What's clotted cream?
對話
Marie: Now we're in the countryside, there's one thing we just mustn't miss.
Sean: What's that, drinking the local cider?
Marie: No, it's having a real cream tea.
Sean: What's so special about that?
Marie: Well it's having real clotted cream on your scones with home-made strawberry jam to go with your tea.
Sean: What's clotted cream?
Marie: It's thickest and most delicious cream there is.
瑪麗:我們既然來到鄉(xiāng)間,有一樣?xùn)|西可不能錯過。
肖恩:是什么東西?喝土產(chǎn)蘋果酒?
瑪麗:不是,是吃真正的奶油茶點。
肖恩:那有什么特別呢?
瑪麗:那是喝茶,吃司康餅。司康餅?zāi)饪s奶油,以及店家自制的草莓醬。
肖恩:凝乳脂是什么?
瑪麗:那是最濃、最可口的奶油。
看見cream tea二字,你也許會以為是‘加奶油的茶’,除了茶,還有抹乳脂(cream) 、果醬的司康餅。
論奶油,最可口的當(dāng)然是clotted cream。Clot即‘凝結(jié)成塊’,例如:The blood around the wound began to clot(傷口周圍的血開始凝結(jié))。Clot也可作名詞,常指血塊,例如:A blood clot in the brain was the cause of his death.(他死亡的原因,是腦部有一血塊)。濃縮奶油的制法,是以牛奶慢慢加熱,至接近沸點,然后待它冷卻,取凝結(jié)成塊浮到表面的乳脂而成。把牛奶煮至將近沸點,有一特別叫法:to scald milk。Scald即‘煮熱’,是說‘牛奶煮熱而成濃縮奶油’。
有些人喝咖啡,加奶油而不加牛奶,愛其香滑。I usually have milk in my coffee instead of cream for health reasons 即‘為了健康,我喝咖啡一般加牛奶,不加奶油’。乳脂還有脂肪較少的single cream和脂肪較多的double cream兩種。Do you want single cream or double cream with your coffee?即‘你的咖啡要加稀奶油還是濃奶油?’。
留意瑪麗說的home-made二字。店家往往以自制食品為號召,這‘自制’叫home-made,反義詞是store-bought或shop-bought(在商店買的、現(xiàn)成的),例如: Home-made cakes taste better than store-bought ones(自己做的蛋糕,比商店買來的好吃)。