I've had here (tried them now in California, Washington and New York - New Yorks were the best but still not right).
So heres the possibly slightly embarrassing bit...I bought a small electric commercial Doner rotisserie. It's an American brand (Kronomatic) but it's the equivalent to the smallest autodoner brand that can handle a 10 pound leg. It wasn't cheap.
I've tried emailing manufacturers of pre made doner legs in england (As this is the kind I want to replicate) and received absolutely no replies.
The only luck I ever had in finding out the construction of the generic chip shop style doner leg was by saying I was interested in purchasing their product and asking for nutritional information.
From this I discovered some trends.
Most of them have a 30 percent fat content and a good amount of filler (usually rusk) to soften the finishing product and help it remain juicy (I suppose to basically make it absorb and hold fat), MSG, and an emulsifier.
Knowing an average fat content was very useful, and reading on here was a breath of fresh air about using near frozen meat mixtures to construct the cone. That was a new one and made sense.
I've spent a lot of money on meat and I just cannot get that perfect mix of crispness with juiciness while retaining that almost near leathery characteristic (for want of a better word) while still remaining soft enough to be pleasing that a good doner meat should have.
My attempts haven't ever been truly awful, but they're just nowhere near right.
I'm not too unhappy with my spice mixture and onion juice seems to work a great deal towards that doner smell and taste, but the meat texture has been rubbish.
From what I understand the processed meat mix (or very very finely ground) should resemble English pork sausage meat and be kind of bouncy after the fat has truly bound with the meat but I found when cooking (tried from frozen and defrosted, my mix tends to split on the spit and be tough and difficult to carve. It's just not right.
If I could just find some vague amounts from a commercial mix recipe to help me over these stumbling blocks I would frankly be deliriously happy.
I'm basically lacking those amounts of the cheap padding ingredients to make it authentic to the London item.
If any of you can help or know of ANYONE in the business who might know of a commercial recipe I'd be forever grateful.
Many thanks in advance.
Rob.