不可思議 骨頭湯成流行飲品
When Michelle Tam was growing up in Menlo Park, Calif., in the 1980s, her family sipped broth with dinner every single night.
20世紀80年代，米歇爾·譚(Michelle Tam)在加利福尼亞州門洛帕克長大，那時她家每晚都煲湯。“We were full-on Cantonese,” Ms. Tam said, explaining that a light soup with herbs and perhaps a vegetable or two is an integral part of many traditional Chinese meals, acting as a digestive, a palate cleanser and a drink. “My mom used to make me go to the butcher and ask for the bones to make broth, which was totally embarrassing.”
“我們是地道的廣東人，”譚說。她解釋說，帶有藥草和一兩片蔬菜的清淡骨湯是很多中國人傳統一餐中必不可少的一部分，它能幫助消化，清潔味蕾，也是一種飲料。“以前，我媽經常讓我去肉鋪要骨頭燉湯，搞得我很難爲情。”
Today, Ms. Tam writes and illustrates the popular Nom Nom Paleo blog, one of many sources devoted to Paleo eating, the diet du jour that is an exercise in eating “like our ancestors,” as adherents describe it, by which they mean the hunter-gatherers of the late Stone Age.
如今，譚是Nom Nom舊石器飲食博客的博主。這個熱門博客是專門研究舊石器飲食的衆多資源之一。追隨者們把這種日常飲食習慣形容爲“像祖先那樣”飲食，他們說的祖先指的是石器時代後期的採集狩獵者。
One of the cornerstones of the diet is “bone broth,” the clear, concentrated meaty elixir that home cooks and chefs have known more or less forever as stock. Those ancestors probably made theirs by dropping fire-heated rocks into the stomachs of whatever animals they managed to kill. The subsequent invention of the pot made soups, stocks and broths staples in virtually every corner of the culinary world.
這種飲食的基礎之一是“骨湯”。這種清澈、濃郁、多肉的靈丹妙藥被稱爲高湯，長期以來，各種家庭廚師和大廚們對它或多或少都有了解。祖先們做骨湯的方法很可能是把用火烤熱的石頭放入他們殺死的任何獵物的胃裏。鍋發明之後，湯、高湯和骨湯成爲世界各地烹飪界的一道主食。Recently, this prehistoric food has improbably become a trend beverage, ranking with green juice and coconut water as the next magic potion in the eternal quest for perfect health. Like other health foods that have taken off in recent years — yogurt, quinoa — broth combines mystical connections to the ancient world and demonstrable nutrition benefits in the modern one.
最近，這種史前食物不可思議地成爲一種流行飲品，和蔬菜汁、椰汁一起，成爲人類在不斷追求完美健康的道路上發現的新魔力藥水。和近些年受熱捧的酸奶、藜麥等其他健康食物一樣，骨湯既與古代社會有神祕聯繫，也在現代社會具有可證明的營養益處。“I would never have thought I’d be the person who makes homemade stock,” said Ms. Tam, who now saves bones from grass-fed beef and frequently produces batches of stock in her pressure cooker. She used to grab a box of shelf-stable stock when making soup or stew, figuring that organic was a good substitute for homemade. Now, she’s a convert to the real thing: the clear, bright, essential flavor that only fresh stock, made from high-quality ingredients, can provide.
“我原本從沒想過自己會成爲自制高湯的人，”譚說。現在她把草飼肉牛的骨頭存起來，經常用高壓鍋燉好幾輪高湯。過去，她經常購買耐儲存的湯凍，用來煲湯或燉菜，還認爲這種有機食品是自制高湯的優良替代品。現在，她轉向了真正的高湯：只有用高品質的食材現做的高湯才能帶來清澈、透亮、純粹的風味。“Just because something is organic doesn’t mean it has the nutrition we’re looking for,” Ms. Tam said. “Or that it’s delicious.”
“有機的東西里不一定具有我們想要的營養，”譚說，“也不一定美味。”The difference between stock and broth is elusive in the bowl but clearer in the kitchen. Many people use the terms interchangeably, but strictly speaking, both broth and stock include bones and meat, but stock has a higher proportion of bones to meat. And to those who have taken up “broth-ing,” it is the content of the bones — including collagen, amino acids and minerals — that is the source of its health benefits. Extracting the nutrients from bones is accomplished through long cooking and by adding some acid to the pot, like vinegar, wine or a bit of tomato paste, which loosens and dissolves the tough bits.
