Week 27: Tenderizing - Ginger-Soy-Lime Shrimp and Pineapple Chicken [Cooking]

Intro from Cooking Challenge: Everyone's been there: the tough, overcooked, hunk of shoe leather that somebody tries to pass off as a steak. When it's bad, it's really bad, but when it's good there's nothing quite like a nice tender piece of meat. Tenderizing is the process of breaking down collagen in meat in order to make it more palatable and easily digestible. The process can occur in a few ways: physical tenderization, such as pounding or piercing; through cooking, such as braising or slow-cooking; or through chemical reactions with acid, salt, or natural enzymes. In the colder months, braised beef is a go-to favorite, but in the hot summer months, pork chops on the grills are always great, although only fresh pineapple will cause the tenderization. Whatever your preferred method is, once you learn how to tenderize your meat you may never go back. HERE COMES THE HAMMER.

These shrimp were marinated in a combination of ginger, garlic, soy sauce, and lime juice (adapted from here). Since shrimp tenderize quite quickly, I only marinated them for about twenty minutes. 

After being peeled and marinated, I put them on skewers under the broiler for two minutes on each side. They came out perfectly cooked, and some even had a little crisp, which I love. A great alternative for those of us without a grill.

For the chicken, I made a sauce of Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, oil, and pineapple juice/slices (adapted from here) and let the chicken breasts marinate for about 2-3 hours. 

After marinating, I tossed them in the oven for about twenty minutes at 450 degrees Fahrenheit. They came out deliciously juicy. I'm not sure how much I enjoyed the pineapple and chicken flavors together (this probably would have been much better with a steak), but it did make the chicken very tender.