5 Things You Didn’t Know About Bacon 關(guān)于培根 你所不知道的五件事

by Kathryn Whitbourne 陳佳

編者注：

我們在餐桌上常會遇到一種名為“培根”食物，它究竟是什么呢？培根是由英語中的“Bacon”一詞音譯而來，是一種經(jīng)過腌熏等工序加工出來的豬肉。下面我們一起來看看，關(guān)于培根，還有哪些事情是你不知道的吧！

1 Bacon enhances1 everything.

培根能增強食物的風(fēng)味。

We know that bacon （or bacon flavoring） has been added to tons of products. But why？ Apart from simply being a newfound fad2， the truth is bacon is loaded3 with two ingredients4 that enhance the flavor of almost all foods： salt and fat. “Salt brings out flavor and fat carries flavor to our taste buds5，” Sara Perry wrote in her book Everything Tastes Better with Bacon. “But not only that—bacon has bite. Its chewy6 and crunchy7.” In other words， its hitting all our flavor receptors at once.

我們知道，很多產(chǎn)品添加了培根（或培根口味）。但為什么呢？事實上，培根除了是一種新的流行之外，還含有兩種能增強幾乎所有食物風(fēng)味的成分：鹽和脂肪?！胞}能提味，而脂肪能將味道帶給我們的味蕾?！彼_拉·佩里在她的書《培根配啥都美味》中寫道，“但不僅如此，培根還夠味。它既有嚼勁而又脆。”換句話說，它同時影響了我們所有的味覺感受器。

2 Its more than 4，000 years old.

它有4000多年的歷史了。

Bacon is basically cured8 pork， and in the days before refrigeration9， the only way to pre-serve10 meat was to cure it. The Chinese had techniques for curing pork 4，000 years ago and until the 16th century， all pork was referred to as “bacon”. However， “real” bacon comes from the side or belly of the pig. Canadian bacon is closer to ham and comes from the loin11 of the pig.

簡單地說，培根是腌制過的豬肉，在能冷藏之前，保存肉類的唯一方法就是腌制。中國人在4000年前就有了腌制豬肉的技術(shù)，而直到16世紀(jì)，所有的豬肉都被稱為“培根”。但是，“真正的”培根是由豬的肋條或豬腹部的肉制成的。加拿大培根更接近火腿，是用豬的背脊肉做的。

3 Its not so bad for you.

對你來說也不是那么糟糕。

Were not going to say bacon is a healthy choice， but its not the worst thing you can eat， either. Bacon is a processed meat， which means its been treated with nitrites12 for preservation13. Eating lots of processed meats has been linked to an increased risk of cancer， as well as heart failure and other diseases. However， two strips of bacon—along with a fried egg once a week is probably OK. Speaking of which...

我們不會說培根是健康的選擇，但它也不是你能吃的最糟糕的東西。培根是一種加工處理過的肉，也就是說它是經(jīng)過亞硝酸鹽處理來保存的。大量食用加工處理過的肉類會增加患癌、心力衰竭和其他疾病的風(fēng)險。不過，每周吃一次，兩條培根再加上一個煎雞蛋，是沒關(guān)系的。說到這里……

4 Marrying bacon with eggs was a PR14 stunt15.

培根和雞蛋的搭配是公關(guān)的把戲。

Edward Bernays was the person responsible for pairing bacon with eggs on American breakfast tables. Hed been hired by a producer of bacon in the 1920s， to increase demand for the porky product. At the time， Americans ate a light breakfast—maybe coffee and a roll. Bernays asked a physician16 whether a heavy breakfast was better than a light one since “the body loses energy in the night and needs it in the day”. Unsurprisingly， the company physician agreed.

“We asked him if hed be willing—at no cost—to write to 5，000 physicians and ask them whether their judgments were the same as his. He said hed be glad to do it，” reminisced17 Bernays in an interview decades later. “Obviously， all of them concurred18.” This news was reported in newspapers throughout the country， many of which added that bacon and eggs should be part of the “healthier” breakfast. Sales of bacon went up and bacon became embedded19 with eggs.