高湯和骨湯的區別從碗裏不大容易看出來，但是在廚房裏看得比較清楚。很多人混用這兩個詞，不過，嚴格來講，雖然骨湯和高湯都是用骨頭和肉熬出來的，但是高湯中骨頭的比例較大。對於用骨湯養生的人來說，骨湯的健康益處來自骨頭中的成分，包括膠原蛋白、氨基酸和礦物質。從骨頭中萃取這些營養素要靠長時間熬製，加入醋、葡萄酒或番茄醬等酸性物質能幫助溶解骨頭中較硬的部分。Nourishing bone broth has even begun to replace espresso and chai in the to-go cups of the millions of Americans who have at least attempted the Paleo diet. (Coffee and tea, along with dairy products, legumes and grains, are forbidden.)
營養豐富的骨湯甚至開始取代濃咖啡和印度奶茶，成爲上千萬對舊石器飲食（禁止食用或飲用咖啡、茶、奶製品、豆類和穀物）多少有點興趣的美國人外帶杯中的飲料。“When you talk to chefs about this, everyone’s head is exploding,” said the chef Marco Canora, who has just opened Brodo, a storefront window in the East Village attached to his restaurant, Hearth, where three different flavorful broths are dispensed in paper cups. Like an espresso drink, the broths at Brodo can be customized, with add-ins like grated fresh turmeric, house-made chile oil and bone marrow from grass-fed cattle, which transforms plainly delicious broth into a richly satisfying snack.
“我跟大廚們談起這個時，簡直炸開了鍋，”大廚馬爾科·卡諾拉(Marco Canora)說。他剛在東村開了一個店面窗口Brodo，這個窗口是和他的餐館Hearth連在一起的。他在這個窗口用紙杯售賣三種口味的骨湯。和濃咖啡一樣，Brodo的骨湯也可以依照顧客的口味添加調料，比如磨碎的鮮薑黃、自制辣椒油或草飼肉牛的骨髓，這些東西能把清淡、美味的骨湯變成濃郁、可口的小吃。“Every chef knows how to make stock, everyone uses it as an ingredient, but it would never occur to anyone that you could sell it,” he said.
“每個大廚都知道怎麼做高湯，每個人都用它作原料，但誰也沒想過，你能單賣高湯，”他說。But right now, it seems, you can. Belcampo, the year-old meat company that sells pasture-fed beef from cattle raised on its own ranch in Northern California, just started serving $3.50 cups of house-made bone broth as a side dish in its five butcher shop-restaurants. Online sources have sprung up to meet demand, selling frozen bone broth by the quart or by subscription.
但是現在你似乎可以這樣做。老牌肉類公司Belcampo售賣在北加州自己牧場上草飼的肉牛，現在它剛開始在自己的五個肉店餐館供應3.5美元一杯的自制骨湯，作爲一道配菜。網上也涌現出很多骨湯供應商，按夸脫或按訂購量售賣。Mr. Canora turned to broth after he adopted a modified Paleo diet about five years ago, when at age 40 he found himself depressed, prediabetic, overweight and showing early signs of gout. “For 20 years, I smoked, I drank my face off, and 80 percent of my diet was bread and butter,” he said. Like many chefs, he ate mostly standing up, late at night, and with an eye to consuming as many fatty pork products as possible.
大約五年前，40歲時的卡諾拉發現自己情緒低落，糖尿病前期，超重，有痛風的早期跡象，於是開始採取略加改造的復古飲食法，開始喝骨湯。“有20年的時間，我抽菸，經常喝醉，80%的食物是麪包和黃油，”他說。和很多大廚一樣，他經常深夜吃快餐，只關心攝取儘可能多的肥豬肉製品。“Twenty years ago, if you talked about health and wellness in chef circles, they would laugh you out of town,” he said. Now, chefs are beginning to understand that food has to be more than just delicious, he said.
“20年前，如果你在大廚圈談論健康，你會被他們笑話死的，”他說。他說，現在大廚們開始明白，食物必須不只是美味。After a bout of nutritional consultations, he emerged clutching a list of forbidden foods longer than he’d imagined possible.
