新方向

為了提升本站的主題性，以後這裡會變成純中文，避免有人看到我的英文傷了眼睛，但以前的文章維持不變，用來記錄從開始以來從英文練習到餐飲描述之中的變化 (之前是我想的太美，以為有人看不慣我寫的英文可以幫我改正)。所以之後英文部落與中文部落會同步進行，只是不再用雙語描寫。
另外我想修正本站的走向，由於最近看到Noah六年來每天自拍做成的影片，想到我也可以把每天吃的東西給拍下來，然後每個禮拜再寫一篇類似之前寫的專題，以免變成週刊式發行 :p ，這樣部落格也比較豐富。預計明天元旦會正式開始，希望我能持之以恆囉！最近可能會先開始熱身，順便建立習慣。
謝謝大家囉！

油飯 - Glutinous Oil Rice

平常能吃到油飯的日子不外乎某人小孩滿月送禮，或出門在外肚子餓去找的小吃攤，我也是有在大飯店吃到大廚精心烹飪的高級油飯，但怎麼都沒有老媽做的這麼和自己的口味，真是奇怪。網路上說除了寶寶滿月會吃到油飯，有些人在七夕的時候也會拿油飯來祭拜，但怎麼樣都查不到由來，只知道油飯已經算是年代久遠的傳統食物。##CONTINUE##
油飯的主要食材當然是糯米啦，之前介紹粉蒸肉的時候有介紹過糯米，果然不久之後就有一道糯米做的菜了。其他的材料還有豬絞肉、香菇、蝦米、紅蔥頭等等。這次介紹的重點就擺在會讓油飯香噴噴的香菇和蝦米身上，這兩者在許多菜中會同時使用來提升香味，當然其他的配料也不能少，但因為篇幅的關係沒辦法通通介紹。

香菇在中華料理中是很普遍的食材，有點像是西餐裡的磨菇，因為本身味道不重，卻含有淡淡清香，雖無法被當作主菜，但不論是擔任第二主角或第一配角還是臨時演員，都是非常敬業而且效果極佳。平時為了保存運送方便與增加香氣，會把採收的香菇脫水乾燥，當要使用時再泡水回潤，這時因化學作用香氣會更加濃郁。

蝦米的資料就不多了，只知道小如米粒般的蝦仁曬乾或烘乾後即成為蝦米。蝦米也是有一股特殊香味，但不知是曬乾過程中自然產生還是有特殊製作過程。小時候我很討厭蝦米的味道和口感，總覺得有一股臊味，吃起來也硬硬的，尤其是跟大白菜一起炒的時候最奇怪，軟軟的大白菜夾雜著脆脆的蝦米，怪噁心的，不過配在油飯裡的感覺還不錯。 圖片裡的蝦米比較大，應該叫做乾蝦仁了啦 :p

台灣本地的筒仔米糕跟油飯很類似，可以想像成放在竹筒裡的油飯，但沒有放蝦米也比油飯要濕潤些。筒仔米糕跟油飯一樣在吃的時候加點甜辣醬，那滋味更棒，不知道老外喜不喜歡這種吃法？

梅乾扣肉 - Pork Steamed with Pickled Mustard Cabbage

[中文]
不知道大家有沒有認出來這黑黑髒髒的菜是什麼，外國人會不會以為是從廚餘桶拿出來的，不過可別小看這道看似堆肥的菜，它也算是大名鼎鼎在中式餐廳菜單中不會遺漏的「梅乾扣肉」。雖然我媽做的沒有餐館裡的上相，也省略了一些步驟，但好吃的程度卻不輸餐館。##CONTINUE##
據我媽講述以前奶奶做梅乾扣肉的正統作法，還真的是費工費時，果然通常是上館子才能吃到的手工菜。
選擇肉質佳的五花肉不說，一定要皮、肥肉、瘦肉層層相扣才會好吃又好看，平常餐廳為了賣相，會把肉切成片狀，但在家裡為了方便入口，會切成稍大於拇指的塊狀，這樣吃飯的時候就不需用筷子切成小塊。接下來可不是直接把肉拿去紅燒，而是先把五花肉下油鍋炸，此步驟不只可以把肉汁封住，也可避免久煮過爛。接下來就是把肉紅燒，「紅燒」似乎是烹煮肉類菜餚的必備過程，我之前也介紹過紅燒排骨，只不過沒有詳細解釋燒法。
再來就是稍微料理「梅乾菜」了，可以加點紅燒滷汁下去炒。接下來把滷好的肉排列在盤底和盤緣，再把梅乾菜放入其中，拿到電鍋或蒸籠裡蒸，出爐之後反扣到盤子之上，所以剛剛肉片排列組合的越整齊的話，你反扣出來的花樣就越漂亮囉！「反扣」這個動作也就是梅乾「扣」肉之所以不叫「梅乾菜蒸肉」、「梅乾紅燒肉」等等的名字啦！

