Residents of Chengdu, the lively capital of southwestern China's Sichuan province, are known as enthusiastic idlers, a reputation owed to a passion for tea gardens, cards and mah-jongg and good food.
中国四川省的省会成都市的居民素有闲散之名，这是因为当地人热衷茶室、扑克牌、麻将和美食。
No local specialty is more treasured than mapo dofu, a sumptuous melange of silky firm bean curd, chopped meat and suanmiao (a local leek) cooked in liberal amounts of oil with black beans, chili-beanpaste, soy sauce and dried chilies. Before it is served, the dish is thickly dusted with ground huajiao (also known as Sichuan pepper), the fruit of a type of prickly ash tree that leaves a tingle on lips and tongue.
当地美食没有比麻婆豆腐更让人爱不释口的了。又滑又韧的豆腐，肉末、蒜苗配以豆豉、辣椒豆瓣酱、酱油和干红辣椒，用大量的油烹制而成。在盛盘之前，还要撒上厚厚的一层四川当地特有的花椒，吃到口里的时候，只觉得嘴唇和舌头都是麻麻的。

For British food writer Fuchsia Dunlop, author of 'Sichuan Cookery' (published in the U.S. under the title 'Land of Plenty'), mapo dofu's 'bold, striking flavors and comforting, sort of lazy texture' are a culinary embodiment of Chengdu's split personality: 'A vibrant city whose inhabitants are known for taking a laid-back approach to life,' says Ms. Dunlop.
在著有《川菜烹饪》(Sichuan Cookery)（在美国出版时的书名为《天府之国》一书的英国美食作家扶霞看来，麻婆豆腐大胆而浓厚的风味、嫩滑而绵软的口感，是成都这个城市的两面性在美食上的充分体现。扶霞说，成都是一个充满活力的城市，而那里的居民却有着悠然自得的生活态度。

THE HISTORY
历史
Mapo dofu -- which means 'pockmarked old lady's bean curd' or, more politely, 'pockmarked mother's bean curd' (ma means pockmarked and po means mother or lady) -- is named for its inventor, a woman named Chen who, in late 19th-century Chengdu, ran a food shop called Wanfu Qiao (Wanfu Bridge) with her husband. The restaurant's existence, Ms. Dunlop notes, is substantiated by its mention in 'Chengdu Tonglan: A General View of Chengdu,' a guide to the city's famous eateries and street snacks published in 1909.
麻婆豆腐，字面上的意思是“满脸长着麻子的老太婆的豆腐”，或者客气点说，“脸上长有麻子的老妈妈的豆腐”（麻的意思是麻子，婆的意思是妈妈或婆婆）。麻婆豆腐由19世纪末成都市万福桥边一家小吃店的陈姓老板娘所创。扶霞指出，1909年出版的介绍成都著名饭店和小吃的手册《成都通览》（'Chengdu Tonglan: A General View of Chengdu'）中即记载了这家小吃店，证实确有其事。
Wanfu Qiao sat outside the city wall's north gate, along a route traversed by laborers lugging rapeseed oil (a type of vegetable oil still used in Sichuan) to market. Ms. Dunlop speculates that one day the porters gave Chen Mapo some oil and requested that she make them something with bean curd. Heeding the Sichuanese penchant for ma-la (numbing and spicy flavors), she added plenty of dried chilies and huajiao (Sichuan pepper) to her bean curd dish and served it in a pool of chili-hued oil.
万福桥位于成都北门外，正好是运送菜籽油（一种菜油，四川仍在使用）的脚夫们途经之路。扶霞推断，某天脚夫给了陈麻婆一些油，让她做些豆腐吃。 想到四川人喜欢麻辣口味，她就在豆腐里加了很多干辣椒和花椒，并配以红油。
The owners of Chen Mapo Dofu, a chain of restaurants in contemporary Chengdu, maintain that their shops are directly descended from the late 19th-century original. It's a claim that's impossible to verify, though Ms. Dunlop thinks it may have merit because when the Chinese Communists nationalized privately owned restaurants in the 1950s, they usually left the businesses' family names intact.
现今的成都连锁餐馆“陈麻婆豆腐”的老板坚持说，他们的餐馆是直接从19世纪的陈氏老店继承下来的。这种说法无法考证，但是扶霞认为也有一定道理，原因是中国共产党在五十年代对私有餐馆国有化的时候，通常都会保留餐馆的家族名字不变。
Overseas Chinese restaurant versions of mapo dofu rarely pack the ma-la punch of the real thing, probably because most restaurant owners hail from chili-phobic southern China, but also because the processing that huajiao must undergo for export robs it of fragrance and flavor.
海外中餐馆里的麻婆豆腐很少有成都当地原汁原味的麻辣口味，或许是因为大多数餐馆老板都来自于少食辣椒的中国南部，但是也可能是因为出口所用的花椒必须经过一定处理，因而令花椒失去了原有的香味和风味。