經過一輪營養諮詢，他得到了一個禁食食物清單，這個單子比他能想到的還要長。In some ways, the Paleo guidelines echo the rules of culinary-simplicity gurus like Alice Waters, René Redzepi and Mr. Canora: use the best raw ingredients — grass-fed meats, wild plants and fish, natural sweeteners, pristinely fresh fruits and vegetables — and do as little to them as possible. In others, like the ban on bread, whole grains, rice, butter, pasta, dried beans, fresh beans, cheese and cream, Paleo would seem to be the enemy of good food. Broth is one of the places where the two strands meet.
從某些角度講，舊石器飲食法的指導方針類似於愛麗絲·沃特斯(Alice Waters)、勒內·雷澤皮(René Redzepi)和卡諾拉等簡樸烹飪宗師的原則：使用最好的原材料——草飼肉類、野生植物和魚、天然甜味劑、天然新鮮的水果和蔬菜——儘量少加工。此外，舊石器飲食法還禁食麪包、全麩穀物、大米、黃油、麪食、幹豆、鮮豆、奶酪和奶油，似乎是美食的對立面。而骨湯是舊石器飲食和美食的交匯點之一。The broths that were already simmering on the stoves at Hearth, Mr. Canora said, helped him adjust to an entirely new way of eating, described in his new cookbook, “A Good Food Day.”
骨湯在Hearth餐館的爐子上慢慢煮燉着。卡諾拉在新烹飪書《一個美食日》(A Good Food Day)中說，骨湯幫他養成了一種全新的飲食習慣。“Broth was always my comfort food,” he said. Growing up with a Tuscan mother, he recalls that there was always fresh meat and poultry broth in the house. “Instead of sipping coffee all day and wine all night,” he said, “I started walking around with cups of broth, and that’s where the idea for Brodo came from.”
“骨湯一直能給我帶來慰藉，”他說。他的媽媽是托斯卡納人。他回憶說，小時候家裏總有鮮肉和鮮禽湯。“我不再整天喝咖啡，整晚喝葡萄酒，”他說，“而是走哪兒都端着骨湯。開設Brodo的想法就是這麼來的。”But most “broth-ers” are not chefs who happen to have homemade stocks sitting around. They are conscious eaters who have stumbled onto what generations of cooks in other cuisines have long known: Broth made with plenty of bones contributes to well-being in ways that other foods don’t.
不過，大部分“骨湯食用者”並不是本來手邊就有自制高湯的大廚，而是偶然發現了其他烹飪法中歷代廚師很久以前就知道的事情：用大量骨頭燉出來的骨湯對健康的益處是其他食物無法提供的，所以他們開始有意食用骨湯。“It’s been known through history and across cultures that broth settles your stomach and also your nerves,” said Sally Fallon Morell, an author of the new book “Nourishing Broth.” “When a recipe has that much tradition behind it, I believe the science is there too.”
“從古至今，在很多文化中，人們都知道骨湯能養胃、安神，”新書《營養豐富的骨湯》(Nourishing Broth)的作者薩莉·法倫·莫雷爾(Sally Fallon Morell)說，“如果一個食譜有漫長的歷史，我相信它一定有科學道理。”Ms. Fallon, whose first book, “Nourishing Traditions,” has sold more than half a million copies, is a farmer in Maryland and a leader of the Weston A. Price Foundation, a group dedicated to promoting the benefits of preindustrial food and cooking. Dr. Price was an early-20th-century dentist who became preoccupied by the effects of traditional diets and postindustrial diets on dental health, and later on health in general. With the advent of low-tech diets like raw food, whole food and Paleo, the foundation has become increasingly visible, providing a central resource on topics like raw milk, biodynamic agriculture and the health benefits of animal fats. (On the website, a photo of a glowingly healthy family at the beach is captioned, “They are happy because they eat butter!”)