這道菜特別的食材當然就是梅乾菜啦，因為外表看起來又黑又破的看起來像發霉，因此又被叫做「霉」乾菜，老外可能真的不敢吃這種發霉菜，不過我們也不敢吃他們發霉的藍紋乳酪呀。
梅乾菜算是一種醃菜，用鹽水把芥菜醃成鹹菜之後再曬乾，如果不曬乾繼續發酵之後就會變成酸菜，所以這些醃菜本身就有鹹味，有時太鹹還要先洗一洗，這裡有介紹梅乾菜的作法喔。

光是介紹這到菜就讓我費盡唇舌，可想見真的是一道麻煩菜，不過我媽總是可以化繁為簡，省略了頭尾兩個步驟，也就是一開始不用炸，最後也沒有擺盤更沒反扣，反正又不是請客，不用太漂亮好吃就好 :)

[English]
Don't belittle this bad-looking dish. Even though it looks dirty and decayed, it's a famous Chinese course. We call it "Buckle Pork with Mei-gan", which directly translated from Chinese name. Mei-gan is a sort of pickled vegetable and sounds like a female's name "Megan" :p I will introduce Mei-gan vegetable and explain why named "Buckle Pork".

A classical "Pork Steamed with Pickled Mustard Cabbage" is a time-consuming dish and need a complex procedure. According to my grand mom's recipe: besides choosing a good pork side, the side with skin, fat meat, and lean meat have to be layers of clear. So that Chinese call this cut "Five Pattern Pork" or Taiwanese call "Three Layers Pork", which comes from multiple layers characteristic. In restaurants or for banquet, the cook would cut into thick slice for beauty. But my mom just cuts into cube as thumb size. It's convenience for eating and without chopping them.

Before stewing, the pork would be taken to deep-fried in order to seal up the meat juice and avoid over cooking. The next step is to stew them with soy sauce and other seasonings, almost similar to "Stewed Pork with Brown Sauce". This step seems to be a groundwork of meat cooking. The color, luster and the taste, texture all depend on this stew process.
After that, neatly and separately arrange pork slices on the plate and put Mei-gan vegetable onto meat. Then place it into steamer and wait. Finally, after steamed pork is done, put another plate upside down on the top and buckle two plates with your hands and then turn them over. While you take the above plate away, a delicious "Buckle Pork with Mei-gan" is done. Now you understand where the name "Buckle" comes from.

You must be curious what the Mei-gan vegetable is. The title leaks answer. It made by a sort of Mustard Cabbage, whose seeds can process to mustard. Chinese pickle leaves with salt and then dry them until black. The "gan" of Mei-gan (乾) means "Dry". The "Mei" has two stories. The first "Mei" (霉) means "Mold" and describe its moldy appearance. The other "Mei" (梅) is "Ume". According to legend, Chinese made Mei-gan vegetable when the fruit of Ume is ripe.

