人間美味!四川成都的麻婆豆腐!

Residents of Chengdu, the lively capital of southwestern China's Sichuan province, are known as enthusiastic idlers, a reputation owed to a passion for tea gardens, cards and mah-jongg and good food.

中國四川省的省會成都市的居民素有閒散之名，這是因爲當地人熱衷茶室、撲克牌、麻將和美食。

No local specialty is more treasured than mapo dofu, a sumptuous melange of silky firm bean curd, chopped meat and suanmiao (a local leek) cooked in liberal amounts of oil with black beans, chili-beanpaste, soy sauce and dried chilies. Before it is served, the dish is thickly dusted with ground huajiao (also known as Sichuan pepper), the fruit of a type of prickly ash tree that leaves a tingle on lips and tongue.

當地美食沒有比麻婆豆腐更讓人愛不釋口的了。又滑又韌的豆腐，肉末、蒜苗配以豆豉、辣椒豆瓣醬、醬油和乾紅辣椒，用大量的油烹製而成。在盛盤之前，還要撒上厚厚的一層四川當地特有的花椒，吃到口裏的時候，只覺得嘴脣和舌頭都是麻麻的。

For British food writer Fuchsia Dunlop, author of 'Sichuan Cookery' (published in the U.S. under the title 'Land of Plenty'), mapo dofu's 'bold, striking flavors and comforting, sort of lazy texture' are a culinary embodiment of Chengdu's split personality: 'A vibrant city whose inhabitants are known for taking a laid-back approach to life,' says Ms. Dunlop.

在著有《川菜烹飪》(Sichuan Cookery)（在美國出版時的書名爲《天府之國》一書的英國美食作家扶霞看來，麻婆豆腐大膽而濃厚的風味、嫩滑而綿軟的口感，是成都這個城市的兩面性在美食上的充分體現。扶霞說，成都是一個充滿活力的城市，而那裏的居民卻有着悠然自得的生活態度。

THE HISTORY

歷史

Mapo dofu -- which means 'pockmarked old lady's bean curd' or, more politely, 'pockmarked mother's bean curd' (ma means pockmarked and po means mother or lady) -- is named for its inventor, a woman named Chen who, in late 19th-century Chengdu, ran a food shop called Wanfu Qiao (Wanfu Bridge) with her husband. The restaurant's existence, Ms. Dunlop notes, is substantiated by its mention in 'Chengdu Tonglan: A General View of Chengdu,' a guide to the city's famous eateries and street snacks published in 1909.

麻婆豆腐，字面上的意思是“滿臉長着麻子的老太婆的豆腐”，或者客氣點說，“臉上長有麻子的老媽媽的豆腐”（麻的意思是麻子，婆的意思是媽媽或婆婆）。麻婆豆腐由19世紀末成都市萬福橋邊一家小吃店的陳姓老闆娘所創。扶霞指出，1909年出版的介紹成都著名飯店和小吃的手冊《成都通覽》（'Chengdu Tonglan: A General View of Chengdu'）中即記載了這家小吃店，證實確有其事。

Wanfu Qiao sat outside the city wall's north gate, along a route traversed by laborers lugging rapeseed oil (a type of vegetable oil still used in Sichuan) to market. Ms. Dunlop speculates that one day the porters gave Chen Mapo some oil and requested that she make them something with bean curd. Heeding the Sichuanese penchant for ma-la (numbing and spicy flavors), she added plenty of dried chilies and huajiao (Sichuan pepper) to her bean curd dish and served it in a pool of chili-hued oil.

萬福橋位於成都北門外，正好是運送菜籽油（一種菜油，四川仍在使用）的腳伕們途經之路。扶霞推斷，某天腳伕給了陳麻婆一些油，讓她做些豆腐吃。 想到四川人喜歡麻辣口味，她就在豆腐里加了很多幹辣椒和花椒，並配以紅油。

The owners of Chen Mapo Dofu, a chain of restaurants in contemporary Chengdu, maintain that their shops are directly descended from the late 19th-century original. It's a claim that's impossible to verify, though Ms. Dunlop thinks it may have merit because when the Chinese Communists nationalized privately owned restaurants in the 1950s, they usually left the businesses' family names intact.

現今的成都連鎖餐館“陳麻婆豆腐”的老闆堅持說，他們的餐館是直接從19世紀的陳氏老店繼承下來的。這種說法無法考證，但是扶霞認爲也有一定道理，原因是中國共產黨在五十年代對私有餐館國有化的時候，通常都會保留餐館的家族名字不變。

Overseas Chinese restaurant versions of mapo dofu rarely pack the ma-la punch of the real thing, probably because most restaurant owners hail from chili-phobic southern China, but also because the processing that huajiao must undergo for export robs it of fragrance and flavor.