THE SETTING
做法
Mapo dofu is a lunch or dinner food to be enjoyed -- depending on the occasion and the company -- with a simple stir-fried green vegetable or an array of cold starters, other main dishes and soup. In Chengdu, you're rarely more than a city block from a passable version, whether it's served in an establishment dripping with gold leaf and crystal chandeliers or a rustic open-air eatery run by a lone cook working a single wok.
麻婆豆腐可以在午餐或是晚餐时候享用，根据场合和食客的不同，可配以一道清炒时蔬，或是几个冷盘，其它一些主菜，还有汤。在成都，街头巷尾随处都能吃到还过得去的麻婆豆腐，无论是金碧辉煌的大饭店，还是一人主厨的简陋的大排档。
The dish is also a comfort food well-suited to preparation at home. According to Chinese-American Zuo Ziying, who was born in Chengdu and who conducts tours in southwest China for Lotus Culinary Travel, jiachang or home-style versions of mapo dofu are usually less oily and more simple than those cooked in restaurant kitchens. When Ms. Zuo prepares the dish at home, 'I make it with just tofu cubes and some chili oil, and not so much beanpaste.' And she often substitutes chopped scallion greens for suanmiao (the local leek).
麻婆豆腐也是非常适合家庭准备的一道家常菜。出生于成都的美籍华人、在中国西南地区为荷花美食游（Lotus Culinary Travel）担任导游的左子英（音）表示，比起饭店的版本，家常麻婆豆腐通常不会那么油腻，用料也要简单一些。左女士在家准备麻婆豆腐的时候，只用豆腐和一些辣椒油，不放那么多豆瓣酱。而且她经常用切好的葱段代替蒜苗。
Chilies both warm the body and induce a cooling sweat, so mapo dofu is a dish made-to-order for Chengdu's perennially humid climate, with its bone-chilling winters and oppressively muggy summers.
辣椒即可温暖身体，又可让人发汗，而成都的冬天寒冷刺骨，夏天又闷热无比，因此麻婆豆腐是非常适合成都常年潮湿气候的一道美食。

THE JUDGMENT
何为正宗
'Each place makes it a different way,' says Ms. Zuo, 'but the style served at Chen Mapo Dofu' -- with a generous pool of oil, lengths of suanmiao, heavy-duty spice and browned beef (some cooks substitute pork) -- 'is authentic.'
左女士说，每个地方的麻婆豆腐做法都不一样，但是陈氏麻婆豆腐的做法──油的用量很大，蒜苗的长度，浓郁的麻辣味道，还有黄牛肉的使用（一些厨师用猪肉替代）──是地道的做法。
Foreigners are often put off by mapo dofu's characteristic slick of oil, but Ms. Dunlop says, 'It was an oil carrier's dish, so it should be oily.' The dish, she adds, should also boast a 'wonderful deep-red glossiness because the chilies have thoroughly colored the oil.' A generous sprinkling of fragrant ground huajiao -- Sichuan pepper -- just before serving is essential.
外国人经常会因为麻婆豆腐的油腻而不敢尝试，但是扶霞说，这是必须有油才能好吃的菜肴，因此用油必须要大。她还说，麻婆豆腐还应当有着鲜亮的红色色泽，因为辣椒已经彻底浸入油里。在盛盘之前撒上大量香味扑鼻的花椒则是不可或缺的一道工序。
Firm yet tender bean curd that holds its shape during cooking -- 'When you cook it you just sort of nudge the tofu with the back of a spoon to mix but not break it,' is essential, advises Ms. Dunlop. A thick, luxurious beef sauce flavored with salty and spicy chili-beanpaste (preferably from Sichuan's Pixian County, home to the province's oldest chili-beanpaste workshop) lend the dish its over-the-top taste and plush texture.
又韧又软的豆腐，在烹制过程当中保持原型。扶霞建议，在烹制麻婆豆腐时，只能用勺子背面轻推豆腐，让豆腐与调料充份混合，但不要碰碎豆腐，这一点很关键。一层浓厚的牛肉酱，加上又咸又辣的豆瓣酱（最好是来自四川郫县的豆瓣酱），让麻婆豆腐具有醇厚的口味和口感。
The dish can convert even the most die-hard bean-curd sceptics, says Ms. Dunlop, speaking from experience. 'It's just so delicious that most people, who normally won't eat tofu because they think it's boring, love it.'
扶霞说，即便是最不喜欢吃豆腐的顽固分子也会因麻婆豆腐而改变看法。这话是经验之谈。她说，它实在是美味无比，大多数觉得豆腐味道平淡、因而平时根本不吃豆腐的人，都会对它情有独锺。