Grilled Shrimp With Chile and Garlic

Baking soda on any protein is a method of velveting. It prevents toughness by altering the proteins preventing them from binding as tightly when cooked. It's virtually a necessity on chicken breast.

Great article on Serious Eats how mincing garlic affects flavor. Tested: knife-minced, garlic press, mortar and pestle, knife pureed, microplane. Raw: knife-minced garlic is by far the mildest, microplaned garlic very aggressive, the other three are in the middle. Quick cooking: heat tames the strength of all garlic; microplaned still the strongest. Long cooking: all garlic flavors reduced to a single mellow garlic base note. See "The Best Way to Mince Garlic" by Dan Gritzer.

Any reason you can't place garlic & chilis in a chopper and just process that way? Microplaning garlic is no big deal, but chilis are another matter. Thanks.

A quick google search will lead you to an article from Kenji on why he uses baking soda. I can attest, it absolutely works. Look up: Kenji Lopez-Alt Grilled Shrimp Skewers with Garlic and Lemon Recipe.

On the salt factor, it matters a lot what salt you use. Recipe recommends Diamond Crystal kosher salt. If using regular table salt, like Morton table salt, you need to use half the amount of salt in the recipe. This article explains different salts, and gives a conversion chart to show the differences: https://www.epicurious.com/expert-advice/prevent-measurement-mishaps-with-this-simple-salt-conversion-chart-article. Probably best to start with half the salt if the recipe doesn't specify type.

No. The level of baking soda is very low. I marinated for 1.5 hours and it was amazing. A quicker form of velveting uses more baking soda (full tsp. or two for 1lb meat), but it is then rinsed off. If you use that method you definitely don't want more than 1/2 hour or even 15 minutes.

yes he does. " air-drying, dry-brining, adding baking soda, and snuggling on the skewers" J. Kenji Lopez Alt's grilled shrimp scampi-ish - Food52

Will marinading longer with baking soda be a problem?

Kenji doesn't use baking soda. What is its purpose here?

For a sauce/marinade like this, you can definitely just use a chopper and get the same results. I would keep it slightly chunky - just short of a puree.

I swear by the Grate Plate! No chewed up fingernails or fingers! It’s a ceramic dish and I use mine for garlic, ginger, jalapeño.

I rarely comment on any recipe, but I have to note that my almost 3 year old could not get enough of this shrimp! Toddler approval bumps this up to 6 stars in my book.

Super good and easy. Minced the garlic rather than microplaning. I was worried it would be really spicy because my peppers were very potent, but the mayo mellowed it out. Will definitely make again.

Mixed chili crisp with mayo and the baking soda. Fabulous result!

Wow! I did it as written, except for substituting a squeeze of harissa for the fresh chile, and it was, by far (and I mean, by FAR), the best shrimp we've ever done on the grill. I'm going to try the same thing with chicken breasts.