美国国家公共电台 NPR 'Epicurious' Editor Goes Inside The Home To Find Greatest Chefs

 

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

Stanley Tucci, Rachael Ray and Patti LaBelle - what do these people have in common? They're among the 100 greatest home cooks of all time according to Epicurious. The idea for the list came from editor David Tamarkin. And while some of the names on his list are surprising, others are not - Julia Child, food critic Craig Kilborn and a man who helped redeem¹ American cuisine², cookbook author and TV personality James Beard.

DAVID TAMARKIN: Before James Beard, there was no such thing as American cuisine - or perhaps there was an American cuisine, but it wasn't celebrated³. And I think there was a pressure to cook continental⁴, if you remember that word. And when we were thinking about that, we're thinking about French food, Italian food. We often think about the fanciest of those foods. So when we're thinking about French food, we're thinking about silky sauces and, you know, a duck confit and stuff like that, stuff that nobody in their right mind would ever make for dinner on a Tuesday night.

James Beard came along, and he said, you know, you don't only have to cook French food, but you should be cooking American food. And it can be way more simple. One of his most famous dishes is just, like, white onion on buttered toast I think. And he used to serve that as an appetizer⁵ - not cooking the onion. So it's an intense bite (laughter).

CORNISH: Oh, really (laughter)?

TAMARKIN: Yeah.

CORNISH: It's raw onion on toast.

TAMARKIN: Just raw white onion toast - that's one of his most famous dishes. So anyway, if you can get America to embrace that, you can do anything.

CORNISH: Another name on the list is Zephyr⁶ Wright. She was a Texas-born, college-educated White House chef for Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson. And her role's interesting because there was already a White House executive chef. So why did she make your list of a hundred all-time greats?

TAMARKIN: Well, they brought her from Texas and kept her on staff to cook for them on the second floor of the house in their private residence because they wanted to eat things like Texas chili⁷ and cornbread, and they didn't want to kind of mess with the fancy French (laughter) stuff that the official White House chef was making.

She was considered I think part of the Johnson family, and so when she brought up the hesitations⁸ she had about traveling with the Johnsons because, you know, she was a black woman, and at that time, she was being subjected to the indignities⁹ of segregation¹⁰, Johnson reportedly took that to heart and said that it affected¹¹ him very deeply and was one of the things that contributed to the Civil Rights Act.

CORNISH: In fact that he gave her one of the signing pens from signing that bill.

TAMARKIN: I think the words he said were, you know, you deserve this more than anybody, something like that.

CORNISH: Another pair - Malitta Jensen and Mildred Day - they created deserts for the Kellogg Company. I guess they're the people who brought us Rice Krispie Treats.

TAMARKIN: And how influential¹² is that? We really tried to find people who were not only good cooks but impacted home cooking for home cooks to come. And so they created the Rice Krispie Treat as a promotional stunt¹³, but now it's one of the first things that people cook. You know, you're a kid. You're helping¹⁴ your parents cook in the kitchen. Nine times out of 10, the first thing you're going to cook is a Rice Krispie Treat, so that's deeply impactful. So I love having them on the list.

CORNISH: Today there are so many sites out there for home cooks, not just Epicurious - Chowhound and just, like, a kabillion...

TAMARKIN: I've never heard of any of those.

CORNISH: ...Recipe blogs.

TAMARKIN: I don't know what you're talking about.

CORNISH: (Laughter) Right. Are we in a golden age of home cooking?

TAMARKIN: Home cooking is dying, so I would say, no, we are not in a golden age of home cooking. I think we're in a situation where, you know, more and more people are living in cities. And cities are great for home cooking because, you know, you have farmers' markets and grocery stores all around you. You mentioned we have access to recipes, so many recipes.

But we're also living in a time where a lot of the messaging out there about food is about restaurants. We're also living in this time where we're looking at food videos online. And people are looking at those more and more and more, but they're not cooking more and more. So...

CORNISH: (Laughter).

TAMARKIN: I think we're seeing...

CORNISH: We're essentially¹⁵ looking at the video and being like, that would be great to do...

TAMARKIN: (Laughter) Right, right, right.

CORNISH: ...And then watching a movie - right? - on streaming (laughter).

TAMARKIN: Exactly.

CORNISH: Like, we're not rushing to the kitchen.

TAMARKIN: Yeah, I mean it's - I think what's happening is we are seeing cooking more and more as entertainment. What we want to do at Epicurious is we want to kind of push cooking as something that you do on more of a daily basis than - because we think that cooking has a lot of benefits.

CORNISH: David Tamarkin is editor of the website Epicurious. We spoke¹⁶ to him about their recent project, the list of the 100 greatest home cooks of all time.

1 redeem   

v.买回，赎回，挽回，恢复，履行（诺言等）

参考例句：

• He had no way to redeem his furniture out of pawn.他无法赎回典当的家具。
• The eyes redeem the face from ugliness.这双眼睛弥补了他其貌不扬之缺陷。

2 cuisine   

n.烹调，烹饪法

参考例句：

• This book is the definitive guide to world cuisine.这本书是世界美食的权威指南。
• This restaurant is renowned for its cuisine.这家餐馆以其精美的饭菜而闻名。

3 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

4 continental   

adj.大陆的，大陆性的，欧洲大陆的

参考例句：

• A continental climate is different from an insular one.大陆性气候不同于岛屿气候。
• The most ancient parts of the continental crust are 4000 million years old.大陆地壳最古老的部分有40亿年历史。

5 appetizer   

n.小吃，开胃品

参考例句：

• We served some crackers and cheese as an appetizer.我们上了些饼干和奶酪作为开胃品。
• I would like a cucumber salad for an appetizer.我要一份黄瓜沙拉作开胃菜。

6 zephyr   

n.和风，微风

参考例句：

• I feel very comfortable in the zephyr from the sea.从海上吹来的和风令我非常惬意。
• Zephyr,the West Wind,blew away the clouds so that Apollo,the sun god,could shine and made this flower bloom.西风之神吹散了云朵，太阳神阿波罗得以照耀它并使它开花。

7 chili   

n.辣椒

参考例句：

• He helped himself to another two small spoonfuls of chili oil.他自己下手又加了两小勺辣椒油。
• It has chocolate,chili,and other spices.有巧克力粉，辣椒，和其他的调味品。

8 hesitations   

n.犹豫( hesitation的名词复数 )；踌躇；犹豫（之事或行为）；口吃

参考例句：

• His doubts and hesitations were tiresome. 他的疑惑和犹豫令人厌烦。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The cool manipulators in Hanoi had exploited America's hesitations and self-doubt. 善于冷静地操纵这类事的河内统治者大大地钻了美国当局优柔寡断的空子。 来自辞典例句

9 indignities   

n.侮辱，轻蔑( indignity的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The soldiers who were captured suffered many indignities at the hands of the enemy. 被俘的士兵在敌人手中受尽侮辱。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• What sort of indignities would he be forced to endure? 他会被迫忍受什么样的侮辱呢？ 来自辞典例句

10 segregation   

n.隔离，种族隔离

参考例句：

• Many school boards found segregation a hot potato in the early 1960s.在60年代初，许多学校部门都觉得按水平分班是一个棘手的问题。
• They were tired to death of segregation and of being kicked around.他们十分厌恶种族隔离和总是被人踢来踢去。

11 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

12 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。

13 stunt   

n.惊人表演，绝技，特技；vt.阻碍...发育，妨碍...生长

参考例句：

• Lack of the right food may stunt growth.缺乏适当的食物会阻碍发育。
• Right up there is where the big stunt is taking place.那边将会有惊人的表演。

14 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

15 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

16 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。