在东京品尝艺术品级别的天妇罗

　　在东京品尝艺术品级别的天妇罗

　　Last year at a counter in a small restaurant here, I ate tempura that seemed elevated to an art form, like the finest sushi.

　　去年在这里一个小饭馆的吧台前，我吃到了艺术级的天妇罗，就像最高档的寿司一样精美。

　　For more than two hours, piece by delicious piece it came, an omakase, or chef’s-choice menu. A skewer of ginkgo nuts, shiso leaves sandwiching a shrimp purée, a white-fleshed fish called flat head, some anchovies, asparagus, lotus root, abalone, oysters, mushrooms with tiny shrimp tucked inside.

　　两个多小时的时间里，厨师发办(omakase，指日本料理中由客人指定价格区间，厨师全权选择菜谱的方式——译注)菜单上的美味一道接一道地上桌。白果烤串、虾肉泥紫苏卷，竹荚鱼有着白色的鱼肉，还有凤尾鱼、芦笋、莲藕、鲍鱼、牡蛎和内藏小虾的蘑菇。

　　It was expensive — $125 a person — but oh so memorable. And it made me wonder: Why are tempura bars in the United States a rarity?

　　这里费用高昂，要收125美元一位，但却非常令人难忘。我不觉深思：美国的天妇罗吧台为什么这么少呢?

　　The chef Nobu Matsuhisa sighed when I put the question to him and said that when he first opened his restaurant Matsuhisa in Los Angeles, he had a tempura bar with eight seats. “It was not a success,” he said. “People didn’t want to eat fried food the whole meal.”

　　听了这个问题，大厨松久信幸(Nobu Matsuhisa)不禁长叹一声，他说，松久餐厅刚在洛杉矶开张之时，有一个只有八个位子的天妇罗吧台。“它并不成功，”他说。“人们不想整顿饭都吃油炸食品。”

　　Perhaps not in Los Angeles, but what about New York, where $100 fried-chicken dinners sell out in advance? Or elsewhere in the land of KFC? Mr. Matsuhisa said that it was difficult to get the proper low-gluten flour here and that the kind of sesame oil in the blend used for tempura in Japan is very expensive.

　　在洛杉矶或许是这样，但在纽约呢?在这里，100美元的炸鸡大餐都能预先销售一空。在这个肯德基之国的其他地方又如何呢?松久先生说，在美国很难弄到合适的低筋面粉，在日本用来做天妇罗的芝麻油在这里也格外昂贵。

　　Fine tempura is not a dish for the home cook. At its best, it sizzles in oil that is monitored constantly for temperature. Each piece is served as soon as it’s fried, making it impossible for the cook to join the party.

　　优质天妇罗并不是在家里就能随便做好的食物。最好的天妇罗应当在保持恒温的油锅中咝咝作响。应该炸好一块就赶紧上桌，所以没法用来当做派对食品。

　　But entrepreneurial chefs could take a page from Shinei Kunugiyama, the chef and owner of Ten-Shin in central Tokyo, where I had that memorable meal. As in other tempura restaurants, there was a counter with no more than six to eight seats. The chef stood behind the counter with a big pot of oil bubbling in front of him, shielded by a hood, usually copper. A bowl of simple flour, water and egg batter sat on one side, and a cornucopia of ingredients, cut and trimmed, was on the other.

　　但是有进取心的大厨们可以向樟山真荣(Shinei Kunugiyama)学习，他是东京市中心“天真”(Ten-Shin)饭馆的大厨兼店长，我曾在那里享受过难忘的一餐。和其他天妇罗饭馆一样，这里的天妇罗柜台只有六到八个位子，大厨站在柜台后面，面前是沸腾的大油锅，周围有篷子挡着，通常是用铜做的。 油锅一侧放着一碗简单的蛋糊，另一侧放着大堆切好摆好的丰盛食材。

　　Mr. Kunugiyama used long, thin metal chopsticks to dip each bite-size piece of seafood or vegetable in batter, then let the excess drip off and dropped the ingredient into the oil. In less than a minute, when it turned golden, he posed it briefly on a stone slab with a paper liner, and then transferred it to your dish, perhaps an oblong of slate, porcelain or handmade pottery. An assistant changed the oil every 30 minutes or so, and the chef constantly skimmed it for stray bits of batter.

　　樟山先生用细长的金属筷子夹起切成小块，可以一口吃下的海鲜或蔬菜，在蛋糊中蘸一下，然后抖落多余的蛋糊，把食材放进油锅。不到一分钟，它就变得色泽金黄。他把它在一个带纸垫的石盘里放置片刻，之后盛到你的长方形碟子里——可能是石碟或磁碟，又或许是手工制作的陶碟。一位助理每隔30分钟左右就换一次油，厨师还要不停撇去油上的蛋糊残渣。

　　Nothing was greasy. The textures and flavors ranged widely. In front of you were several dipping sauces, salt, a dish of shredded daikon and a little lime juice. The chef told you which to use with the piece he had just presented. Like the best sushi chefs, he bantered affably with his guests, who eagerly waited, like baby birds, for the next tidbit.

　　这些天妇罗一点也不油腻。质感和口味十分丰富。摆在你面前的还有好几种蘸酱、盐、一碟白萝卜丝和一点柠檬汁。大厨在上菜时会告诉你哪种食材该用哪种调料。和最好的寿司大厨一样，他对顾客非常亲切，而顾客们也像刚出壳的小鸟一样，眼巴巴地期待着下一口美味。