Mongolian Lamb

I love the flavor of lamb. Gene hates it. This creates problems when it comes time to plan menus.

I found a recipe for something called Mongolian Lamb on RecipeTinEats and it looked promising since we both like Mongolian beef. It turns out that this is basically a dish that’s popular in Australia and has nothing to do with Mongolia. It does have a passing resemblance to Mongolian beef, however, so I decided to try it.

Turns out it was a big hit. Even lamb-hating-Gene thought it was delicious. I tweaked it a bit to make the sauce sweeter by adding both honey and brown sugar. Turns out, that tweak was an important variation–I made the dish later without it, and it wasn’t nearly as good.

This recipe works best if the lamb is sliced into pieces no more than a tenth of an inch thick. This can be a challenge to do to, but there’s a trick to make it easier. Pop your lamb into the freezer and leave there until it’s almost-but-now-quite frozen. Alternatively, if it’s already frozen, let it sit out in the refrigerator until it’s almost-but-now-quote thawed. This makes the meat solid enough that you can easily get nice, thin slices with a sharp butcher knife.

I learned a new trick from this recipe, too. It calls for you to marinate the meat–no, that’s not the trick. I already knew that one! The trick is to use baking soda as part of the marinade. The reason to do this is that it makes the marinade more alkaline (higher pH), which in turn makes the proteins in the meat less likely to bond. That’s what makes the meat more tender, or “velvety.” I already knew about velveting chicken in simmering water, but this was new to me. It also worked like a charm. My understanding is that it works on other cuts of meat, too.

The original recipe called for marinading overnight. But the scientists at Cook’s Illustrated experimented and found that fiften to twenty minutes suffices.

To use this velveting technique, for every twelve ounces of meat use one teaspoon of baking soda disolved in one-half cup of liquid. The result is the velvety-smooth, tender meat you get in Asian restaurants. Try it. It really works. You could even add baking powder if you want, since the latter just being a mix of baking soda, corn starch, and cream of tartar. But don’t substitute baking powder for baking soda–you want to be sure you get the right alkaline mix.

I used boneless leg of lamb that I bought at Sam’s. I cut it into thirds. The first third I fixed su vide as a roast. I liked it. Gene hated it. For the second third, I used this recipe. We both liked it. I plan to do the same with the final third, which is still in the freezer.

Substitutions and Comments

The recipe calls for Chinese wine like Shaoxing. Good luck finding that in Tulsa. I used Sake, which at least is a rice wine. Dry sherry would also work. The alcohol in the wine works with the baking soda in the marinade to velvet the meat.

The recipe also calls for chili paste, but we’re kind of hot-spice-averse, so I omitted that.

You should be able to find Hoisin sauce in most US grocery stores. Don’t try to substitute! This is an essential ingredient. I added ginger to the recipe, along with the sweetness of brown sugar and honey to the sauce.

I commonly use olive oil when I cook, but stir fry often uses high temperatures, so an oil with a higher smoke point is better. I keep grapeseed oil around for just that purpose.

I made this with chopped bok choi, but any vegetable suitable for stir fry would work. Snow peas, for example, would add a nice, crisp sweetness to the dish. I added finely julliened carrots for color and taste. I also always use chicken broth for my sauces since I find it adds depth to the flavor, but you could use water if you want.

The star of this recipe is the sauce, so you should serve the dish over rice. That way, the rice can soak it up and you won’t miss any of that deliciousness.

Finally, I fixed this with lamb, but overall recipe would probably work with beef or pork, too.