primitives discuss schwarma

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/115739677

Oh my.

YarnAddict (550 posts)    Mon Mar 3, 2014, 04:24 PM

Really, really dumb question.

What is "schwarma" supposed to taste like?

My son is dating a girl from the Middle East, and when we went to a restaurant and ordered schwarma, to me it was dry and flavorless, and really tough to even swallow. It seriously needed some sauce, or something.
 
They really, really wanted me to like it, so I said I did. But I have to wonder, is that what it is supposed to taste like, or did I just get a bad plate of schwarma.

intheflow (24,416 posts)    Mon Mar 3, 2014, 04:53 PM

1. It should be very flavorful.

But I've had some baaaaad schwarma in my time. It can be very dry and very tough, especially (I've found) in fast food-ish type restaurants. I'm of Middle Eastern decent, and when I moved to my Denver neighborhood, everyone raved about the Middle Eastern restaurant in the area. I figure they're people who never had real Middle Eastern food. It tastes like cardboard! But now a new place has opened on the other end of the main drag and it's heavenly - though more of a sit-down restaurant and more expensive.
 
For a comparison, have you ever had a Greek gyros sandwich? The meat should taste similar. But then, there are a lot of bad gyros places, too, so maybe it's not a good suggestion for you. In general, the meat is lamb or beef and might be spiced with cumin, turmeric, nutmeg, and/or cinnamon. Slow-cooked on a rotisserie.

Aerows (22,211 posts)   Tue Mar 4, 2014, 05:38 PM

9. Oh man

It has been forever since I've had a gyro. Lamb with a mighty slathering of tzatziki sauce with a generous clump of feta cheese. Yum, yum, yum. There was a Greek restaurant right by my house when I lived in Florida and they would serve a Greek salad with a gyro that was *heavenly*.

Galileo126 (284 posts)    Mon Mar 3, 2014, 04:58 PM

2. It's like a Middle Eastern taco

A spiced meat on a spit (beef, chicken lamb, goat, etc), carved, served in a pita. Usually, it has grilled veggies, and a sauce made from either yogurt or hummus. The spit is similar to that used in Mexico when you order tacos al pastor (think towering rotating cone of meat cooked on a sideways flame).
 
Yeah, I encourage you to try it again, but at a different restaurant. Sounds like the meat was overcooked and under-sauced. Bummer that this was your first experience.

pinto (102,089 posts)    Mon Mar 3, 2014, 05:00 PM

3. Ideally should be moist, slathered in some kind of seasoned beef juice sauce. Or lamb or chicken.

Since it's sliced and cooked on a vertical spit it needs to be basted and basted and basted. That way the outer edges of the meat don't get too crisp or dry. I usually choose places where you can see the schwarma spit, whatever the setting - street, deli or restaurant. I always like to see the cook basting the whole thing. I like it a lot when done well.
 
Give it another try with all the sides, you might like it.

msanthrope (22,450 posts)    Tue Mar 4, 2014, 01:18 PM   
:oink: :oink:

7. It should not be dry...try it at another place.

[Skul]

Sounds like it needs to be flushed. 

[tanstaafl]

While working in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the eighties, there was a restaurant called "Mickey Dee's" up the road from the camp I lived in. Rumor was the meat was whatever was found dead along the road. Some of the braver souls at the camp would get ripped on sadiki and order a run to the Mick's for a schwarma and a limeade.

Could never bring myself to do it. Not because of the meat rumors, but the smell of the stuff would scare buzzards off of the gut wagon.

[Purple Sage]

One of my suppliers is Egyptian.  Whenever he comes into town, he insists we drive into San Antonio and eat at the Jerusalem Grill.  http://jerusalemgrill.net  It's Middle Eastern Food not Jewish; although I didn't realize this until I'd been in there a bit and realized the workers were speaking Arabic, at which point I wondered if I'd been poisoned.  I decided that if I had, it was going to be a sweet death and continued stuffing food into my mouth.

