美国国家公共电台 NPR 'Praise The Lard': A Barbecue Legend Shows Us How To Master Smoked Chicken Wings

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Mike and Amy Mills are a father-daughter team from southern Illinois. Mike was trained as a dental technician.

MIKE MILLS: I made false teeth - crowns, bridges, partials, this type thing. It's what I did, you know, as a trade. Later on, I started barbecuing just for the fun of doing it.

SHAPIRO: And that's what made him famous.

I see that in your pocket you've got a pen, glasses and also a meat thermometer.

M. MILLS: Yes, all the necessities of life.

SHAPIRO: Mike is 75. And he doesn't like to brag¹, but he's in the Barbecue Hall of Fame in Kansas City, Mo. He's won a bunch of international competitions. In short, the guy standing² on my porch in the rain right now is a barbecue legend. With his daughter Amy, the family runs a place in Murphysboro, Ill., called 17th Street Barbecue.

AMY MILLS: Spreading the gospel of barbecue, hence the words praise the lard.

SHAPIRO: "Praise The Lard" is also the name of their new cookbook. It has simple recipes like pimento cheese and tangy coleslaw, then also more ambitious projects like instructions on how to select and prepare a whole hog³. We're not getting in that deep today. I asked Mike and Amy Mills to show us something people can do at home.

A. MILLS: Today, we are going to smoke and then finish on the grill⁴ some chicken wings. And that's something that's very easy to do in your own backyard.

SHAPIRO: Awesome⁵. Lead the way, and we will follow.

These barbecue evangelists preach that you don't need fancy equipment to make great meat. To prove it, they set to work on a well-used and very basic Weber charcoal⁶ grill.

M. MILLS: Let's see what we got going here. Perfect. This is just - this looks exactly like they should look, like they've been used before. It's not the first time out of the box.

SHAPIRO: (Laughter).

For heat, Mike likes a natural lump charcoal, not charcoal briquettes.

M. MILLS: You know, natural wood has not got chemicals and coal and other additive⁷ just to extend the wood product. It's a hundred percent wood. So I'm just going to put this in the chimney.

SHAPIRO: Once the coals are red hot, he dumps them onto the grill.

M. MILLS: You know, you want your coals to be nice and red and charred⁸.

SHAPIRO: Then right on top of the glowing coals goes an almost magic ingredient - a branch.

A. MILLS: We have some applewood here.

SHAPIRO: Did you bring this applewood from southern Illinois?

A. MILLS: I did.

SHAPIRO: (Laughter) This is really authentic⁹.

A. MILLS: We packed this in our suitcase. This is really authentic.

M. MILLS: Something a lot of people just don't know, trees have bark. Bark blackens your meat. Your applewood has a skin. You'll notice it's very thin.

SHAPIRO: It's not a thick bark. It's a very thin skin.

M. MILLS: Very thin.

SHAPIRO: Applewood won't make the meat turn dark?

M. MILLS: No.

A. MILLS: So charcoal is the heat source, and wood is the flavor.

SHAPIRO: As soon as the applewood goes on, a sweet smoky aroma¹⁰ fills the porch.

M. MILLS: Smells like heaven (laughter).

SHAPIRO: And that's before there's even any meat.

M. MILLS: Yes.

SHAPIRO: Now the wings go on over indirect heat. They've already gotten the spice rub, and they should sit there for about an hour and a half undisturbed - not intensely cooking just yet, just slowly smoking.

M. MILLS: Barbecuing probably is without a doubt, when people get together, they're not in a hurry. They're more relaxed. People aren't shoving and pushing. And they know when it's ready, it's going to be something good.

SHAPIRO: Finally, it's onto the second phase of these two-step wings. With more coals on the fire, it's time to apply a couple of different house sauces with a tiny little mop.

M. MILLS: A lot of times you'll see somebody with a brush. You know, we're not painting a house. We're fixing a meal. That's why we use a mop.

SHAPIRO: The cookbook includes the family's recipe for barbecue sauce. We'll post it online.

M. MILLS: Barbecuing is a great friendship maker¹¹. You've got time to talk to each other. And in this life anymore, you don't have a lot of time to talk, you know, other than hi, bye, how's the kids, and I'll see you next week. Barbecuing puts it down on a different level. And can you cook the ribs¹² faster? Yes, but they won't be like they supposed to be.

SHAPIRO: You want to pull the wings off the grill when the internal temperature hits 165 or when they look nice and charred but not blackened.

M. MILLS: You eat with your eyes, too. Like, that's the first thing you eat with is with your eyes and your nose. The smell when you walked up here, and then when we open this up to see what's on there and to get another whiff of that aroma.

