Slices of eel are served with puffed yuzu, inspired by airy puffed snacks like Cheez Doodles, left. Framed by a reverse comma of tomato lettuce and powdered onions, beef tongue is accompanied by small pieces of lettuce and a high-tech version of fried mayonnaise.
In September, talking to an audience of chefs from around the world, Wylie Dufresne of WD-50 on the Lower East Side of Manhattan waxed enthusiastic about a type of ingredient he has been adding to his restaurant’s dishes. 今年九月，在對來自全球的主廚聽眾演講時，紐約曼哈坦下東城WD-50餐廳的Wylie Dufresne 懷利‧杜夫雷，針對一種食材侃侃而談，他已將這種食材加進他餐廳的料理中。 Not organic Waygu beef or newfound exotic spices or eye of newt and toe of frog, but hydrocolloid gums – obscure starches and proteins. These substances are helping Mr. Dufresne make eye-opening (and critically acclaimed) creations like fried mayonnaise and a foie gras that can be tied into a knot. 這食材不是澳洲的有機和牛肉，也不是新發現的異國香料，更不是其他什麼罕見的食材，而是水狀膠，一種鮮為人知的太白粉和蛋白質。這些食材助杜夫雷做出令人大開眼界（且備受好評）的創意料理如油煎美乃滋，及將鵝肝醬打結。
- []a.1. 異國情調的;奇特的2. 外來的;外國產的
- []n.1. 【動】蠑螈
- []a.1. 暗的,黑暗的;朦朧的2. 無名的;微賤的
- []n.1. 澱粉[U]2. 澱粉類食物[P]
- []a.1. 受到讚揚的
- []n.1. 蛋黃醬,美乃滋[U]
- []ph.1. 【法】肥鵝肝醬
Chefs are using science not only to better understand their cooking, but also to create new ways of cooking. The experimentation with hydrocolloids represents a rare crossover between the culinary arts and food science, two fields that at first glance would seem to be closely related but which have been almost separate. 全球主廚都在運用科學，除了藉此更了解烹飪，還另闢料理蹊徑。以水狀膠實驗新料理，是廚藝與食品科學的少見結合，這兩個領域乍看關係密切，卻一向幾乎井水不犯河水。
- []n.1. 實驗(法)
- []a.1. 烹飪的;廚房的2. 烹飪用的;適宜於做菜的
Food science arose in the 20th century as food companies looked for ways to make their products survive the trip to the supermarket and remain palatable. The long list of ingredients on a frozen dinner represents the work of food scientists in ensuring shelf life and approximating the taste of fresh-cooked food. 食品科學興起於20世紀，是食品公司千方百計不讓產品在運送過程中變質，到超市依然美味可口的一門科學。冷凍晚餐包裝上開列的長串成分說明，就是食品學家確保貨架壽命，以及讓這些食品的口味接近新鮮烹飪食物的努力成果。
- []a.1. 美味的2. 使人愉快的
- []ph.1. (罐裝食品等的)貨架壽命;耐儲時間
“Ten years ago, or maybe a little more than that, no chef in a serious restaurant would be caught dead using these ingredients,” said Harold McGee, author of “On Food and Cooking.” “Because they were industrial stabilizers for the most part.” 《談食品與烹飪》一書作者哈洛德‧麥基說：「十年前或更早一些，任何嚴正餐廳的主廚，打死也不敢用這些食材，因為它們多半是工業穩定劑。」
- []n.1. 安定裝置;安定翼2. 有安定作用之人(或物)3. 穩定者
Then chefs like Ferran Adrià in Spain and Heston Blumenthal in England started experimenting. “They asked what can you do with these ingredients that you can’t do with other ingredients,” Mr. McGee said. 後來，西班牙主廚費蘭‧艾德里亞，及英國主廚海斯頓‧布魯曼塔爾開始實驗。麥基說：「他們想知道哪些是這些食材辦得到而其他食材做不出來的菜。」
Xanthan gum, a slime fermented by the bacteria Xanthomonas campestris and then dried, is used in bottled salad dressing to slow the settling of the spice particles and keep water and oil from separating. Xanthan and other hydrocolloids are now part of the tool kit of high-end chefs. 把以野菜黃單胞桿菌細菌發酵，再讓它變乾的黏滑物「黃原膠」，加到罐裝沙拉醬內，可減緩香料顆粒沉澱，同時避免水分與油分分離。黃原膠及其他水狀膠現在都是高級主廚工具箱的法寶。
Cooking is chemistry, after all, and in recent decades scientists have given much closer scrutiny to the transformations that occur when foodstuffs are heated. That has debunked some longstanding myths. Searing meat does not seal in juices, for example, but high heat does induce chemical reactions among the proteins that make it tastier. 畢竟，烹飪是一種化學作用，而最近幾十年，科學家對食品加熱產生的質變也有了更進一步的了解。一些流傳已久的迷思因此被揭穿。例如煎烤的肉不會鎖住肉汁，但高溫確實會引起蛋白質產生化學反應，使肉嚐起來更美味。
