Mongolian Beef
Silky flank steak in a dark, glossy soy-and-brown-sugar glaze with charred scallions. Twenty minutes start to finish, no deep frying.
Mongolian beef is a restaurant invention with a marketing name, and it is one of the easiest dishes on any takeout menu to make well at home. There is no deep frying, the sauce has four ingredients, and the whole thing takes twenty minutes.
The two techniques carrying it are the same ones behind beef and broccoli. Baking soda for fifteen minutes gives cheap flank steak the silky texture of restaurant beef. A dry cornstarch coat gives it a thin shell that browns fast and then dissolves into the sauce as a thickener.
The one thing to watch is the sugar. A third of a cup of brown sugar against a third of a cup of soy sauce sounds like a lot, and it is — this is a sweet-savory dish by design. But it needs to reduce properly. Two or three minutes at a hard boil turns it from salty-sweet liquid into a glaze that clings; pull it early and you get beef sitting in a puddle.
Instructions
- 1
Toss the beef with the baking soda and 2 tablespoons water. Rest 15 minutes, then rinse thoroughly and pat completely dry.
- 2
Toss the dried beef in the cornstarch until every strip has a dry, dusty coat. Shake off the excess.
- 3
Mix the sauce: soy sauce, brown sugar, water, and Shaoxing wine. Stir until the sugar dissolves.
- 4
Heat the oil in a wok over high heat until it shimmers. Add the beef in one layer — work in two batches — and sear undisturbed for 1 minute, then flip and cook 30 seconds more. Remove to a plate. It should be browned outside and barely done inside.
- 5
Pour off all but a tablespoon of oil. Add the chilies, garlic, and ginger for 20 seconds.
- 6
Pour in the sauce and boil hard for 2 to 3 minutes until it reduces by about a third and turns syrupy. The cornstarch clinging to the beef will thicken it further.
- 7
Return the beef with the scallions and toss for 45 seconds, until the sauce coats and the scallions just wilt but keep their shape. Serve immediately.
Cook’s Notes
- Despite the name there is nothing Mongolian about this dish; it was invented in Taiwanese barbecue restaurants. Do not go looking for authenticity — go looking for a good glaze.
- The cornstarch coat does double duty: it protects the beef from the direct heat and it thickens the sauce, which is why there is no separate slurry.
- Six stalks of scallion is not a typo. They are a vegetable here, not a garnish, and they should still have some snap when served.
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