Tacos Al Pastor / Chicken shawarma -- best way to cook?

[jasonwilliams14]

hey everyone! Hope everyone is great!
I have a question about something I have been wanting to try and cook for sometime. Tacos Al Pastor and Chicken shawarma.

I think my main question is, what is the best way to cook these two up?
Use something like a huge thumbtack (blanking on the name). But put the meat on the spike, put a pineapple on top and put in my 22" kettle.

Or use a rotisserie for my 22" kettle?

One question I have, bit of a concern because I have never done this before is, how do i ensure the middle is fully cooked? I would do probe temping with my thermapen. Seems a bit different since they will be "slices" of meat so might difficult to get a good reading.

I am open to ideas and suggestions.
Very excited to give this a try.

TY!

[Huskee]

Jason, I don't have any advice personally since I've never cooked shawarma, but I moved this to the Rotisserie/Shawarma main channel. You could try browsing in this channel to see if any topics herein might have some answers for you.

[LA Pork Butt]

I do it with a spike in my Big Green Egg. I would think a rotisserie would be better if you can keep the pieces of meat together. I like using boneless skinless chicken thighs.

[jasonwilliams14]

Exactly. Boneless skinless chicken thighs is what I am thinking. Thank you!

[jasonwilliams14]

Jason, I don't have any advice personally since I've never cooked shawarma, but I moved this to the Rotisserie/Shawarma main channel. You could try browsing in this channel to see if any topics herein might have some answers for you.

O, let me do that! I must have missed that in my haste!

[Jfrosty27]

I also use a vertical skewer in my kettle or my pellet cooker. Amazon has them of course. Really easy. Works great. I also recommend boneless skinless chicken thighs. I have also done very thinly sliced pork steak. Yum.

[jasonwilliams14]

if you do not mind me asking, how do you setup your kettle when using the vertical skewer?
Bank coals both sides? one side? Been thinking about best way to do that.

[Jfrosty27]

jasonwilliams14 I use my SnS insert (Slow and Sear). I run it fairly hot. 350-375 so I get some charred edges on the meat. I also rotate it 90 degrees every now and then to get more even cooking.

[Lynn Dollar]

Steven Raichlen does Tacos Al Pastor without a trompo in this Episode 311 in Project Fire.

He thin slices a boneless pork butt, marinades in an adobo sauce, then grills

https://videos.oeta.tv/video/episode-311-the-improbable-grill-pume8m/

[Donw]

I do then two ways:
1. Without a spike : https://www.rickbayless.com/recipe/pastor-style-tacos/
2. Layered on a spike I bought online. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Both ways produce great tacos.

[PGH_RAM]

I bought this one: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C3TZ63RR...fed_asin_title

It fits perfectly between the two baskets on my 22" kettle. I fill the baskets about 2/3 of the way to avoid burning the outside before the inside is cooked. I put a few coals that are left in the chimney on either side in between the baskets so it can cook from all sides. I use a couple of oak chunks for smoke.

[jasonwilliams14]

PGH_RAM Giving this a shot today. Chicken is prepped and ready to go. Going to kick it off in about an hour! hopefully turns out great!

[PGH_RAM]

jasonwilliams14 I'm sure you're going to nail it. I look forward to pictures!

[jasonwilliams14]

Gave this a shot yesterday. Chicken turned out super moist and good. I need to adjust the recipe a bit. I had some problems keeping my temps where I wanted and I feel like I need to figure out how to get a good "circular" heat pattern to cook evenly. Mine has handles like yours so I cannot rotate it every so often. I guess I could bank the goals all the way around for better heat distribution? it was fun and will try again.

[TripleB]

PGH_RAMs skewer dish looks pretty good. Bought one.

My Al Pastor recipe layers the chile/adobe pork in an aluminum pan and cooked in the oven. Comes out really good.

[realdocBBQ]

So it's more just baked really, in the marinade/slather? Mostly wouldn't have the caramelized/crispy bits, but I can imagine it's still tasty AF.

[TripleB]

realdocBBQ Yes, baked for about 4 hours. Let it cool in the pan and refrig overnight. Next day you slice it (like you would on the spit), chop it and fry it on a flat top to give it its caramelized/crispy bits. And yes, you imagined correctly - it is very tasty. Especially with the glazed and fried pineapple. Just a different way to get a good Al Pastor Taco.

[barelfly]

I do a cheater cook for Tacos al Pastor and it works perfectly!

I make true adobo and have talked about that on here a number of times, but for al Pastor, I buy think pork steaks and marinade those over night. Then I turn my gasser on (or whatever grill you might use) and open it full blast on high and let the grates get hot! Then, hot and fast, turning every 30 seconds or so. These thin pork steaks cook fast, within a few minutes, then I slice up or chunk up and serve with grilled pineapple, cilantro and white onion and some type of red salsa.