老媽咖哩 - Mom's Curry

[中文]
  這一次的主菜就是各地都很熟知的「咖哩」啦！上次去捷克旅遊的時候也有餐廳在賣咖哩，下次有機會把照片翻出來介紹介紹。這次的重點就先擺在「台式」咖哩的介紹和我們家比較特殊的作法。##CONTINUE##
  大家應該都知道咖哩是起源於印度，據我上次出差印度的同事回報，的確在印度什麼都要配咖哩，真的很像我們什麼都要配醬油一樣。而印度本地的咖哩是又鹹又辣，這不僅是我同事這樣說，小時候我們全家去永康街印度人開的餐廳吃咖哩飯，味道是很香很濃沒有錯，但也真的很嫌很辣足足讓我配了好幾碗飯，咱們台灣人可能不喜歡，但這種味道應該才是正統。
  除了印度咖哩之外，東南亞的地區似乎也常吃咖哩，可是「南洋」咖哩的作法似乎用上了他們當地最普遍的食材～椰奶，因此他們的咖哩比較稀，也沒有這麼鹹，但卻還是一樣辣。
  而對台灣人而言，「日式」咖哩也是常常吃到，不知道是不是因為日本人愛吃甜食，日本的咖哩也比較甜一點，通常加入了蘋果或其他水果，而且沒有這麼辣，配上日式炸豬排也會令人垂涎三尺。
  台灣不愧是美食王國，這幾種不同的咖哩都可以吃的到，不過似乎為了迎合台灣人的口味，在台灣吃到的咖哩沒有印度咖哩這麼辣、沒有南洋咖哩這麼稀、也沒有日式咖哩這麼甜，這算是三不像還是「台式」咖哩勒？

  我媽燒的咖哩符合了我們家的口味，也接近台式咖哩的味道，所以通常是先到超市買日式咖哩塊。用日式咖哩塊的好處是裡面都已經含有水果成分，之後不用去特別增加甜味，而且日本的東西品質也比較好。咖哩塊買回家之後並不急著就開始煮咖哩囉，而是先初步紅燒肉塊、馬鈴薯、蘿蔔等等，這樣之後吃到的肉或馬鈴薯就會比較入味，而且可以加重日式咖哩不足的鹹味(我們家就是重口味啦)。因為我們家吃的比較辣一點，所以加入咖哩後會在加辣椒粉或是一開始就買辣味的咖哩塊，如此可以提升日式咖哩的辣味。這樣的作法就滿足了我上文提到「三不像」台式咖哩的條件啦！
  我們家的咖哩還有一個特殊的地方，就是比一般的咖哩都要「濃稠」，有時要從冰箱裡拿一點出來伴飯，還沒辦法用倒的，因為你根本倒不出來，一定要用湯匙挖，很像挖冰淇淋的感覺，可是冰淇淋拿到室外會融化，但我們家咖哩還不會融化喔！一定要加熱之後才會有「醬汁」的感覺！不過這樣伴起飯來卻更有味道，更讚更好吃啦！哈哈哈！(迷之音：又在得意了)

[English]
  Curry is a well-known dish or sauce all over the world now. I have eaten curry in a restaurant in Czech when visiting Eastern Europe. Maybe we'll have a page to introduce that dish someday. Today, I still focus on my mom's curry and talk about our Taiwanese favorite flavor.

  Every body knows Curry comes from mysterious India. According to my colleague who have been India for business, Indian eats everything with curry (and by their hand), just like Chinese eats everything with soy sauce. In addition, Indian curry tastes very salty and spicy but I think that heavy savor is classical curry.
  Besides India curry, another style of curry is common in Southeast Asia, such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand; we call South Pacific Ocean (南洋) Style. Locals add their most common material - coconut milk to the curry and you can smell its distinct fragrance. The Southeast Asia curry looks more dilute than traditional India curry but tastes still hot.
  Another popular style in Taiwan is Japanese curry. Taiwanese loves Japanese food very much because our tastes are similar. The characteristic of Japanese curry is that you can find a little sweet in it. Japanese would put fruit, apples usually, or honey in curry. I don't know if it causes by they like a lot sweet stuff :p So that Japanese curry is less salty and spicy than India curry.
  What a food kingdom Taiwan is. You can eat all styles here. However, most Taiwanese don't like so salty and spicy food like Indian; not like sweet stuff like Japanese, either. Most curry dishes in Taiwan are localized from Japanese curry and a bit more salty. I tentatively call that style the "Taiwan curry".

  My mom's curry can be regarded as Taiwan style. First, she bought a curry sauce cube (like bouillon cube) at supermarket. We always buy the Japanese curry cube because our taste is more similar to Japanese's and the food made in Japan means elaborate and dainty. After that she was not eager to boil curry sauce but prepare main materials. My mom would cut the meat, potato and carrot into cubes; then stewed them with soy sauce like the beginning step of "stewed spareribs with brown sauce" in order to let the meat and vegetables more savory. Finally put the curry cube and other seasonings. If you like hot, you can put spicy powder. If you want to eat Southeast Asia style, you can put coconut milk. It's delicious to put the cheese as well. (We learned from a certain restaurant.)