If I remember correctly, the owner/cook is Lebanese.  The food is fabulous.  I've had Shawarma there for lunch that is very tasty, tender, and juicy.  They serve the Shawarma on top of "Hommos" that is indescribably good (I hate Hummus I've had anywhere else.)  The whole thing sounds gross, but it is truly delicious.

Oh, btw DUmmies... the correct spelling is "Shawarma."

[lastparker]

msanthrope (22,450 posts)    Tue Mar 4, 2014, 01:18 PM   
 :oink: :oink:

7. It should not be dry...try it at another place.

 

I am so surprised La Puerca passed up the opportunity to drop a mention of Bill O'Reilly and falafel.  La Puerca LOVES to go there when middle eastern food is discussed. Of course, La Puerca insists on using the "felafel" spelling, I imagine in hopes that someone will attempt to correct her so she can smugly assert her mastery of the Oxford English dictionary.

[Carl]

YarnAddict (550 posts)    Mon Mar 3, 2014, 04:24 PM

Really, really dumb question.

What is "schwarma" supposed to taste like?

My son is dating a girl from the Middle East, and when we went to a restaurant and ordered schwarma, to me it was dry and flavorless, and really tough to even swallow. It seriously needed some sauce, or something.
 
They really, really wanted me to like it, so I said I did. But I have to wonder, is that what it is supposed to taste like, or did I just get a bad plate of schwarma.

Sounds like they were served a plate of Grits.

 

[franksolich]

I am so surprised La Puerca passed up the opportunity to drop a mention of Bill O'Reilly and falafel.  La Puerca LOVES to go there when middle eastern food is discussed. Of course, La Puerca insists on using the "felafel" spelling, I imagine in hopes that someone will attempt to correct her so she can smugly assert her mastery of the Oxford English dictionary.

You know, MsPiggy was always critical of my knowledge of cuisine, and actually perhaps maybe I don't know as much about chow as I think I do.

I get the sense MsPiggy's a fan of Lebanese cooking.

But I can't get it down specifically; I can't tell whether it's Sunni cuisine, Shia cuisine, Maronite cuisine, or Druze cuisine, that MsPiggy likes.

[franksolich]

YarnAddict (550 posts)    Mon Mar 3, 2014, 04:24 PM

Really, really dumb question.

What is "schwarma" supposed to taste like?

My son is dating a girl from the Middle East, and when we went to a restaurant and ordered schwarma, to me it was dry and flavorless, and really tough to even swallow. It seriously needed some sauce, or something.
 
They really, really wanted me to like it, so I said I did. But I have to wonder, is that what it is supposed to taste like, or did I just get a bad plate of schwarma.

You know, this is typical of the way the primitives try to ass-kiss politically-correct ethnic and racial groups.

[Karin]

Galileo126 (284 posts)    Mon Mar 3, 2014, 04:58 PM

2. It's like a Middle Eastern taco

That was really, really stupid. 

You need slapping.

[Ralph Wiggum]

I've can honestly say I've never heard of schwarma. 

[IassaFTots]

I've can honestly say I've never heard of schwarma. 

The first place I ever had it was in Richardson.  It's similar to gyros. 

[BannedFromDU]

I've can honestly say I've never heard of schwarma. 

     It's just pork or chicken, spiced and arranged onto a spit. It isn't a Middle Eastern taco, as some stupid DUmmy implied, but is instead a chicken or pork gyro. Like almost all meats slowly prepared with direct heat, it's damn good.

[DumbAss Tanker]

Sounds kinda like a gyros to me...except with different dressings that I find a bit less appealing than the Greco-American version.

[hillneck]

YarnAddict (550 posts)    Mon Mar 3, 2014, 04:24 PM
Really, really dumb question.
What is "schwarma" supposed to taste like?
My son is dating a girl from the Middle East

So you felt the need to run back and ask a bunch of basement dwelling, cheeto munching losers, instead of asking your son's date who is from the Middle East & right in front of you. You deserve what you got.  

