Although the roasting of meat on horizontal spits has an ancient history, the shawarma technique—grilling a vertical stack of meat slices and cutting it off as it cooks—first appeared in the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century in the form of döner kebab,[1][13][14] which both the Greek gyros and the Levantine shawarma are derived from.[1][2][15] Shawarma, in turn, led to the development during the early 20th century of the contemporary Mexican dish tacos al pastor when it was brought there by Lebanese immigrants.[2][16] The dish is also especially popular in Ottawa, Ontario, where a large community of the Lebanese diaspora exists.[17]
Shawarma is prepared from thin cuts of seasoned and marinated lamb, mutton, veal, beef, chicken, or turkey. The slices are stacked on a skewer about 60 cm (20 in) high. Pieces of fat may be added to the stack to provide extra juiciness and flavour. A motorized spit slowly turns the stack of meat in front of an electric or gas-fired heating element, continuously roasting the outer layer. Shavings are cut off the rotating stack for serving, customarily with a long, flat knife.[1]
Spices may include cumin, cardamom, cinnamon, turmericorpaprika, and in some areas baharat.[16][3] Shawarma is commonly served as a sandwich or wrap, in a flatbread such as pita, laffaorlavash.[1][18] In the Middle East, chicken shawarma is typically served with garlic sauce, fries, and pickles. The garlic sauce served with the sandwich depends on the meat. Toumortoumie sauce is made from garlic, vegetable oil, lemon, and egg white or starch, and is usually served with chicken shawarma. Tarator sauce is made from garlic, tahini sauce, lemon, and water, and is served with beef shawarma.
InIsrael, most shawarma is made with dark-meat turkey, commonly served with tahina sauce instead of Yogurt for kashrut reasons.[16] It is often garnished with diced tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, pickled vegetables, hummus, tahina sauce, sumac, or amba mango sauce.[1] Some restaurants offer additional toppings, including grilled peppers, eggplant, or french fries.[19]
InArmenia and Georgia, shawarma is traditionally made with thin cuts of marinated meat which is left marinating overnight in spices such as coriander, cumin, cardamom, paprika, garlic, lemon juice, and olive oil.[20]
^الهواري, د عبد القادر. أسلمة العالم (in Arabic). ببلومانيا للنشر والتوزيع. p. 54.
^Kraig, Bruce; Sen, Colleen Taylor (2013). Street Food Around the World: An Encyclopedia of Food and Culture. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. pp. xxv, 18–19, 127–129, 339. ISBN978-1598849554. OCLC864676073.
^Eberhard Seidel-Pielen (May 10, 1996). "Döner-Fieber sogar in Hoyerswerda" [Doner fever even in Hoyerswerda]. Die Zeit (in German). Archived from the original on December 25, 2021. Retrieved May 6, 2016. Neither in the written recipes of the medieval Arab cuisine nor in the Turkish cookbooks from the first half of the 19th century are there any indications. According to research carried out by Turkish master chef Rennan Yaman, who lives in Berlin, the doner kebab is an amazingly young creation of Ottoman cuisine. (Quote translated from the German)
^Kiple, Kenneth F.; Ornelas, Kriemhild Coneè, eds. (2000). The Cambridge World History of Food, Volume 2. Cambridge University Press. p. 1147. ISBN9780521402156. Archived from the original on 2023-04-21. Retrieved 2019-07-23 – via Google Books. Bursa is the town that gave birth to the world-famous doner kebab, meat roasted on a vertical revolving spit.
Media related to Shawarma at Wikimedia Commons
