Pin Test #25: Mongolian Beef Ramen

It's way past time for another Pin Test. This is where I choose a pin from Pinterest,and try it out and share my experience. Sometimes I give it a straight thumbs up and sometimes it doesn't go so well. But most of the time Pin Tests are successful. This one was a bit of a challenge because I think it's a fantastic recipe but I ran into challenges with a family who doesn't like sweet sauces on meat. It was a risk and I knew it from the outset.

Original Pin: Mongolian Beef Barbecue by Jo Cooks.

I liked this recipe a lot. But I think there were a couple of things I did that didn't make is as good as it could have been. Rookie mistakes, totally my fault.

First challenge I had was that my grocery store was out of flank steak. So I asked what might also work and they suggested skirt steak. My family is very picky about meat, they have filet mignon tastes -- so skirt steak was toooo chewy for them, even after I tenderized it. That immediately put them on the defensive about this dish. Next time, if I make this again, I'm just going to get some really good steak and use that. I also needed to slice the meat much thinner. Lessons learned.

Second, I used brown rice and millet ramen noodles. This type of noodle seems quite a bit softer than wheat noodles, as you would expect. So they got a little soggier in the sauce than would've been ideal. But we bought this big bag of noodles at Costco, so I need to use them up. I think I overcooked these and the next thing I will mention will probably help make them better for the future.

Third, I think I didn't let the sauce thicken up enough or else I should've drained some off. It was a little too soupy/saucy/soggy for my family. But again they don't really like sweet sauces on meat dishes, and I knew that in advance. So I'm not sure I'll ever know if it was too much sauce or they just don't like sweet sauce on stuff.

I will say that I liked this dish quite a bit more than my family did, notwithstanding some of the improvements I would make doing this a second time. I think the recipe is good, just that my execution was inexperienced and my family was a little picky about it. Probably won't make it again just because it's not a flavor set that my family likes. But I would wholeheartedly recommend it to others. If you like Mongolian Beef Ramen I think you will really like this dish.