And then there are hydrocolloids that come in white bottles like chemicals. A colloid is a suspension of particles within some substance. A hydrocolloid is a suspension of particles in water where the particles are molecules that bind to water and to one another. The particles slow the flow of the liquid or stop it entirely, solidifying into a gel. 就像一罐罐化學品，現在市面上也買得到白瓶子裝的水狀膠。膠質是某種物質的分子懸浮流體。水狀膠是水分子的懸浮流體。這些分子是一些與水結合且彼此連結的微粒，能減緩或完全停止液體流動，使其凝結成膠。
Cornstarch used as a thickener is a hydrocolloid. So is plain flour. But the properties of hydrocolloids differ widely, depending on their molecular structure and affinity for water. 被用來當作增稠劑的玉米粉是一種水狀膠。普通麵粉也是。不過，水狀膠的性質差異極大，視微粒的構造與親水性而定。
At WD-50, Mr. Dufresne has a recipe for a butter that does not melt in an oven. (That innovation has yet to find a place on his menu.) His latest experiments are how to make deep-fried hollandaise sauce, which he hopes to wrap into a variation of eggs benedict. 在WD-50餐廳內，杜夫雷有奶油不在烤箱中融化的秘技（這項創新還未出現於菜單）。他的最新實驗是調製油炸的荷蘭酸味蘸醬，希望它變成新一種加蛋滿福堡早餐的醬料。
One of the dishes Mr. Dufresne presented in his talk to chefs was what he called “knot foie,” a result of experimentation combining xanthan gum with konjac flour, made from a tuber long used in Japanese cooking. 在對主廚的演講中，杜夫雷展示一道名叫「鵝肝結」的料理。那是將黃原膠與蒟蒻精粉加在一起的實驗結果。蒟蒻精粉以日本料理使用已久的一種塊莖製成。
Konjac flour “has a really interesting synergy with xanthan gum,” Mr. Dufresne said. “It makes a kind of funky, strange gel on its own, but in conjunction with xanthan gum, which on its own won’t make a gel but is just a thickener, it makes a really interesting, very elastic product.” 杜夫雷說，蒟蒻精粉「和黃原膠會產生一種真正有趣的共同作用。蒟蒻精粉本身是一種很棒又奇特的膠質，本身無法成為膠質，只是一種增稠劑，但和黃原膠混合後，會變成一種真正很有趣又非常有彈性的產品。」
To make a flexible foie, a foie gras terrine is melted into liquefied fat, the xanthan and konjac are mixed in, and then a small amount of water and an egg yolk, which helps keep everything evenly suspended in the liquid, are blended in. The mixture is spread on a sheet, ch
illed, cut into strands and tied into knots. Hence, knot foie. 料理彈性鵝肝時，先將陶罐的鵝肝醬融化到液態油脂中，接著加入黃原膠與蒟蒻精粉，再加入少量水與一個蛋黃混合。蛋黃的作用是讓所有東西均勻懸浮於液體中。接著將混合物平鋪，冷卻切條，最後將鵝肝條打結。鵝肝結就完成了。One person asked why Mr. Dufresne went to the trouble of making a foie gras terrine, a process that takes half a day of chilling, when the next step was melting it into a liquid. 有人問杜夫雷何苦費事做陶罐鵝肝醬，過程須花半天時間冷卻，何況下一個步驟是將鵝肝醬融化到液體中。
“We were trying to be true and honest to that aspect of French cooking,” Mr. Dufresne replied. He adding, “And do something kind of crazy with it.” 杜夫雷答覆說：「我們想在那方面忠於法國烹飪。」他接著說：「但又想玩點瘋狂的。」
關鍵字句
文章指出，有主廚（chef）以新食材（ingredient）做出令人大開眼界（eye-opening）的創意料理（a creative dish, creative cuisine），而這些食材是鮮為人知（obscure）的水狀膠（hydrocolloid gum）與黃原膠（Xanthan gum），不是什麼知名的和牛肉（Wagyu beef）。Wagyu為日文的「和牛」。
水狀膠只是一種增稠劑、濃化劑（thickener），但是混合了（in conjunction with）黃原膠後，會變成有彈性的（elastic, flexible）物體。將它加入鵝肝（foie gras）及經過冷卻後，鵝肝可以切條（cut into strands）並可打成鵝肝結（knot foie）。
這是主廚一項口碑佳，評價高的（critically acclaimed）實驗結果（experiment, experimentation），而水狀膠與黃原膠現在是高級主廚工具箱（tool kit）的部分法寶。運用化學作用（chemistry），主廚得以變出（conjure）新菜色（new dishes） 。
玉米粉（cornstarch）與麵粉（flour）均是增稠劑，也是一種水狀膠。但是每種水狀膠的分子構造（molecular structure）與親水性（affinity for water）不同，性質（property）因此也有極大的差異（differ widely）。
文中提到 eggs benedict，通常譯「班尼迪克蛋」，就是在兩片英式滿福麵包（muffin）上面，放上燻培根或火腿、水波蛋（poached eggs），然後淋上荷蘭醬，類似麥當勞的加蛋滿福堡。
主廚如此巧變菜色， 代表廚藝（culinary）與食品科學（food science）兩種領域（field）的交會（crossover）。兩者看來密不可分（closely related），其實幾乎互不相干（almost separate）。
食品科學主要研究如何讓食品禁得起運送（survive the trip），但仍保持食物美味可口（palatable）。
