According to a 13th Century legend, the Mongolian BBQ was invented by the warriors of the great Mongol Emperor Genghis Khan's armies. The soldiers would place their round iron shields down on the hot embers for use as a cooking surface, thus arose the tradition of the Mongolian grill.
The tribes of the Mongol Empire lead a nomadic lifestyle, meaning they lived in tents, or “yurts” as they were called and were highly mobile. Their yurts were not equipped with cooking utensils. The tradition of the Mongolian way of cooking consisted of beef or mutton (1 to 3 years old sheep, tends to be tougher and gamier than lamb) cut into thin slices and quickly roasted on the warrior shield shaped round grill. The addition of fresh vegetables and spices were integrated into the Mongolian way of cooking through the contacts with the Chinese culture.
The name and the legend are somewhat misleading, as the modern version of this cooking technique comes from Taiwan. It’s not really barbecue, since it’s not cooked low and slow. Mongolian barbecue should just be called "Taiwanese hot plate grilling" really. Despite its inaccurate name, Mongolian barbecue is nonetheless delicious.
Mongolian barbecue was invented in Taiwan in 1950s, where meats were stir-fried on large round griddles. The concept of choosing your own meats, vegetables, and sauces and having them all stir-fried together on a very hot round plate (shaped like an iron shield of a Mongolian warrior) and served on rice (or noodles) in a bowl, became very popular in Taiwan. This style of cooking was evocative of Japanese teppanyaki.
The first Mongolian barbecue specialty restaurant , "Ghengis Khan Mongolian BBQ" opened in 1976 in Taipei. As the trend became more popular, Mongolian barbecues were introduced to the west.
Diners typically choose from a buffet of thinly-sliced meats and vegetables. The orders are customized with sauces, eggs, and sometimes tossed with oil and water. Gourmet food lovers view Mongolian BBQ made of lean cut of beef as a comfort food due to its light sweetness stemming from the traditional marinade with brown sugar, soy sauce, ginger, and garlic. The meat is stir-fried at high temperature (around 500 degrees Fahrenheit), which causes the brown sugar in the marinade to caramelize along with the rest of the ingredients. The telltale sign of this dish is the sesame seeds and green onions added as garnish. Variations of this dish may include mushrooms, broccoli, or cabbage.
We use for our Mongolian BBQ grass fed beef tenderloin tips. For the perfectly keto marinade, we use brown monk fruit sweetener in place of brown sugar, and coconut aminos in place of soy sauce. We serve the grilled tenderloin tips on a delicious combination of fresh spiralized carrots, daikon radish, zucchinis and cucumbers.
You can now order online the COMFORT KETO summer "Menu 4" for the week of June 20.
Please follow the link to check out the menu details and place your online order:
Bon Appétit
Chef Janine