(SOUNDBITE OF SIZZLING)

M. MILLS: I'm going to get a bowl right quick.

SHAPIRO: Now, at this point, I need to recruit an impartial¹³ judge to help me taste these wings.

DIANE SWANN: Hello, Mr. Mills.

A. MILLS: Hey, how we doing?

SWANN: My name is Diane Swann, and I'm the next-door neighbor to Ari.

SHAPIRO: She's lived in this neighborhood for decades, and she knows a good wing.

SWANN: I like the hot ones, the mild ones...

SHAPIRO: The in-between ones. All of the above.

SWANN: ...And the in-between ones.

A. MILLS: Do you prefer the drummy (ph) or the wingettes (ph)?

SWANN: The wingettes. That's the one. There you go.

A. MILLS: I'll give you one of each, but you can have more.

SWANN: OK. OK. I'm going to try this one - tastes good.

(LAUGHTER)

SWANN: Very delicious.

SHAPIRO: Did you know Food & Wine magazine called these the best wings in the country?

SWANN: Oh, they do? They're good. They are good.

A. MILLS: So there's just many, many layers of flavor here - garlic, salt, dry rub, smoke, the chicken itself and then the sauce.

SWANN: Poor chicken don't stand a chance.

(LAUGHTER)

SHAPIRO: My neighbor, Ms. Diane Swann with two legends of American barbecue, Mike and Amy Mills. Their new cookbook is called "Praise The Lard: Recipes And Revelations From A Legendary¹⁴ Life In Barbecue."

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BAR-B-Q")

WENDY RENE: (Singing) I like barbecue. You like barbecue. We like barbecue. You know I sure love barbecue. Sister's out back sitting in the swing. She wants some barbecue.

1 brag   

v./n.吹牛，自夸；adj.第一流的

参考例句：

• He made brag of his skill.他夸耀自己技术高明。
• His wealth is his brag.他夸张他的财富。

2 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

3 hog   

n.猪；馋嘴贪吃的人；vt.把…占为己有，独占

参考例句：

• He is greedy like a hog.他像猪一样贪婪。
• Drivers who hog the road leave no room for other cars.那些占着路面的驾驶员一点余地都不留给其他车辆。

4 grill   

n.烤架，铁格子，烤肉；v.烧，烤，严加盘问

参考例句：

• Put it under the grill for a minute to brown the top.放在烤架下烤一分钟把上面烤成金黄色。
• I'll grill you some mutton.我来给你烤一些羊肉吃。

5 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.

6 charcoal   

n.炭，木炭，生物炭

参考例句：

• We need to get some more charcoal for the barbecue.我们烧烤需要更多的碳。
• Charcoal is used to filter water.木炭是用来过滤水的。

7 additive   

adj.附加的；n.添加剂

参考例句：

• Colour is often an additive in foods.颜料经常是各种食物中的添加物。
• Strict safety tests are carried out on food additives.对食品添加剂进行了严格的安全检测。

8 charred   

v.把…烧成炭( char的过去式)；烧焦

参考例句：

• the charred remains of a burnt-out car 被烧焦的轿车残骸
• The intensity of the explosion is recorded on the charred tree trunks. 那些烧焦的树干表明爆炸的强烈。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 authentic   

a.真的，真正的；可靠的，可信的，有根据的

参考例句：

• This is an authentic news report. We can depend on it. 这是篇可靠的新闻报道, 我们相信它。
• Autumn is also the authentic season of renewal. 秋天才是真正的除旧布新的季节。

10 aroma   

n.香气，芬芳，芳香

参考例句：

• The whole house was filled with the aroma of coffee.满屋子都是咖啡的香味。
• The air was heavy with the aroma of the paddy fields.稻花飘香。

11 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

12 ribs   

n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 )；（船或屋顶等的）肋拱；肋骨状的东西；（织物的）凸条花纹

参考例句：

• He suffered cracked ribs and bruising. 他断了肋骨还有挫伤。
• Make a small incision below the ribs. 在肋骨下方切开一个小口。

13 impartial   

adj.(in,to)公正的，无偏见的

参考例句：

• He gave an impartial view of the state of affairs in Ireland.他对爱尔兰的事态发表了公正的看法。
• Careers officers offer impartial advice to all pupils.就业指导员向所有学生提供公正无私的建议。

14 legendary   

adj.传奇（中）的，闻名遐迩的；n.传奇（文学）

参考例句：

• Legendary stories are passed down from parents to children.传奇故事是由父母传给孩子们的。
• Odysseus was a legendary Greek hero.奥狄修斯是传说中的希腊英雄。