Mongolian barbecue

Mongolian barbecue
Food cooking on a Mongolian barbecue griddle.

Mongolian barbecue (Chinese: 蒙古烤肉; pinyin: Měnggǔ kǎoròu) is a stir fried dish that was developed in Taiwanese restaurants in the 1970s[citation needed]. Meat and vegetables are cooked in large, round, solid iron griddles at temperatures of up to 300 °C (572 °F). Despite its name, the cuisine is not Mongolian, and is only very loosely related to barbecue.[1][2][3][4]

Contents

Origins

Although Mongolian barbecue first appeared in Taiwan in the middle to late 20th century[citation needed], the stir-frying of meats on a large, open surface is supposed to evoke Mongolian foods and Mongolian traditions. The preparation can also derive from Japanese-style teppanyaki, which was popular in Taiwan at the time. The very first Mongolian Barbecue restaurant (Gengis Khan Mongolian BBQ) was opened in 1976, and was located in downtown Taipei, Taiwan.

American restaurants such as HuHot Mongolian Grill and BD's Mongolian Barbeque claim that soldiers of the Mongol Empire gathered large quantities of meats, prepared them with their swords and cooked them on their overturned shields over a large fire.[5][6] A German restaurant chain with the same concept claims that the Mongolian soldiers cooked their meals on a heated stone.[7]

Buffet in BD's Mongolian Barbeque Restaurant in Ulan Bator.

Preparation

Typically, diners choose various ingredients from a buffet of thinly sliced raw meats (beef, pork, lamb, turkey, chicken, shrimp) and vegetables (cabbage, tofu, sliced onion, cilantro, broccoli, and mushrooms, pineapple, lychee, bowl or on a plate. These ingredients are given to the griddle operator who adds the diner's choice of sauce and transfers them to one section of the hot griddle. Oil and sometimes water may be added to ease cooking, and the ingredients are stirred occasionally.

The ample size of the Mongolian barbecue griddle allows for several diners' food to be cooked simultaneously on different parts of the griddle. In many restaurants (primarily buffets) one dish will be cooked at a time, the operator walking around the outside of the grill once or twice moving the food while walking. When cooking is complete, the finished dish is scooped into a bowl and handed to the diner. Many Mongolian barbecue restaurants are "all-you-can-eat."

Restaurants

BD's Mongolian Barbeque in Ulan Bator.

In Taiwan, a number of restaurants exist that specialize in Mongolian barbecue with additional buffet items available as well. These establishments often have names evoking the Mongol Empire such as Great Khan (Mongolian: Их Хаан)(大可汗) or Temüjin (Mongolian: Тэмужин)(鐵木真). The peak popularity of these restaurants was in the 1980s and 1990s.

In the United States, Mongolian barbecue is often found in American Chinese buffet restaurants, but some businesses such as HuHot Mongolian Grill , North Carolina's Crazy Fire Mongolian Grill, and BD's Mongolian Barbeque chain focus primarily on the barbecue. Genghis Grill, Y.C.'s Mongolian Grill, and Hula's are other chains of restaurants with this type of fare.

Fire + Ice is an American restaurant chain that expands upon the concept, with a much larger selection of raw ingredients from many cultures, a variety of Asian, European, and Latin American sauces, and a large annular cooking surface.

The Mongolian Barbeque is a chain with locations in Europe and the Middle East. With BD's Mongolian Barbeque a first similar restaurant has been opened also in Mongolia's capital Ulaanbaatar.

Jingisukan

Zingisukannama.jpg

In Japan, a similar dish to Mongolian barbecue called Jingisukan (ジンギスカン?, "Genghis Khan") (Mongolian: Chinggis Khaan "Чингис Хаан") is prepared with mutton and cooked on a convex metal skillet. The dish is particularly popular on the northern island of Hokkaidō. The dish is rumored to be so named because in prewar Japan, lamb was widely thought to be the meat of choice among Mongolian soldiers, and the dome-shaped skillet is meant to represent the soldier's helmets that they purportedly used to cook their food.

See also

  • Mongolian cuisine
  • "Khorkhog", an authentic "Mongolian barbecue" meal.
  • Korean BBQ, galbi refers to a variety of grilled dishes in Korean cuisine.
  • Bulgogi, popular Korean stirred-fry grill and similar with Mongolian barbecue.
  • Saj, a convex griddle used in central, south, and west Asia for cooking bread and meat

Notes

  1. ^ "AT THE NATION'S TABLE; Appleton, Wis.," The New York Times
  2. ^ Davison, Gary Marvin, Barbara Reed. Culture and Customs of Taiwan. 144.
    "Also very popular and superbly developed by Fujianese cooks is Mongolian barbecue..."
  3. ^ Schwabe, Calvin W. Unmentionable Cuisine. [1].
  4. ^ Cismar, Martin. "Barbecuing, The Mongolian Way," Daily News-Record
  5. ^ "History" at BD's Mongolian Barbeque website. Accessed May 1, 2007. (English)
  6. ^ "蒙古烤肉" at MTour (呼伦贝尔旅行网). Accessed May 1, 2007. (Chinese)
  7. ^ "Idee" at Mongo's Restaurants' website. Accessed November 25, 2007. (German)

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