Here’s a link to one of my recent al Pastor Cooks https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/fo...72#post1662572

I do like that spit PGH_RAM posted and used, that would be fun to use. I think one difference in that spit vs how I cook the pork steaks, you get more char across the entire pork steak on each side. I’m not sure if PGH_RAM sliced meat off then put the spit back on to char back up? That might not work. But I do like that spit set up he has!!!

But you have two great ways to cook as Pastor now depending on how you want to go. And I need to make some type of chicken shawarma!

[PGH_RAM]

Yes, I have heat resistant gloves that go halfway to my elbow, so with the baskets only 2/3 full I can reach in there, take out the trompo, slice some meat, and put the trompo back in.

[barelfly]

PGH_RAM that’s golden then!!! Great way to cook up al pastor! I have welding gloves I use for the kettle, may have to look into that spit! Thanks for sharing!

[jfmorris]

jasonwilliams14 I do chicken shawarma a few times per year, using boneless skinless chicken thighs, and the technique I like best on the kettle is the one that SNSGrills shows in this video and recipe:

https://snsgrills.com/pages/chicken-shawarma

I use two metal skewers to put the meat on, and cook indirect until about done, then do some searing over the SNS basket to get a little char on the outside. I then slice on the cutting board. You can do it vertically, but height is very limited on a kettle, and its just more trouble than its worth in my opinion.

Hold on... digging up some pictures. Here you go. I usually skewer some veggies too, and brush them with my shwarma marinade during the cook.

[Spinaker]

Oh the BBQ gods are looking down on you with favor, my friend.

[jfmorris]

jasonwilliams14 *highly* recommended. Using the SNS process makes it easy to do the cook indirect, and then get the char you want over the coals.

[jasonwilliams14]

I need to learn how to do this....looks amazing!

[jfmorris]

Thanks too for bringing this subject up. I have a bunch of boneless chicken thighs in the freezer, and this would be an ideal use for them... its an easy cook that we can eat for several days.

[TripleB]

jfmorris You should give Harissa Chicken a try. Easy marinade and served with Hummus, pita bread and a salad is quite the meal. I think I'm putting it next week's menu.

Harissa Marinade
1 ½ C. Chopped Onion
¼ C. Canola Oil
¼ C. Harissa
3 Tbsp Lemon Juice
1 ½ tsp Kosher Salt

1. For any of the marinades: Combine all the ingredients in a blender and puree until the mixture is smooth and about as thick as a milkshake. You may need to add a couple of tablespoons of water to thin the mixture.
2. Toss thighs chunks with the marinade and seal in a zip-top bag. Marinate in frig for at least 4 hours or up to 2 days (I usually do 1 day).
3. When ready to grill, wipe off the excess marinade. Thread the chicken pieces on skewers and grill directly over hot coals, turning every few minutes, until the chicken has lightly charred on the exterior and is cooked through, about 8 minutes total.

[jfmorris]

Shows how little I know - didn't know harissa was a special sauce. Now I will be on a quest to find it or make my own...

[jasonwilliams14]

Those look great. I have been eyeing those skewers for awhile. I have been trying to figure out if i could cook like that (the wy your setup is) on my kettle. I like how the tips rest on the edge, the meat is directly over the fire, not touching a grate.

[TripleB]

jasonwilliams14 Yes, it's harder on a round grill opposed to a rectangular grill. However, I have also done this chicken in a sauté pan and a wok with very similar results. I just wanted to grill and use my skewers.

[Lynn Dollar]

Hey Grill Hey has a version of Al Pastor. She puts the pork on a tromp without the roti. And smokes it in a pellet grill. But the problem I see with this compared to Raichlen's, is getting a char on all of the pork, outside and inside.

The Mexico City street taco vendors use the vertical roti to keep a char or crust on the outside of the meat. As they shave off the outside crust, more char and crust is created. They continually serve tacos off the trompo during the day.

Here, Hey Grill Hey, has a great smoked char on the outside but I gotta wonder about inside slices. Raichlen's method grills all of the meat and puts a char on it all.

https://youtu.be/PRkBnKEI7oM?si=BnQmotarg4ROQeL_

[jfmorris]

I try and chop my chicken shawarma up such that all the pieces have a little of the outside and char on them. But you've hit the nail on the head here. Most of us backyard cooks are never going to be serving continually throughout the day, so will never be able to pursue that constant slicing and spinning for more char approach.

[PGH_RAM]

I use the Hey Grill Hey recipe. It's really delicious. I just shave the outside as it cooks and let more crust develop on the edges.

[carolts]

I used to do something similar with teriyaki marinated chicken thighs in the PBC. I layered a few slices of pineapple in there for flavor. It was a huge hit at parties, including a pig roast (for folks who didn't eat pork). Never had left-overs, even though I cooked large quantities. It did not have the all-over char/browning that I would have liked, but the flavor was amazing. Hanging the skewers over the charcoal worked really well. I used the bottom of a pineapple to keep the bottom from burning and drying out. Folks called my PBC "Carol's chicken barrel."

[HawkerXP]

PBC, PBC, PBC!

[Spinaker]

Wow, this is a great idea.

[carolts]

Doesn't get any easier than this!