美国国家公共电台 NPR Assassin's Steak Tartare: Popular Detective Series Gets Its Own Cookbook

Assassin's Steak Tartare: Popular Detective Series Gets Its Own Cookbook

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When Jason Goodwin set out to write a mystery set in the Ottoman Empire, he named his sleuth protagonist² Yashim. Yashim is the sultan's confidential³ agent, prowling Istanbul's dark alleys⁴ as well as the palace kitchens and the harem. And he puzzles over clues - as he puzzles over clues, he cooks - garlic sizzles, lamb browns. And by the time Yashim solves the crime, he's also put dinner together. Readers wrote to Goodwin begging for the recipes, so many readers that he has now collected them in a book. And NPR's Mary Louise Kelly asked him to cook a dish or two.

MARY LOUISE KELLY, BYLINE⁵: I was boarding a plane to Istanbul when a friend recommended the Yashim mysteries. Great reads, he said, about this Turkish detective who whips up marvelous feasts in his spare time. Sounded promising⁶, so I downloaded the first. And I was hooked from the moment we meet Yashim, tired after a long day fighting crime, trudging⁸ home to his apartment in the Balat district of Istanbul.

JASON GOODWIN: You know, he's come back from some stressful investigation⁹. The first thing he does is reach into the basket, pull out an onion and start chopping. Because chopping an onion is the foundation of all good cooking.

KELLY: Author Jason Goodwin. In his book, "Yashim Cooks Istanbul," you'll find recipes from Assassin's Steak Tartare to Sultan's Ramadan Eggs, to the simple pumpkin¹⁰ soup he made while we talked. The pumpkin gets chopped into one-inch cubes.

GOODWIN: You salt it and oil it and then pop it in the oven and let it brown a little bit and soften¹¹.

KELLY: Goodwin says he didn't start out planning to make Yashim a chef, but it proved useful for plot development.

GOODWIN: So he's chopping his onion and he's thinking over that Russian woman he's just interviewed. Was she telling the truth? And then he reaches for the sweet pepper paste. That starts to sizzle in the pan. He's wondering whether - and so on. So as a writer, it's really useful to have something like that. It's a sort of shtick for Yashim to have something to do.

KELLY: You'll have guessed from the accent that Jason Goodwin is English, not Turkish. He borrowed his sister's kitchen in London for our cooking lesson. Goodwin told me he will never forget his first taste of real Ottoman food. He'd taken a hiking holiday and walked to Istanbul from the Baltic coast. It took him months. He could tell he was heading the right direction because the coffee kept getting stronger.

GOODWIN: And there was this atmosphere as we approached the city on foot. And flavor burst in on our lives. It was so extraordinary. And we went into the Grand Bazaar¹². And there was a little cafe. And we sat down and we had chicken with eggplant and mint. Wow, even though I'm making this pumpkin soup, I can smell that mint now.

KELLY: So can I. But meanwhile, back to that soup.

GOODWIN: OK. So the pumpkin's coming out. And they're in little chunks¹³. And they're looking pretty golden and slightly browned on the top. So that's just right.

(SOUNDBITE OF FIRE ALARM)

GOODWIN: In fact, they're looking so good we've set the fire alarm off (laughter).

KELLY: I'll spare you the full six minutes it took to turn the darn thing off and for Goodwin to compose himself.

GOODWIN: (Laughter) Oh, my goodness. Well...

KELLY: Once our ears stopped ringing, I pointed¹⁴ out - how lucky is Yashim? In 19th century Istanbul, a fire alarm was not a challenge a detective would have had to grapple with.

GOODWIN: (Laughter) No, no. But of course, you see, the trouble with poor Yashim is that quite often he's cooking his dishes and everything is going quite swimmingly. And then there's a knock on the door. And it's kind of an assassin from the palace who's come to strangle him. And so then he gets involved in a battle with him. And then the cooking goes out the window, sometimes literally¹⁵.

KELLY: That is exactly what happens in a scene from the first Yashim novel, "The Janissary Tree." Yashim is cooking - you guessed it - pumpkin soup. Stock is bubbling on the stove when there's a knock. Yashim flings open the door and finds a man kicking off his shoes. In his hand, a silken bowstring looped around his fist.

GOODWIN: He hasn't come for dinner. He has come there to make sure that Yashim's investigation goes no further.

KELLY: In the novel, mayhem ensues. In real life, our cooking lesson has a happier ending. Goodwin is pleased at how the soup has turned out - dark orange and rich.

GOODWIN: And then I'd serve it with just a spoonful of Greek yogurt which has been slightly diluted¹⁶, and a little squeeze of lemon juice, and a sprinkling of parsley.

KELLY: Yashim would be highly satisfied, says Goodwin, whereas I am already thinking ahead to dessert. Maybe the recipe on page 151 - Palace Fig⁷ Pudding. Mary Louise Kelly, NPR News.

1 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

2 protagonist   

n.(思想观念的)倡导者；主角，主人公

参考例句：

• The protagonist reforms in the end and avoids his proper punishment.戏剧主角最后改过自新并避免了他应受的惩罚。
• He is the model for the protagonist in the play.剧本中的主人公就是以他为模特儿创作的！

3 confidential   

adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的

参考例句：

• He refused to allow his secretary to handle confidential letters.他不让秘书处理机密文件。
• We have a confidential exchange of views.我们推心置腹地交换意见。

4 alleys   

胡同，小巷( alley的名词复数 )； 小径

参考例句：

• I followed him through a maze of narrow alleys. 我紧随他穿过一条条迂迴曲折的窄巷。
• The children lead me through the maze of alleys to the edge of the city. 孩子们领我穿过迷宫一般的街巷，来到城边。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

7 fig   

n.无花果(树)

参考例句：

• The doctor finished the fig he had been eating and selected another.这位医生吃完了嘴里的无花果，又挑了一个。
• You can't find a person who doesn't know fig in the United States.你找不到任何一个在美国的人不知道无花果的。

8 trudging   

vt.& vi.跋涉，吃力地走（trudge的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• There was a stream of refugees trudging up the valley towards the border. 一队难民步履艰难地爬上山谷向着边境走去。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Two mules well laden with packs were trudging along. 两头骡子驮着沉重的背包，吃力地往前走。 来自辞典例句

9 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

10 pumpkin   

n.南瓜

参考例句：

• They ate turkey and pumpkin pie.他们吃了火鸡和南瓜馅饼。
• It looks like there is a person looking out of the pumpkin!看起来就像南瓜里有人在看着你！

11 soften   

v.(使)变柔软；(使)变柔和

参考例句：

• Plastics will soften when exposed to heat.塑料适当加热就可以软化。
• This special cream will help to soften up our skin.这种特殊的护肤霜有助于使皮肤变得柔软。

12 bazaar   

n.集市，商店集中区

参考例句：

• Chickens,goats and rabbits were offered for barter at the bazaar.在集市上，鸡、山羊和兔子被摆出来作物物交换之用。
• We bargained for a beautiful rug in the bazaar.我们在集市通过讨价还价买到了一条很漂亮的地毯。

13 chunks   

厚厚的一块( chunk的名词复数 )； （某物）相当大的数量或部分

参考例句：

• a tin of pineapple chunks 一罐菠萝块
• Those chunks of meat are rather large—could you chop them up a bIt'smaller? 这些肉块相当大，还能再切小一点吗？

14 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

15 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

16 diluted   

无力的，冲淡的

参考例句：

• The paint can be diluted with water to make a lighter shade. 这颜料可用水稀释以使色度淡一些。
• This pesticide is diluted with water and applied directly to the fields. 这种杀虫剂用水稀释后直接施用在田里。