Donner Kebab - what meat is it?
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Berkshire, UK
Posts: 764
Donner Kebab - what meat is it?
Just curious, when you buy a Donner Kebab, what is in the vertical spit roast thing that the donner content is sliced from?
I always thought it was just lamb and spices...........
We shopped in a frozen food outlet the other week, one from a chain we had not seen before, and in the meat freezer came across a bag of "Donner Kebab Meat". Being partial it was popped into our trolley and then stowed in our freezer until a couple of nights ago. After cooking as per the instructions it was chucked into a pitta pocket with some salad and garlic mayo and enjoyed. It was a good likeness to kebabs bought in any of the local kebab shops. Later I checked the ingredients list and was stunned to find that the main ingredient is chicken, some 60%, there was then some beef and a bit further down lamb at just 5%. I can't knock the flavour though........
Also, is it OK to have the vertical spit roast thingy heated for a few hours when the shop is open and then left to cool for a few hours while the shop is closed and then - repeat until consumed? I always thought that hot food counters had a short time limit on keeping meat products warm/hot after which time the food must be sold/binned? Is this a special exception?
Rans6.....................
I always thought it was just lamb and spices...........
We shopped in a frozen food outlet the other week, one from a chain we had not seen before, and in the meat freezer came across a bag of "Donner Kebab Meat". Being partial it was popped into our trolley and then stowed in our freezer until a couple of nights ago. After cooking as per the instructions it was chucked into a pitta pocket with some salad and garlic mayo and enjoyed. It was a good likeness to kebabs bought in any of the local kebab shops. Later I checked the ingredients list and was stunned to find that the main ingredient is chicken, some 60%, there was then some beef and a bit further down lamb at just 5%. I can't knock the flavour though........
Also, is it OK to have the vertical spit roast thingy heated for a few hours when the shop is open and then left to cool for a few hours while the shop is closed and then - repeat until consumed? I always thought that hot food counters had a short time limit on keeping meat products warm/hot after which time the food must be sold/binned? Is this a special exception?
Rans6.....................
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: uk
Posts: 712
Donner Pass was the location of a disaster which overtook a party of American pioneers on their way to California. They were forced to resort to cannibalism, so now you know what is in a Donner kebab.
Doner kebabs may not be the same thing.
Doner kebabs may not be the same thing.
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Mostly in my own imagination
Posts: 131
Originally Posted by rans6andrew
Just curious, when you buy a Donner Kebab, what is in the vertical spit roast thing that the donner content is sliced from?
Join Date: Dec 2018
Location: France
Age: 66
Posts: 81
High Risk
I had the same thoughts about these a few years back and looked into it. Briefly,they are regarded as a 'High Risk' food by food safety departments in local authorities and they give special advice around storage/cooking etc.
IIRC If not used by closing time it needs to be binned.
IIRC If not used by closing time it needs to be binned.
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: Crawley
Age: 65
Posts: 125
Time expired.
Originally Posted by Repos
I had the same thoughts about these a few years back and looked into it. Briefly,they are regarded as a 'High Risk' food by food safety departments in local authorities and they give special advice around storage/cooking etc.
IIRC If not used by closing time it needs to be binned.
IIRC If not used by closing time it needs to be binned.
Gnome de PPRuNe
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Too close to Croydon for comfort
Age: 58
Posts: 9,838
Was it Not The Nine O'clock News which featured a sketch about missing postmen? It finished in a kebab shop with the rotating meat being human shaped, complete with a peaked cap...
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 59
Posts: 110
A work of genius.
I was on a training course many years ago, and almost all of us were ex-servicemen, and a few former army blokes were doing back to back courses as their resettlement.
I got on well with them, despite the fact that I was a light blue.
They had a temporary hiring, and after a night in the pub, a trip to the kebab shop followed, and I crashed on their sofa.
Alfie (ex-pongo) bought two and scoffed one on the way back to the hiring.
Once there, he set the central heating to the lowest possible, took out his iron and used it to keep his second (still wrapped) kebab in place on top of the low heat radiator overnight; "post piss up breakfast" he explained! Still alive as far as I know.
I got on well with them, despite the fact that I was a light blue.
They had a temporary hiring, and after a night in the pub, a trip to the kebab shop followed, and I crashed on their sofa.
Alfie (ex-pongo) bought two and scoffed one on the way back to the hiring.
Once there, he set the central heating to the lowest possible, took out his iron and used it to keep his second (still wrapped) kebab in place on top of the low heat radiator overnight; "post piss up breakfast" he explained! Still alive as far as I know.
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: There and here
Posts: 2,494
I had the same thoughts about these a few years back and looked into it. Briefly,they are regarded as a 'High Risk' food by food safety departments in local authorities and they give special advice around storage/cooking etc.
IIRC If not used by closing time it needs to be binned.
IIRC If not used by closing time it needs to be binned.
That said, there's a few niche chains that serve really good kebabs now and they have these snazzy 'meat shaver' devices that remove extra-thin slices of the whatever meat. On that point I'm sure that I read a while back that a lot of these meat towers were legally made up of various meats (minus pork) and compressed together with both pressure and food glue to form the finished product. There were even traces of pork dna in some of the tested meat which caused a furore amongst those who don't partake of the pig. I would be very unlikely to visit a standalone kebab shop tbh, unless it had a very good reputation amongst the locals.
Gnome de PPRuNe
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Too close to Croydon for comfort
Age: 58
Posts: 9,838
I used to frequently drink in Guildford on a Friday night and finish up with a kebab before kipping on a sofa at a friend's place in Godalming. One night after the first couple of pints and observing members of Aldershot's finest getting leery we realised that we might just as well booze more peacefully in Godalming and headed back to the station, via the Kebab outlet in a passageway between High Street and North Street. Eaten sober it was an experience, not one I have ever cared to repeat...
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Glorious Devon
Posts: 689
I was at a party with the kids and let slip I had never had one of these culinary enigmas. They decided it was an omission that had to be rectified and it was kebabs all round. I ate it to be polite but they are on my "don't eat it again" list along with jellied eels. In fact of the two, I would rather go for the eels.
