Beef and Broccoli Lo Mein

Was going to post this, too - the great secret of Chinese restaurants, it's called "velveting" the meat. Depending on how much meat you have, I do about 1/2 tsp baking soda to 1 tbs of soy, 1 tbs of mirin (or pinch of sugar) and 1 tbs cornstarch. Mix and massage into the meat. Best if you do it a couple hours before cooking the rest.

Hi Christina, The sodium in the soy will draw more moisture from the meat and probably make it worse. Try another cut of beef and be sure you are cutting it against the grain. It helps to freeze the meat for a about 25 minutes just before you cut it so you can get it thin. That way, you cook it super fast and it should stay tender. Cook the meat separately, then add it back with everything at the end.

Try slicing the meat and coating with 1/4 tsp baking soda and 1 TBLS water for 5 minutes this helps tenderize the meat and gives a nice texture not tough. This works well with flank steak.

I used flank steak and we really enjoyed the recipe. Next time I will cut down on the sugar and use more hot pepper. Drizzling toasted sesame oil over the finished dish added extra mellowness.

Hi Jonathan, I wrote this recipe so thought I'd weigh in here. I no longer live in a major metro area (used to live in NYC) so I did have to go to two supermarkets to find Lo Mein, in the "International" aisle. You could use any egg noodle, really, or spaghetti. Texture wise, spaghetti would work, but Pennsylvania Dutch style egg noodles will give you more of the flavor that is a signature of Lo Mein. It would be delicious and easy to eat. Let us know if it works for you!

Marinating in soy sauce might help--worth a try--and a friend in the Chinese restaurant business always suggested partially freezing the meat before slicing--the freezing makes it extremely easy to slice it very thin.

My store didn't have Chinese noodles so I used a good brand of Italian dry spaghetti. Worked out fine. It's a good way to cook broccoli.

I doubled the soy sauce brown sugar mixture and under cooked the beef so I could let the noodles and beef absorb more flavor as it boiled down. This is one of the best recipes I have found. Unbelievable flavor!

Can I skip the sugar?

Cooked this the other night, and it's delicious. Great recipe. However, I used chuck steak, and was careful not to overcook, but it came out a bit tough/chewy. Would marinating the meat in the soy sauce mixture for a couple hours beforehand make it more tender? Or would a different cut of beef work better for this recipe?

Used rib-eye steak and cut against the grain. Used suggested freezing of the beef before cutting-did for an hour- then used the 1/2 tsp baking soda. Didn't have Mirin so used 1 tbs rice vinegar, 1 tbs soy sauce, and a pinch of light brown sugar, and 1 tbs cornstarch to "velvet" the beef. Massaged into the meat and let rest until cooking- probably an hour and a half. Used ramen noodles- boiled. Did not double the sauce as others have recommended. Used jar minced ginger. Will defintely make again.

This was really tasty...and easy. Made exactly as the recipe specified and added additional soy sauce and crushed red pepper upon serving.

You could try pounding the chuck thin... mechanically breaking it down to tenderize. Then slice against the grain.

I added a can of bamboo shoots and sliced water chestnuts. It is an amazing recipe. Thank you for such a treat. MJK

I made this with broccoli slaw and ground beef and it was still amazing. Actually, we like the broccoli slaw better. The lime is crucial, in my opinion.