Mongolian Beef 5-stars

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Love the Lau stuff but not a fan of his process. Not saying it's wrong, just not for me. I realize there are many ways to approach this style of cooking. IE my stock has ginger, garlic, and green onion in it so I don't have to add to the cook. It is a milder flavor and I can see someone one wanting it bolder but I like it that way. Same with all that protein prep: rinsing, marinading, velveting and deep frying. Use a LITTLE oil and fry. Ideally, this leaves little if any oil to dispose of. In fact, I have a few books that advocate DRY stir frying beef. Gives more mailliard. Plan to fool with that later. That being said, if you are into it by all means do it. Just know if you omit it you will need to add corn starch to thicken the sauce.

I bet 15k works as the wok is pretty thin. My burner is 40k BTU and do not have it up halfway.
I have not tried Lau's Mongolian Beef recipe but the recipe I did use was pretty much the best tasting Mongolian Beef I've ever eaten. Lau cooks very similar to an old friend I had that owned a Chinese restaurant in Arizona (uses a LOT of oil), and he gave me my first stir-fry lessons while yelling at the top of his lungs at me in Chinese! :emoji_laughing: The kitchen was frightening - grease everywhere - but man he could cook! That guy made a seared salmon I brought in for us to eat once that I still never tasted anything as good! The noise that came out of the kitchen when he slid the salmon into his wok was chilling I thought for sure the place was on fire...

My immediate goal is getting the new wok heat treated and seasoned and then I can start fine-tuning recipes - but I am not changing anything about the Mongolian Beef recipe I used and linked - and yes, I ate the chiles de arbol too! :emoji_cold_sweat:
 
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I have a few well seasoned Matfer Bourgeat carbon steel pans and I can tell you without a doubt they are 10X better than that incredibly frustrating NOT non-stick Calphalon-professional hard-anodized aluminum wok. That thing has been a pure PITA since the day I bought it and it is already in the garbage. I would never buy or use any non-stick pan but but the hard-anodize was just marketing that I fell for - pure junk in my humble opinion food sticks to it no matter what technique a person uses for cooking. The only thing it is good for is boiling water...

:emoji_thumbsup:

 
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I somehow missed you used the Woks of Life recipe... My bad. Both those sites are KILLER and better than most of my books. Heck yeah, if it works for you stick to it! I did all that at first but later I tried simplifying and found we actually preferred that way.

HUGE fan of carbon steel french pans. I owe chef jimmyj chef jimmyj big time for suggesting it to me. Be sure and check out his recipes LOTS of stir fry stuff. Just notices the Peanut Butter Sesame Noodles and man does that look good.

https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/chef-jimmyj-recipes.269304/
 
While I do not have the appropriate equipment for professional quality stir-frying at home, I was able to pull this single-serving of Mongolian Beef off via a little ingenuity. It tasted so great I just had to post a photo.

I have to devise a reasonably affordable way to assemble an outdoor stir-frying station using a larger wok and a high BTU burner...
Meal looks really good.
And I applaud you ambition for an outdoor stir-frying spot.
The other night I had a top round steak, used half for Sichuan beef and the next night I used the rest for beef bulgogi. Love that stir fry (although the bulgogi is really not stir fry).
 
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Love true Mongolian beef. China is a huge country and northern cuisine cooked by a southerner is something we Americans accept as normal.
Dry sizzle to get the moisture out in traditional Mongolian.

I have a non stick wok and it is only good for Pad Thai
 
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Looks like a tasty recipe! Unfortunately I have a wheat allergy so any kind of pasta is bad ju-ju for me.
Hopefully there is a sub for it. Lots of options nowadays. Rice noodles? My girls are NUTS for pasta. Goal is to get into low mein once I get dialed in.