[Vagabond]

Schwarmas, gyros, and falafels are all basically the same thing.  Every culture around the eastern med has a variation of it.

[BannedFromDU]

Schwarmas, gyros, and falafels are all basically the same thing.  Every culture around the eastern med has a variation of it.

     Falafel is actually nearly the opposite of the former two, but can be pretty good in situations when there is no meat to be had (which probably makes PhDDs an expert in falafel ).

[lastparker]

You know, MsPiggy was always critical of my knowledge of cuisine, and actually perhaps maybe I don't know as much about chow as I think I do.

I get the sense MsPiggy's a fan of Lebanese cooking.

But I can't get it down specifically; I can't tell whether it's Sunni cuisine, Shia cuisine, Maronite cuisine, or Druze cuisine, that MsPiggy likes.

IIRC, her beef with you (no pun intended) was over your use of the word "Italianate" to describe "baccala".

 

msanthrope (22,452 posts)
32. After being schooled on baccala by me, the poster in question now claims he isn't an expert

on "Italianate cuisine."

Okay. When I stop laughing at that, maybe I'll write a post about a hick who doesn't know the difference between architecture and food. Which isn't surprising, since it sounds like shit-on-a-shingle is a delicacy for that one.

Two main things to point out:  In the original thread, she herself posits that salt cod = baccala, when that is merely the term for salted cod used in Italy. Salted cod is actually attributed to being used first by the Basques. Second, if she really knows her OED as she professes to, she'd know that your use of the word "Italianate" is in no way incorrect.  It means "Italian in quality or characteristics" or "showing the influence of the art or culture of Italy".  It is not exclusive to architecture. She's just blathering on like a typical puffed up liberal, knowing that her fellow DUmmies are too stupid to know that she's full of crap.

[GOBUCKS]

Schwarma. I don't think I'd eat anything with such a gross-sounding name.

It's like calling your cuisine "grub".

Or a restaurant here in red state hell called "Vittles". It may be a decent restaurant, but the name keeps me away. I don't even like the sound of restaurants called "meat-and-three".

[DefiantSix]

I've can honestly say I've never heard of schwarma. 

The first place I ever had it was in Richardson.  It's similar to gyros. 

I'll bet the mortgage that the first time the DUmbshit yarnaddict heard of it was here:

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P05deS1h6oM[/youtube]

[Skul]

I still ain't eating something that sounds like it ought to circle a ceramic bowl. No.

[franksolich]

IIRC, her beef with you (no pun intended) was over your use of the word "Italianate" to describe "baccala".

 
Two main things to point out:  In the original thread, she herself posits that salt cod = baccala, when that is merely the term for salted cod used in Italy. Salted cod is actually attributed to being used first by the Basques. Second, if she really knows her OED as she professes to, she'd know that your use of the word "Italianate" is in no way incorrect.  It means "Italian in quality or characteristics" or "showing the influence of the art or culture of Italy".  It is not exclusive to architecture. She's just blathering on like a typical puffed up liberal, knowing that her fellow DUmmies are too stupid to know that she's full of crap.

Actually, I use "Italianate" rather than "Italian" because it upsets the sparkling old dude so.

And apparently MsPiggy too.

I do things like that.

And you're right; although it's, uh, somewhat irregular, "Italianate" the way I use it is not out of line.

[delilahmused]

I am so surprised La Puerca passed up the opportunity to drop a mention of Bill O'Reilly and falafel.  La Puerca LOVES to go there when middle eastern food is discussed. Of course, La Puerca insists on using the "felafel" spelling, I imagine in hopes that someone will attempt to correct her so she can smugly assert her mastery of the Oxford English dictionary.

And where's Nads? Surely she knows more about making these than anyone on the planet.

Cindie