Tips for achieving shrimp that burst with a decisive snap in your mouth, all with a deep, sweet, crisply charred crust.
Grilling fast-cooking foods is always a balancing act. Hot and hard is the only way to develop those characteristic deep brown grill marks and charred spots that give grilled foods their unique flavor—a process called the Maillard reaction that takes place rapidly at around 300°F and higher. On the other hand, for the most tender, juicy meat, gentle and slow is the way to go. This is never more true than when you're cooking shrimp.
I peeled the shrimp, seasoned them with salt, threaded them onto a skewer, patted them dry , brushed them with a bit of olive oil to help conduct heat more evenly, then tossed them on a ripping-hot grill, letting them cook until nicely browned on the exterior. This took about four to five minutes per side. As expected, they were nearly inedibly rubbery by this point. How to speed up browning?
You caught me. The title of this story is"Five Steps to the Best Grilled Shrimp," yet here I am saying I'm not gonna use one of those steps. Ever hear of poetic license? Thanks.Left to right: plain, treated with sugar, treated with baking soda, shell-on. I grilled a batch of shrimp treated with baking soda next to a batch of shrimp with no baking soda and compared them side by side. Turns out, it works quite well. No question, the baking soda–treated shrimp came out plumper and juicier than their untreated brothers. What's more, the baking soda actually helped the shrimp brown faster as well. The Maillard reaction, responsible for producing those delicious browned flavors, takes place faster at higher pH levels.
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