Jealous, back when I got into it those sites did not exist and the books I had were weak. Made a lot of lousy food. On the road to redemption now. Last run got thumbs up on both that I ran. No easy feat... VERY happy to see these stir fry threads. Meant to ask, what cut of beef did you use? Have not run beef yet. I hope it does not really matter as long as thin sliced across the grain.
 
Hopefully there is a sub for it. Lots of options nowadays. Rice noodles? My girls are NUTS for pasta. Goal is to get into low mein once I get dialed in.

Jealous, back when I got into it those sites did not exist and the books I had were weak. Made a lot of lousy food. On the road to redemption now. Last run got thumbs up on both that I ran. No easy feat... VERY happy to see these stir fry threads. Meant to ask, what cut of beef did you use? Have not run beef yet. I hope it does not really matter as long as thin sliced across the grain.
Prime flank steak. The old Chinese cook I mentioned earlier said "prime flank steak" when I was learning beef broccoli with oyster sauce. Actually - he yelled it. He was a great friend! Plus I never cheap-out on food - especially when I am cooking it for myself or friends.

I have been a lover of what Americans know as Chinese food for many, many years, but since moving to Texas the choices are nearly non-existent, unless a cheap, dirty-buffet, is a person's idea of good Chinese food - thus my renewed interest in cooking my own. The only other options are long drives to the few good restaurants I've been able to find.

I will be posting more stir fry threads soon after my wok gets here and I have a Woks of Life recipe for NYC Chinatown style egg rolls that I cannot wait to cook!
 
My new Wok was delivered today - I scrubbed it with hot water, Dawn & a green ScotchBrite, then heat treated it over a 15,000-BTU butane burner (worked very well!) and did the initial seasoning with peanut oil, ginger and green onions!

Tomorrow I cook the first meal - chicken and mushrooms! It will take a few meals to break it in real good but I am impressed with the Wok so far.

Wok 01.jpg


Wok 02.jpg
 
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I was thinking that, or maybe a Vortex would work. I'd try that before going out and buying anything new.
With KBB the outer grate temp of the 22" Kettle/Vortex is about 400*. Directly over the top of the Vortex is supposed to be able to hit close to 600*. If you use lump it would be even hotter. I don't have a way to measure the heat directly on top of the Vortex, but I do know that I've singed the hair of my arm reaching over the Vortex, and tossed my lid when I didn't use a glove to take the lid off the kettle.

Chris
 
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The 15,000-BTU butane burner wasn't very expensive at all and cans of butane fuel are $4.00 each and they last surprising longer than I expected! I saw the burner being used by Daddy Lau on Made with Lau (YouTube) and it works great!
 
First cook in the new Wok - Mongolian Chicken!!! Faaannntastic! The Wok and the 15,000-BTU butane burner makes all the difference in the world. I could not be happier!

IMG_1315.JPG
 
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First fried rice in the new wok - char siu pork, chicken and shrimp fried rice! The wok is awesome - no stick whatsoever like cooking on ice. That heat treatment (heating wok until it turns blue) must really do something? I skipped the soy sauce to keep my doctor happy but as good as the fried rice came out, it still needs a little. Also, while the wok was well hot enough, next time I will use a new butane cylinder just to get maximum heat - I used a half-full cylinder and I think it was struggling right near the end of the cook but not enough to hurt anything.

Love the wok and the burner.

IMG_1317.JPG
 
First fried rice in the new wok - char siu pork, chicken and shrimp fried rice! The wok is awesome - no stick whatsoever like cooking on ice. That heat treatment (heating wok until it turns blue) must really do something? I skipped the soy sauce to keep my doctor happy but as good as the fried rice came out, it still needs a little.
Sorry screwed up the reply.
Nice looking cook.
I use Coconut Aminos in place of soy sauce to give the unami and very low sodium.
Wife and I have been low sodium for years with a few splurges now and then
 
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I'm a bit late here but that looks REALLY good!! Love Mongolian beef and yours just looks like something I'd thoroughly enjoy. Beautiful!!

Robert
 
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