Reddit reviews Ziyad Shaker Premium Shawarma Blend, Perfect for Beef or Chicken Shwarmas,No Additives, No MSG 5.5oz

Boneless thighs typically contain lots of globs of fat; when I made shwarma last week I marinated in yogurt for a day, then laid up the stack with a shawarma paste, and it had enough fat I think. Ziyad makes a surprisingly good Shawarma mix which I tried out of desperation after not-finding sumac in four different stores.

We do a lot of puerco al pastor (every day if we're vending) on a trompo; the threshold for getting the meat to stick together right seems to be right at three tablespoons salt per 18 ounces marinade, where the marinade is made of one cup pureed chile ancho, one cup boiled pineapple juice, and 1/4 cup lime juice or vinegar. There are other spices in there but I don't think it makes any difference to the discussion. You need to bind or compress it and it needs to marinate for at least eight hours. I did much the same thing with the chicken, as far as ratios salt to acidic liquid, the shawarma mix did a good job of making a paste, and it all stuck together fine (I did mine on a small electric trompo I use for recipe development, not in a bread pan). And it was very, very good.