Grandpa Gotta Cook—Mongolian Grill
The Most Ambitious Meal Yet
Believe me, when it comes to cooking, the last thing I want to do is get ambitious. However, sometimes the desire for a certain meal gets the better of me and the next thing I know, I'm in the middle of a disaster in the making with too many moving parts.
Such was the case last Saturday, when it was once again my turn to cook.
That morning, a family member offered the fact that we hadn't eaten chicken all week. Meaning, I might want to do something with chicken. Yeah, right. I like chicken, I've just never cooked it, especially cutting up a whole chicken to do it. I felt like that might be a little over my head, but it got me thinking about what I should prepare.
Especially when I went looking in the freezer for meat options. Not only did I find the whole chickens, but I found packages of chicken legs. I also came across a large slab of steak and some chunks of pork. That really got my brain going. Why not combine the three meats and add other ingredients that would be reminiscent of my favorite combination at Mongolian Grill.
The Birthplace Of An Idea
I'm not sure if each Mongolian Grill is the same, but the one we had (before it shut down) was a buffet style. They provided a rather smallish bowl for you to try to pack in and up as much food in it as you could. Meats, vegetables, noodles, sauces, etc. They also provided rice.
Once you had your meal bowl ready, you took it back to put on the huge round grills so you could watch the cooks prepare it.
It had been years since I'd eaten at Mongolian Grill, but the meals were so memorable that I could still taste the delicious combinations of food. Truly a gastronomical delight. I'm making myself salivate even as I write this.
The Problem
While I had a six burner grill, there just wasn't going to be enough room on it to conveniently cook everything at once. That either meant cooking part of it inside (which I wanted to avoid because it was hot and because of the additional mess), or I could stagger things. The problem with that, of course, would be part of the meal would be cold before the rest of it was done.
I decided to go for option number two anyway, because that's just the kind of guy I am.
I started with preparing the vegetables. I sliced up tomatoes, bell peppers, water chestnuts and mushrooms. I then cut up some of the steak before deciding just to try it later to see if it cut faster. The pork was already cut up and I just threw the chicken legs on as is.
The meat went first. I knew the chicken from previous attempts would take the longest, so I just left those on as I traded out ingredients. Once the meat was done, I put on the tomatoes, bell peppers and mushrooms, knowing they would all be eaten by everyone. Which meant when they were done, I could just throw them all together in the same bowl.
Next came water chestnuts, bean sprouts, and spinach and some pre-wedged carrots that didn't look appetizing to me at all, but my youngest son really wanted them. Apparently, they were a part of his favorite Mongolian grill meal. The chicken stayed on throughout most of this.
Everything grilled up pretty well, except for a couple of the spinach leaves, that decided to burn rather than cook down.
The last thing to go on the grill was some pineapple.
In the meantime, I had my son whip up some rice in the cooker and fry up some Yakisoba noodles, since he was the one who wanted them. With just one pan briefly going, it didn't really affect the temperature inside.
Finally, all the ingredients were ready for mixing and matching. The rice was first to go on the plate first, meat next and then the rest of the fixings, which I threw on soy sauce and watered down plum sauce.
In all, from start to actual eat time, it took over two hours.
The Verdict
The Soy Sauce was a small mistake, since I don't normally put any of that on, but the rest was UH-MAY-ZING. I was instantly catapulted back to those savory meals I used to enjoy, mainly with my boys. We use to have fun trying to see who could get the most food into the bowl, and then who could finish their meal. Good times. Good times.
All images by Glen Anthony Albrethsen
As for the rest of the crew, my son said I outdid myself. Because it was after 7:30 pm before we ate, the daugther-in-law was too hungry to say anything but eat, but she downed a heaping plate of what she wanted and said she would have to go back for seconds to know if she liked it or not. That's usually a good sign. My wife said it was good, but some of the meat was too dry.
Which was true. The steak I cut up ahead of time got overcooked and dried out. I should have just cut the steak up into fourths for faster grilling and then cut up into smaller pieces later.
Will I Try Again?
Yes, but not for a while. I need to recuperate first, and rethink how to do it. Next time, I will probably cook all the meat, and then individually cook each person's meal, because I think it would have turned out even better. Plus, I need to add some ginger and garlic, too.
So, I'm calling it a success. With the luck of the draw, I'm up again, for tomorrow night's meal. We'll see how that goes.
About This Post
The Grandpa Gotta Cook/Eat series is published on Friday now in conjunction with the Food Fight Friday crew. You can find all of each week's posts under the #fff tag. Just include the tag if you'd like to participate, and of course, post before Friday is over. Anything that has to do with food—cooking, eating, reviewing, etc.—is fair game.