法倫的第一本書《營養豐富的傳統》(Nourishing Traditions)銷售了50多萬冊。她是馬里蘭州的農民，也是韋斯頓·A·普里斯基金會(Weston A. Price Foundation)的主管。該機構致力於宣傳前工業化的食物和烹飪法的益處。普里斯是20世紀初的一位牙醫，他癡迷於研究傳統飲食和後工業飲食對牙齒健康的影響，後來發展爲研究這兩種飲食法對身體健康的整體影響。隨着生食、天然食物和舊石器飲食等低科技飲食的出現，該基金會越來越引人注目，成爲生牛奶、生物動力農業和動物脂肪健康益處等話題的主要來源（該機構的網站上有一張照片，照片上是面色紅潤、健康的一家人在海灘上，圖注是“他們很開心，因爲他們吃黃油！”）。Although there are few reliable studies on the medicinal effects of broth, the foundation has done analysis that shows it may provide benefits for inflammatory diseases, digestive problems and even dopamine levels.
雖然關於骨湯的藥用效果幾乎沒有可靠的研究，但是該基金會的分析表明，骨湯可能有助於緩解炎症和消化不良，甚至能幫助提高多巴胺水平。Many Asian cuisines have a version of Long Life Broth, often a combination of whole birds and fresh or dried shellfish, with bones, feet and shells contributing their nutrients to the pot. In the 12th century, the “Jewish penicillin” cliché was born when the physician Maimonides wrote that chicken soup “is recommended as an excellent food as well as medication.” In the Caribbean, “cow foot soup,” rich with collagen, is eaten as a strengthening breakfast and for all sorts of ailments.
亞洲的很多菜系中都有長壽肉湯，通常包括整隻肉禽、鮮貝或乾貝，再加入骨頭、蹄和殼來增加營養素。12世紀，人們經常談論的“猶太青黴素”誕生了，它指的是雞湯。當時，醫生邁蒙尼德(Maimonides)寫道，雞湯“被奉爲優良食物，也被視爲藥物”。在加勒比地區，人們早餐常喝含有豐富骨膠原的“牛蹄湯”，認爲它能強身健體，治癒各種小病。Korean seolleongtang and Japanese tonkotsu are broths that are thick and creamy with fats and myoglobin from bone marrow. In France, there are strict separations among stocks — light veal, dark veal, raw chicken, roasted chicken — but all of them are ideally of a perfect clarity, clear enough to read the date on a coin at the bottom of the pot, according to French tradition.
韓國的牛骨湯和日本的豬骨湯都濃郁柔滑，富含脂肪和肌紅蛋白，它們來自骨髓。在法國，高湯有嚴格的分類——清淡小牛肉湯、濃郁小牛肉湯、生雞湯和烤雞湯——但是依照法國傳統，完美的肉湯必須十分清澈，清澈得足以看清鍋底硬幣上的日期。But there is no need to be that picky, or to be on the Paleo diet, to appreciate a good broth. Making one is as easy as getting your hands on fresh, meaty bones — preferably including some knuckles or necks or another cartilaginous part — then covering them with water and simmering them patiently until the broth tastes good to you. Meat and poultry can go in the same pot (delicious batches of the stuff arise from such combinations). Aromatics are optional.
品嚐美味的骨湯不需要那麼挑剔，也不必採取舊石器飲食法。煲湯很容易，弄些新鮮、多肉的骨頭——最好含有關節、脖子或其他軟骨——然後加水沒過骨頭，耐心地用小火燉，直至你覺得湯嚐起來很美味。把畜肉和禽肉放在一起燉（這樣的組合能燉出好幾輪美味的湯）。可以加些香料。Last month, a steady stream of customers lined up at the Brodo window on a raw, wet afternoon, sipping and tasting, and somewhat dumbfounded that such a basic food could taste so good.
上個月一個陰冷、潮溼的下午，Brodo的窗口前一直排着長隊，顧客們品嚐骨湯，爲如此基本的食物能如此美味而感到有些驚歎。“My grandmother used to drink a jelly glass of chicken broth every day, even when it was broiling hot outside,” said Carl Hoffman, who stopped in on his way home from work at Beth Israel Hospital nearby. Estelle Hoffman lived to be 106, he said: “She called it her fountain of youth.”
“我祖母在世時每天喝一杯雞湯，甚至在滾燙的時候就開始喝，”卡爾·霍夫曼(Carl Hoffman)說。他在附近的以色列堂醫院(Beth Israel Hospital)工作，在回家的路上順便到這裏買湯。他說，他祖母埃斯特爾·霍夫曼(Estelle Hoffman)活到了106歲，“她常說雞湯是她的青春之源”。