A curry recipe reference

蛋黃酥 - Taiwan Mooncake

[中文]
我今天加班一回家就眼睛一亮，哈哈，我有新東西可以寫了，原本以為要等到明年中秋節，沒想到我媽今天就心血來潮做了一大盤，我可有口福了，你們也有眼福囉！ ##CONTINUE##


我們一看到照片當然就知道是「蛋黃酥」啦，但外國人可不見得，不過就算常吃蛋黃酥但大部分的人也都要等到中秋節，不像我可以在寒冷的冬天吃到熱騰騰的蛋黃酥(流口水啦)。而我媽這次做了三種口味，當然也是一步步開發而來的。第一種就是最普遍的「豆沙蛋黃」，最近流行低膽固醇食品，因此使用了素蛋黃也就是用起司做成的冒牌蛋黃，不過還好吃起來真的差不多，也多了一股香味；另一種是最近也滿流行的「豆沙麻糬」，以前有做過麻糬包豆沙、豆沙包麻糬，但最好吃的方式就是豆沙包麻糬再包豆沙，也就是最費工的三層餡，這次也是這種包法，我的口水又止不住啦；第三種口味就是我媽自己喜歡的芋頭餡料，喜歡芋頭的人也不能錯過。有時候我媽沒偷懶的話，豆沙或芋頭沙還會自己做，不過大多時候都沒空，所以還是到外面買豆沙或芋頭沙。

蛋黃酥應該算是月餅的一種，但查了半天也不知道其由來何方，只知道是道道地地的台灣味。我吃過的月餅只有這種蛋黃酥類的和廣式月餅類的兩種，蛋黃酥類的還有吃過綠豆碰和冰沙餡餅，廣式月餅就是蓮蓉、棗泥等各種口味，再加上最近流行起各式各樣亂七八糟的變種月餅，還真是令人眼花撩亂，但最後還是覺得最傳統的烏豆沙蛋黃的蛋黃酥最好吃 (Y)

蛋黃酥最重要的就是它的皮要考的酥酥脆脆，這都要靠肥死人不償命的酥油來達成目的，再包入高熱量的豆沙和高膽固醇的鹹蛋黃，外皮擦上油油亮亮的蛋汁，再灑點富含油脂的芝麻，這就是讓吃不飽的古人偶而增添能量的聖品，但對脂肪過於囤積的現代人來講，就只能小心翼翼的淺嘗即止了。不過我可以體會美食當前卻得坐懷不亂的痛苦，所以我等一下要再去吃半個好了 *-) (迷之音:真的只吃半個嗎)


[English]
Here a special new thing comes, the Taiwan mooncake! The Mooncake is one of traditional Chinese dessert especially for Mid-Autumn Festival. I don't want to explain this festival now, maybe next year instead. Although Mid-Autumn Festival already passed (August 15 in Chinese calendar), my mom still bakes them to feed us like pigs :p In fact, she will give some to her friend as a gift. As you can see, the appearance in my picture is very different from that in Wiki because this one we eat is Taiwan Style and we call it "Yolk Pastry".

You can understand the key point of Taiwan mooncake from its local name: "yolk" and "pastry". The most common and traditional way is to fill with sweet bean paste and a salted egg yolk inside. The black bean paste and yellow yolk represent dark sky and a light moon respectively. Besides, the salted egg yolk is able to balance the sweet of bean paste. Nowadays, fat people so afraid of Cholesterol, especially in egg yolk, that we can buy fake yolk instead. It made by cheese and smells better. The other primary role "pastry" is the most difference from other styles mooncake. Only the skin of Taiwan mooncake made by puff pastry, just like another famous Taiwan dessert "Suncake". The puff pastry skin looks laminated as thousand skin and tastes crisp.

The mooncake has a variety of fillings from traditional ones "Lotus Seed Paste" or "Jujube Paste" to modern ones "ice cream" or "coffee". My mom also bakes a very popular sort this time: "Bean Paste with Mochi". This way comes from Japanese style and has an effect that balance sweet like yolk. Some people enjoy the taste combined with crisp pasty and sticky mochi. In addition, my mom bake her favorite filling, Taro Paste, too. However, I still prefer the most traditional one, sweet bean paste and egg yolk.