That is how you adapt and overcome. Need a big skillet and don’t have one? Make one
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I absolutely love those all in one meals.
Just throw everything together and cook it up. The combinations of flavors make it outstanding.
This Food Fight Friday has Left me hungry for next Food Fight Friday.
That's definitely the sad thing about this. Even when I'm not hungry, I read through these and get hungry. It's not really fair. :) However, if it's good food, it's good food. I'm glad to be a part of this weekly food fight! Still need to read this week's posts, so I'll do my best to catch up. :)
@dandays and @jlsplatts are having a little pissin match that is worth checking out. 😜😜
Thanks for participating and supporting others. That what this is all about, a group of people who love all things food.
That looks like a huge success to me @glenalbrethsen. Glad most of your family enjoyed it since it looked like a lot of work! 😁
It was a lot of work. I normally don't try to tackle anything that's going to take more than 30-60 minutes, with touching 90 being the outlier. With this one over two hours, it was just way too much.
Still, it's really good, so I just need to come up with a way to cook more stuff together.
Since I'm not planning to do it any time soon, I've got some time to think about it and figure it all out.
It's always nice when there's a generally positive consensus that gets formed. I'm not used to such a wide array of palates to try to tickle or placate. When the boys were growing up, dinner was dinner and you ate it or you went without. With the adults, sometimes it's, "Okay, you all fend for yourself, I'm going back to Steemit!"
hey there @glenalbrethsen! I've never heard of Mongolian Grill, they weren't in the areas that I was. But the meal looks wonderful and I can imagine the aroma that it has! great job.
The one we had featured a long buffet style counter the moment you walked in the door. You grabbed a bowl and started filling it with as much food as you could. It was great.
When they cooked things on the large steel grills, they would cook your meat all together, while the vegetables got warmed up to the side. Then, they would mix it all together, add soy sauce to it if you liked, and then serve it up on a plate. You then had the option of putting on more soy sauce or plum sauce.
I can't remember what the dinner buffet cost, but it was under $10, so pretty reasonable for the amount of food and the fact you basically got to choose your meal every time.
I have to say, it did turn out really good. I don't think the photos did it justice, though. Too bad we don't have the ability to transfer aromas or the taste in our posts. :)
howdy today @glenalbrethsen! well sir...I think the photos were really good so I'm not sure what kind you wanted, I tried to read your mind but your skull it too thick, couldn't get through.
The sun was on the way down when I took the photos, so there's some hot spots that tend to blow out. Otherwise, I guess they're good. Of course I was also using the smartphone, so that didn't really help.
It's not like I'm going to win a prize or anything. :)
Skull is too thick, eh? Maybe it's just shielded so y'all can't read my mind. Don't need anybody else rattling around in there.
So, did you do anything exciting today, since you asked me. One of us has to have something going. :)
Well when I read your title I knew it was going to be a killer post and I love Mongolian Grill as well.
We have so many choices here but I have never tried to do a Mongolian style buffet style meal in my house but looks fun!
I would say that yours is just UH-MAY-ZING!!
Yeah the steaks need to be cooked last because it is the last one that needs to cooking.
You can start off with the chicken, pork and then the veggies to get a nice caramelization.
The beef depending on some but I like mine medium rare so it is pretty fast to cook.
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Maybe I should try the order of cooking you suggest. As it is, I'm cooking for four adults, and they're tastes tend to be all over the board. So, some of the beef can be pink in the middle, the rest needs to cook all the way through. Vegetables tend to cook faster than meat, so I put them on later in hopes of keeping the meat more or less warm. It didn't work out that way other than with the chicken, since it was nearly the last thing to be removed.
Well, this was the first time I'd tried it on a grill. I think we've approximated it in the kitchen, but this one actually went farther with the different meat selection and more of the fixings. I need to figure out something with the plum sauce because there either wasn't enough on my food, or I mixed in too much water, or something. I was trying to thin it out a little, partly so it would last longer, and partly because it was a little thicker than I remember getting at Mongolian Grill.
That is one Fantastic looking meal!! I’ve been thinking about doin something similar and you just pushed my idea into action. Well done sir
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Thank you. I think it turned out great, especially given how much there was to do. I'm glad to give you a push. When I do it next time, I'm probably go to do it like a tinfoil dinner, and see how that goes.
The good ol’ tinfoil dinner. We used to make those when we were camping. They are awesome
And, they should take up less space, and cook together if the foil conducts the heat inside the grill. I'm thinking it should.
