Mongolian BBQ Meat Cuts?

Question

I am planning on slicing meat with a slicer for Mongolian BBQ and have decided on slicing frozen chicken breast and frozen pork shoulder butt.

What I do not know though, is what I should use for beef. The meat generally at the local BBQs is rather tough, but I am hoping a somewhat higher quality meat would counteract this.

I bought Pork Shabu-Shabu from the local international market and it was delicious and tender. The worker in the meat department said it was pork shoulder so that's why I am choosing that. Chicken breast is the only thing I can think of that would have enough meat for slicing with a slicer and give good size once cut "paper" thin.

Are my choices correct? What type of cut should I use for beef?

Answer 1

For the beef, I would recommend rib-eye. A traditional Philly cheese steak uses thinly-sliced rib-eye, so it's time tested.

Other than that, I bet sirloin would do well with quick, hot cooking. It doesn't have much fat or connective tissue, so you don't have to worry about melting anything before it becomes tender.

Answer 2

Because you're slicing it thinly, so long as you slice it against the grain, you can actually get away with cheaper cuts of meat.

I've never made mongolian beef specifically, but for stir fries, my preferred cut is bottom round -- it has more flavor than many of the other inexpensive cuts, and it's fairly easy to follow the grain. It's lean, but there's still a bit of intermuscular fat. If you want really large sheets of meat, you can get bottom round roasts, rather than a bottom round steak.

As you're slicing it thinly across the grain, you can get away with cooking it more well done. I typically take it to medium at the most, preferably medium rare.