愛德華·伯尼斯是使人們在美國的早餐桌上把培根和雞蛋搭配起來的那個人。他在20世紀(jì)20年代被一家培根生產(chǎn)商雇傭，以增加人們對這種豬肉產(chǎn)品的需求。當(dāng)時，美國人吃的早餐比較清淡——可能是咖啡和面包卷。伯尼斯問醫(yī)生，一頓豐盛的早餐是否比一頓清淡的早餐好，因為“人體在夜間失去能量，在白天需要能量?！辈怀鏊?，該公司的醫(yī)生同意了這一點。

“我們問他是否愿意——免費——寫信給5000名醫(yī)生，詢問他們的判斷是否與他的相同。他說他很樂意這樣做?！睅资旰?，伯奈斯在一次采訪中回憶道，“很明顯，所有人都同意這一點?！边@個消息在全國各地的報紙上都有報道，其中許多報紙還說培根和雞蛋應(yīng)該是“更健康的”早餐的一部分。培根的銷售量增加了，培根也和雞蛋放到了一起。

5 The phrase? “bring home the bacon” doesnt have to do with bacon.

“帶培根回家”這一說法與培根沒啥關(guān)系。

Back in the 12th century， the Prior20 of Little Dunmow in Essex， England offered a “flitch” （or side） of bacon to any couples who could prove that after a year and a day of marriage they have “not wish themselves unmarried again”. Though some people think this is the origin of the expression， “bringing home the bacon”， it appears to have a more recent history.

“Bacon” has been a slang21 term for “body” （and by extension22 “l(fā)ivelihood”） since the 17th century， but the entire phrase seems to have first appeared in a 1906 news article about a boxing match between Joe Gans and Oliver Nelson. A newspaper? reported， “Before the fight Gans received a telegram from his mother： ‘Joe， the eyes of the world are on you. Everybody says you ought to win. Peter Jackson will tell me the news and you bring home the bacon.” Gans indeed won the fight. Whether he took home some actual bacon is unrecorded.

早在12世紀(jì)，英國埃塞克斯郡小鄧莫的修道院長就向那些能夠證明結(jié)婚一年零一天后“不希望離婚”的夫婦提供一份腌豬肋肉。盡管有人認(rèn)為這是“把培根帶回家”這一說法的由來，但這個說法的歷史似乎更短一點。

“培根”自十七世紀(jì)起一直是“身體”的俚語說法（引申為“生計，營生”），但整個短語似乎首次出現(xiàn)在1906年的一篇有關(guān)喬·甘斯與奧利弗·尼爾森的拳擊比賽的新聞文章中。一家報紙報道說：“比賽前，甘斯收到了他母親的電報：‘喬，全世界的目光都在你身上。大家都說你應(yīng)該贏。彼得·杰克遜會告訴我這個消息，你會贏?！备仕勾_實贏了這場拳擊比賽。他是否帶了一些真正的培根回家則沒被記錄下來。

（英語原文選自：recipes.howstuffworks.com）

◎Definition of “bring home the bacon”：

If you bring home the bacon， you achieve what you needed to achieve.

1. enhance [■] vt. 提高;加強;增加 ? 2. fad [■] n. 時尚;一時流行的狂熱

3. load [■] vt. 使擔(dān)負(fù);裝填 ? 4. ingredient [■] n. 原料;要素

5. taste bud? 味蕾

6. chewy [■] adj. 有嚼勁的 ? 7. crunchy [■] adj. 易碎的;發(fā)嘎吱嘎吱聲的

8. cure [■] v. （用腌、曬、熏等方法）加工處理，保存

9. refrigeration [■] n. 冷藏 10. preserve [■] vt. 保存;腌

11. loin [■] n. 腰;腰部;腰肉 12. nitrite [■] n. 亞硝酸鹽

13. preservation [■] n. 保存，保留14. PR [■] abbr. 公共關(guān)系（public relations）

15. stunt [■] n. 噱頭，手腕 16. physician [■] n. 醫(yī)師，內(nèi)科醫(yī)師

17. reminisce [■] v. 追憶說 18. concur [■] vi. 同意;一致

19. embed [■] vt. 使嵌入 20. prior [■] n. （小隱修院） 院長，會長，副院長

21. slang [■] n. 俚語;行話 22. extension [■] n. 拓展;延伸