Can I tenderize conch meat with baking soda
I want to tenderize conch meat with baking soda for the first time. It works on meats, beef, pork and chicken, but I have never tried it on conch meat. I have in the past, tenderized conch by pounding it and cooking for long periods.
Best Answer
While you might get a tiny bit of tenderizing from a baking soda soak, it won't do much to transform the physical structures that make conch tough. Mechanical tenderizing is the way to go - together with (typically) a very long and slow cooking time, or possibly cooking with a pressure cooker.
If you decide you want to try a baking soda "brine" I would recommend soaking briefly AFTER you pound the conch and making sure to wash the conch thoroughly afterwards to make sure you don't retain a soapy taste of baking soda that would ruin the subtle flavor of conch.
If you are interested in a chemical tenderizer for conch, you might consider some form of acid-based marinade - although, again, a marinade is going to transform the delicate flavors that characterize conch.
Basically, if you want to enjoy the conch-y taste of conch, I would go for tenderizing with a mallet and judicious cooking only.
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How do you soften conch meat?
To keep it tender, Bahamians like to use a meat tenderizer to pound the conch meat until it resembles a chicken cutlet. You can also use a rolling pin for this purpose. Another technique is to boil it in salted water for an hour\u2013it will soften up as time passes.Will baking soda tenderize meat?
Here's a trick for tenderizing meat that you may never have heard before: Use baking soda to tenderize meat. This may sound weird, but stay with us. As Cook's Illustrated explains, baking soda alkalizes the meat's surface, making it harder for the proteins to bond and thereby keeping the meat tenderer when cooked.Can you tenderize meat with soda?
Cola typically has a pH of about 2.7\u2014for comparison, lemon juice has a pH of 2\u2014making it acidic enough to break down some proteins without dissolving your meat. Soda acts as great tenderizer\u2014you could get a tender cut of meat grill-ready in less than a half-hour.How To Tenderize ANY Meat!
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Answer 2
You can try to tenderize the conch meat with a hammer as you are cleaning it, and put it on slow cook using a pressure cooker. Do not open it until all water is dry. Put enough water in, don't put salt at all and use bitter orange for the cleaning instead of lemon. Spice it with garlic and hot pepper in the cooking water. I'm from Haiti - trust me, I know how to cook conch.
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