Mongolian Beef (30-Minute Recipe!) (2024)

FAQs

What cut of beef is Mongolian beef made from? ›

What's the best cut of beef for making Mongolian Beef? Restaurants often slice up flank steak for this type of stir-fry. It's also a great choice for beginner cooks, because the grain on flank steak is really, really obvious, which makes it easy to make sure that you're slicing against the grain.

This is the KEY ingredient to super tender beef. Baking soda is commonly used in Chinese cooking to tenderize beef. If you're curious about the science behind it – baking soda neutralizes acid and raises the pH level, which causes the meat to become more alkaline.

Szechuan Beef is known for its use of Szechuan peppercorns, chili peppers, and often a spicy sauce made with garlic, ginger, and soy sauce. Mongolian Beef, on the other hand, features ingredients such as soy sauce, brown sugar, hoisin sauce, and sometimes oyster sauce for a sweet and savory flavor.

Despite its name, the dish has nothing to do with Mongolian cuisine. Mongolian beef is among the meat dishes developed in Taiwan where Mongolian barbecue restaurants first appeared. Thus, none of the ingredients or the preparation methods are drawn from traditional Mongolian cuisine but rather from Chinese cuisine.

While there are several ways to velvet, a pound of meat needs about two teaspoons of cornstarch and two teaspoons of oil, says Leung. You may also include two to three tablespoons of water. For beef, add a 1/4-teaspoon of baking soda for tenderizing. Additional seasonings are optional and vary from recipe to recipe.

The best meat to use instead of flank steak is skirt steak, flat iron steak, flap (sirloin tip) steak, tri-tip steak, and hanger steak (in that order). Each has its differences, but all do well being marinated and cooked over high heat, like flank steak.

Whether hosting a holiday cookout, serving up some stir-fry or tackling game meats, baking soda is the go-to meat tenderizer to help make your steak, chicken or turkey silkier, juicier and yummier.

From there, leave it in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours or overnight. Then take the meat out of the container and rinse it ensuring that all—or most—of the baking soda is off the steak.

Why It Works. Salt and soy sauce tenderize meat, help it retain moisture, and increase its savoriness. Sugar helps browning characteristics. Oil helps distribute fat-soluble aromatic compounds over the meat.

Stir-Fried Spicy Beef (Previously: Mongolian Beef)

Sliced beef marinated in soy and then stir-fried with peppers and onions.

Is Hunan beef the same as Mongolian beef? ›

Hunan beef also packs in some heat in the form of chili peppers, but it's not a numbing heat whatsoever and I like to think of it as the milder cousin to Szeuchuan beef. What's the difference between Hunan beef vs Mongolian beef? Another favorite beef recipe of mine, Mongolian beef is much sweeter than Hunan beef.

Szechuan Beef vs Mongolian Beef

Szechuan Beef has a sweet and spicy flavor with added chili peppers and Szechuan peppercorns. The Szechuan peppercorns has a distinctive tingly numbing sensation when eaten. Mongolian beef has a mild and much simpler taste, making it a kids' favorite, outside of broccoli beef.

Cornstarch: Cornstarch is used as a thickening agent in many Asian dishes. It gives the Mongolian beef its signature glossy, thick sauce. If you can't find cornstarch, use flour instead, but it may not provide the same clear, glossy finish.

Many people assume that Mongolians don't eat pork. Normally, Mongolians don't eat much pork but Russian style pork bacon is popular.

That's because as a culture of nomadic herders, they eat what's at hand – and that's whatever their herd supplies. Mongolians have eaten this way for centuries. Mutton (sheep), goat, and beef are their main source of meat and are often refer to red foods.

I recommend flank steak in Mongolian Beef because although it is an inexpensive cut of beef, it transforms into buttery delicious when marinated and coated in soy sauce and cornstarch.

Carpaccio (pronounced "car-PAH-chee-oh") is a traditional Italian appetizer consisting of raw beef sliced paper-thin, drizzled with olive oil and lemon juice, and finished with capers and onions. In contemporary cuisine, carpaccio can refer to any thinly sliced raw meat or fish, such as tuna, served in this fashion.

Skirt steak has more fat, making it taste even richer and juicier than flank steak. It also has more connective tissue. Flank steak is thicker and wider than skirt steak and a little easier to find in stores. It is a reasonable substitute for skirt steak.

What is Flank Steak? What is this? Other names for flank steak include London broil and skirt steak, which is actually a different cut (more on that in a moment). This cut of steak comes from the abdominal muscles of the animal, right behind its chest.