海外中餐館裏的麻婆豆腐很少有成都當地原汁原味的麻辣口味，或許是因爲大多數餐館老闆都來自於少食辣椒的中國南部，但是也可能是因爲出口所用的花椒必須經過一定處理，因而令花椒失去了原有的香味和風味。

THE SETTING

做法

Mapo dofu is a lunch or dinner food to be enjoyed -- depending on the occasion and the company -- with a simple stir-fried green vegetable or an array of cold starters, other main dishes and soup. In Chengdu, you're rarely more than a city block from a passable version, whether it's served in an establishment dripping with gold leaf and crystal chandeliers or a rustic open-air eatery run by a lone cook working a single wok.

麻婆豆腐可以在午餐或是晚餐時候享用，根據場合和食客的不同，可配以一道清炒時蔬，或是幾個冷盤，其它一些主菜，還有湯。在成都，街頭巷尾隨處都能吃到還過得去的麻婆豆腐，無論是金碧輝煌的大飯店，還是一人主廚的簡陋的大排檔。

The dish is also a comfort food well-suited to preparation at home. According to Chinese-American Zuo Ziying, who was born in Chengdu and who conducts tours in southwest China for Lotus Culinary Travel, jiachang or home-style versions of mapo dofu are usually less oily and more simple than those cooked in restaurant kitchens. When Ms. Zuo prepares the dish at home, 'I make it with just tofu cubes and some chili oil, and not so much beanpaste.' And she often substitutes chopped scallion greens for suanmiao (the local leek).

麻婆豆腐也是非常適合家庭準備的一道家常菜。出生於成都的美籍華人、在中國西南地區爲荷花美食遊（Lotus Culinary Travel）擔任導遊的左子英（音）表示，比起飯店的版本，家常麻婆豆腐通常不會那麼油膩，用料也要簡單一些。左女士在家準備麻婆豆腐的時候，只用豆腐和一些辣椒油，不放那麼多豆瓣醬。而且她經常用切好的蔥段代替蒜苗。

Chilies both warm the body and induce a cooling sweat, so mapo dofu is a dish made-to-order for Chengdu's perennially humid climate, with its bone-chilling winters and oppressively muggy summers.

辣椒即可溫暖身體，又可讓人發汗，而成都的冬天寒冷刺骨，夏天又悶熱無比，因此麻婆豆腐是非常適合成都常年潮溼氣候的一道美食。

THE JUDGMENT

何爲正宗

'Each place makes it a different way,' says Ms. Zuo, 'but the style served at Chen Mapo Dofu' -- with a generous pool of oil, lengths of suanmiao, heavy-duty spice and browned beef (some cooks substitute pork) -- 'is authentic.'

左女士說，每個地方的麻婆豆腐做法都不一樣，但是陳氏麻婆豆腐的做法──油的用量很大，蒜苗的長度，濃郁的麻辣味道，還有黃牛肉的使用（一些廚師用豬肉替代）──是地道的做法。

Foreigners are often put off by mapo dofu's characteristic slick of oil, but Ms. Dunlop says, 'It was an oil carrier's dish, so it should be oily.' The dish, she adds, should also boast a 'wonderful deep-red glossiness because the chilies have thoroughly colored the oil.' A generous sprinkling of fragrant ground huajiao -- Sichuan pepper -- just before serving is essential.

外國人經常會因爲麻婆豆腐的油膩而不敢嘗試，但是扶霞說，這是必須有油才能好吃的菜餚，因此用油必須要大。她還說，麻婆豆腐還應當有着鮮亮的紅色色澤，因爲辣椒已經徹底浸入油裏。在盛盤之前撒上大量香味撲鼻的花椒則是不可或缺的一道工序。

Firm yet tender bean curd that holds its shape during cooking -- 'When you cook it you just sort of nudge the tofu with the back of a spoon to mix but not break it,' is essential, advises Ms. Dunlop. A thick, luxurious beef sauce flavored with salty and spicy chili-beanpaste (preferably from Sichuan's Pixian County, home to the province's oldest chili-beanpaste workshop) lend the dish its over-the-top taste and plush texture.

又韌又軟的豆腐，在烹製過程當中保持原型。扶霞建議，在烹製麻婆豆腐時，只能用勺子背面輕推豆腐，讓豆腐與調料充份混合，但不要碰碎豆腐，這一點很關鍵。一層濃厚的牛肉醬，加上又鹹又辣的豆瓣醬（最好是來自四川郫縣的豆瓣醬），讓麻婆豆腐具有醇厚的口味和口感。

The dish can convert even the most die-hard bean-curd sceptics, says Ms. Dunlop, speaking from experience. 'It's just so delicious that most people, who normally won't eat tofu because they think it's boring, love it.'

扶霞說，即便是最不喜歡吃豆腐的頑固分子也會因麻婆豆腐而改變看法。這話是經驗之談。她說，它實在是美味無比，大多數覺得豆腐味道平淡、因而平時根本不吃豆腐的人，都會對它情有獨鍾。