Cycle 15 – Item 246

7 (Sat) September 2024

Mongolian Beef

4.0

by me

at home

-Changgok, Sujeong, Seongnam, Gyeonggi, Republic of Korea-

with the Family

Mongolian Beef is a Chinese dish.  Thinly sliced beef, stir-fried in a sweet soy-based sauce, often garnished with scallions.  Unclear of its exact origins – Wikipedia claims Taiwan – but undeniably popularized in America, and certainly not Mongolian.

After getting home from our summer holiday in the San Francisco Bay Area (see generally 15.183 Turbot Fillet), where we enjoyed the most amazing Chinese food (see for example 15.180 Classic Beijing Duck), I’ve been learning how to make American-Chinese dishes at home, including mushu (see for example 15.219 Mushu Shrimp with Hand-Made Pancakes), egg drop soup (see for example 15.241 American-Chinese Egg Drop Soup), and egg foo young (15.233 Egg Foo Young Gaprao) – (perhaps not so) coincidentally, all involving eggs.

This time, Mongolian Beef, following the recipe from The Woks of Life website (see Mongolian Beef), which also has a reference video on YouTube (see Easy Mongolian Beef).

Awesome.  The beef, having been “velveted” (more on that next time) then deep-fried, was super crispy on the outside, ridiculously tender on the inside, as only beef from Chinese restaurants can be.  The sauce, comprising only water + sugar + soy sauce, seemed too simple in composition to work, but man was I wrong – it was perfectly sweet, perfectly savory, enhanced by the loads of scallions, as well as underlying garlic + ginger + chilies.  Perhaps the best Chinese dish that I’ve made, ever (see also 4.0 BY ME).

Recipe to come.

(See all GLOBAL FOOD GLOSSARY)