Discovering the donair by donalee Moulton

  Hung Out to Die

In my book Hung Out to Die the main character, an American transplanted to Nova Scotia, discovers the delicious joy of the donair. Many people have never heard of this juicy, meat-filled, garlicky concoction, but it is the official food of Halifax. Popular history says the donair – spicy meat wrapped in a pita and embraced with lots of sweet sauce – was invented in Halifax in the 1970s where it rapidly became a must-have menu item for late-night partiers, snackers, and food aficionados.

As my main character, Riel Brava, discovers, the donair can be a little difficult to eat. There is an art to juggling a stuffed pita while licking sauce off your face and adjusting foil wrap to get more donair in your mouth.

The recipe below avoids that dilemma. It’s an appetizer compliments of the Dairy Farmers of Canada. I have adapted the recipe slightly.

Donair Dip

Ingredients

1lb (450g) lean ground beef

1 tsp (5 ml) dried oregano

1 block (250 g) cream cheese

1 cup (250 ml) shredded old cheddar cheese (or cheese of your choice)

2 tsp (10 ml) paprika

2 tsp (10 ml) garlic powder

2 tsp (10 ml) onion powder

1/2 tsp (2,5 ml) salt

1/2 tsp (2,5 ml) black pepper

1 cup (250 ml) donair sauce (see below)

1/2 diced tomato (optional)

1/2 diced onion (optional)

 

Donair Sauce

1 can (300 ml) sweetened condensed milk

1/3 cup (80 ml) white vinegar

1 tsp (5 ml) garlic powder

Add all ingredients in a bowl and combine.

 

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 °F (180 °C).

Cook the ground beef and the spices together, mix well in a frying pan.

Drain off excess grease.

Mix the softened cream cheese, cheese and Donair sauce together.

Place ground beef mixture on the bottom of 9”x9” cooking dish (or equivalent).

Add the cheese and Donair sauce mixture on top of the ground beef mix.

Bake for 20 minutes.

Top with diced veggies after removing from oven (optional).

Serve hot or cold with tortilla chips or baked pita slices.

 

About Hung Out to Die

Meet Riel Brava. Attractive. Razor-sharp. Ambitious. And something much more.

Riel, raised in Santa Barbara, California, has been transplanted to Nova Scotia where he is CEO of the Canadian Cannabis Corporation. It’s business as usual until Riel finds his world hanging by a thread. Actually, several threads. It doesn’t take the police long to determine all is not as it appears – and that includes Riel himself.

Pulled into a world not of his making, Riel resists the hunt to catch a killer. Resistance is futile. Detective Lin Raynes draws the reluctant CEO into the investigation, and the seeds of an unexpected and unusual friendship are sown. Raynes and Riel concoct a scheme to draw a confession out of the killer, but that plan is never put into place. Instead, Riel finds himself on the butt end of a rifle in the ribs and a long drive to the middle of Nowhere, Nova Scotia.

                                                              Hung Out to Die