I can't remember the last time I had a tinfoil dinner. It was probably on a scout or church youth overnighter. That's been at least 35 years ago. Maybe 40. Probably high time I experiment with them. :)
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Yum, thats alot a food :D, looks delicious. Wonder why the soy wasnt good?
Maybe a tsp too much. I know that is all it takes for me.
Yah it can get salty lol
I don't really like soy that much. And since it's high in what can become estrogen, I usually avoid it. But I thought I'd give it a try anyway, and I didn't trickle it on very well, either. :)
It definitely seemed like a lot of food, but it all cooks down. And when it does, it gets the flavors mixing, so you can't just eat a small plate. I think we had some leftovers, but they went quickly, too.
I'll just need to get a little better organized with this meal next time and maybe get it started a little earlier, too.
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That sounds like it was Uh-Maze-Ing! I haven't been to a Mongolian Grill in a while, but they're out there and the price isn't too bad. That's awesome that you made your own at home. Getting everything to time out correctly and not over or under cook the meat is a trick. I think it's better to overcook the meat on your first try than to undercook it. Good job!
Well, I was mainly concerned with the chicken, since it doesn't seem to cook as fast. As I've been telling others, I'll probably cook the meat first again, and then add the fixings that people like into individual foil dinners, and see how that does.
Getting things to time out correctly is always my main concern. I don't like it when half the meal is cold, especially when it's all supposed to go together, so anyway, I've got some work to do on that, but I really don't want to get too carried away with it.
Mainly, I've been trying to get a little more creative with the grill than just the normal hamburger, hot dog, steak kind of fare. However, there is such a thing as being over ambitious, and this was definitely that for me :)
I think you should get a pat on the back or a hearty handshake for trying to go above and beyond. That whole thing seems like it was a lot of work, so props to gramps for putting in the effort to make the meal great!
I think I should get the rest of the summer off. :) Maybe longer.
As it is, I cooked for Independence Day, and now I'm needing to do it again tonight.
Need to figure a way to get my wife back home and cooking meals regularly, or at least having her and the daughter-in-law switching off or teaming up so I can quit.
I mean, it's great for having a post topic, but it's just not that fun for me to do. And I could document what my wife's doing. Especially if it's some kind of Mexican food.
It's tough when you get roped into doing things that you don't really want to do. At the same time, everyone has to eat to stay alive, so that's nice that you can help your wife by cooking from time to time.
That's true, you could document her cooking process every night. Then her recipes would be preserved forever in the blockchain!
Nice job grandpa! And the crew was satisfied :) Win!!
I love Mongolian Grill; we used to take the boys there a lot :)
I know we ended up there plenty of times, too. In reality, I couldn't get enough of it, but I'd get so full that it would take a month or so before I felt like I could eat that much again. A lot of time it was just the boys and me. My wife likes it, too, she's just not that big of an eater and it always seemed like a waste not to heap your bowl. She's also not so much into taking leftovers home, but if I remember right, you had to eat everything there, anyway.
Yeah, I'm kind of on a roll right now. Tomorrow, though, as they say, is another day. I have at least part of the meal in mind. More steak. My wife keeps bringing it home, so I figure I should probably use it. Just need to come up with something else to do with it.
Fajitas @glenalbrethsen! Always a hit 😅
Yeah, well, I went a little more traditional. I was trying to get out of it and just put in some frozen pizzas, but then my son told me that my wife doesn't like the pizzas she buys, and then he told me that he and his family went to some place downtown and had calzones, so pizza on top of it wasn't a big sell.
It's great having them around, but man, I'll be happy when I can just whip up something and not have to worry about what other people want or what they've already eaten. I didn't get invited for the calzones, by the way.
I grilled up the steak, threw on some of those small sweet peppers and opened up a bag of southwestern salad, which consisted of chopped cabbages, some dried corn kernels, cheese and an avocado, lime, cilantro dressing.
My son liked the steak, and the daughter-in-law hadn't eaten yet before I came in here and my wife isn't due for another 50 minutes or so. I thought it was good. Didn't take nearly as long to do, either, and there's not a whole lot of mess to clean up, which is the best part. :)
Actually bbq'ing anything, throw on a few veggies, bag a salad...badaboom, badabing!
I hear you! Whenever I had a complaint about my cooking, I'd say, "I know a way for you to get exactly what you'd like", with a big ol' smile on my face. When my kids were little, they'd always ask how, but it didn't take them long to stop asking.
It was always kinder than what my dad used to say: "If you don't like it, do it yourself" :)
And you totally should have been invited for the calzones.