It’s strange with offal,” says Fergus Henderson. “People say, ‘Liver, oh yes, liver’, which is the biggest filter in the body. Then they say, ‘I love sweetbreads’, which are glands, but, ‘Tripe, oh no! Brains, oh no!’”
“动物内脏很奇怪，”弗格斯•亨德森(Fergus Henderson)说，“人们说，‘肝，好吧，肝’，肝是人体里最大的过滤器。然后他们说，‘我爱吃胰脏’，胰脏是腺体，但是，‘肚子，咦，不要！脑花，算了吧！’”
Unlike the St John chef, many of us are inconsistent offal eaters. We happily scoff chicken liver pâté but, for most, brains are a step too far. It’s the melting, mousse-like texture that gives pause. For chefs, however, it is precisely the combination of voluptuous texture, subtle taste and unfamiliarity that makes brains such a desirable ingredient. And, in London’s restaurants at least, they are becoming increasingly popular.
与这位St John餐厅的大厨不一样，我们大多数人对各种内脏态度不一。我们快乐地大嚼鸡肝酱，但对大多数人来说，脑花就有点过头了。让我们犹豫不决的是那种入口即化的、如慕斯一般的口感。然而，对大厨来说，正是这种曼妙的口感、无以名状的滋味和新奇感结合在一起，才让脑花成为了一种理想的食材。而且，至少在伦敦的餐厅中，这种食材正变得越来越流行。

This isn’t news to chef Henry Harris, who had calves’ brains permanently on the menu at his (recently closed) Knightsbridge brasserie Racine. Harris prepares them fried, with a sauce of brown butter and capers. This classic combination is, according to the late food writer Richard Olney, the “purest way to appreciate brains”.
对大厨亨利•哈里斯(Henry Harris)来说，这不是什么新鲜事。在他位于伦敦骑士桥(Knightsbridge)法式小酒馆Racine（最近已关闭）里，小牛脑是菜单上雷打不动的菜品。哈里斯的烹饪方法是油煎，佐以褐色黄油和腌刺山柑花蕾的酱汁。新近的美食作家理查德•奥尔尼(Richard Olney)称这种经典搭配是“品味脑花最纯粹的方式”。
Brains must first be soaked and then the fine membrane carefully peeled off. Far from finding this a chore, Harris takes pleasure in the fiddly process. “From a cook’s point of view, they are lovely things to prepare. They have to be utterly fresh as they degrade very quickly, there is no muscle, they are 80 per cent fat of a very fragile nature. I’ve done them enough times so that I can do a whole calf’s brain in about two minutes.”
脑花必须先浸泡，然后小心地把上面的薄膜剥下来。哈里斯完全不觉得这是个麻烦事，对于这项精细的工作，他相当乐在其中。“从一个厨师的角度来说，这种烹饪食材非常可爱。它们必须绝对新鲜，因为很快就会变质。脑髓里没有肌肉，80%都是由一种非常易碎的脂肪组成。我操作的次数足够多，因此我处理一整个小牛脑大约只需要2分钟。”
Karam Sethi, chef at Michelin-starred Mayfair restaurant Gymkhana, agrees. Sethi serves goat’s brains (bheja) blanched, chopped and fried in a masala as a supplement to a dish of spiced goat’s mince (methi keema). It has been a top-selling choice since the Raj-inspired restaurant opened in 2013. “Brains are widely eaten across India,” Sethi says. “I knew our Indian customers would order them, they’ve grown up eating them . . . Brits too have a love of offal. They were intrigued to try [the dish]; 99 per cent of people like the taste.”
伦敦梅菲尔区(Mayfair)的米其林星级餐厅Gymkhana的大厨卡拉姆•塞蒂(Karam Sethi)也持相同意见。塞蒂为食客准备了山羊脑(bheja)，先水焯、然后切碎，与马萨拉(masala)调料一起煎炒，作为加香料调味的山羊肉碎(methi keema)的伴菜。自这家印度风味餐厅2013年开业以来，这道菜已经成为店里最畅销的菜品。“脑花在印度是一种常见食物，”塞蒂说，“我知道我们的印度顾客会点这道菜，他们是吃着这个长大的……英国人中也有很多爱吃内脏的人。他们好奇地尝试（这道菜）；99%的人喜欢这种味道。”
For Sethi, brains are a good introduction to offal. “I think brains are not that challenging, they are not as offally or strong as some other ingredients. You can also deep fry them, they are so versatile.”
对塞蒂来说，脑花很适合第一次吃内脏的人。“我认为脑花不是那么有挑战性，它们不像其它一些食材那样有内脏的感觉，味道也没那么重。你还可以用油炸，做法多种多样。”
Soft and creamy, brains contrast well with a crisp golden exterior and a sharp sauce to cut through the richness. Henderson loves blanched, cold brains on toast with a green sauce of herb, capers and vinegar, a dish that offers a threefold pleasure: “the give of the brains, then the crunch of the toast, and the bite of the sauce”.
脑花柔滑细腻的口感与金黄酥脆的外皮形成了鲜明的对比，用味道强烈的酱汁来穿透厚重的感觉。亨德森喜欢把水焯过的凉脑花放在烤面包片上，配上一种绿色的香草汁、腌刺山柑花蕾和醋，给人以三种层次的愉悦感：“脑花的弹性、然后是烤面包片的酥脆，以及酱汁的强烈风味。”
Jeremy Lee, chef at Soho restaurant Quo Vadis, thinks brains “marvellous as a stuffing for veal” but loves them as fritters to be “dunked in a great big bowl of sauce gribiche or ravigote”.
伦敦苏活区(Soho)餐厅Quo Vadis的大厨杰里米•李(Jeremy Lee)认为，脑花“用作小牛肉的填料极为合适”，但他喜欢把脑花剁碎后油炸，然后“用一大碗法式芥末香料蛋黄酱(gribiche)或者法式酸辣调味酱(ravigote)沾着吃。”
Over in Shoreditch, east London, at the recently opened Lyle’s, chef James Lowe sources English rose veal brains from Cornwall. “I think it’s good to give people something they wouldn’t normally order. It’s about how creamy they are, as opposed to liver, which is firm and sweet. If you want them to hold their integrity, then blanch them first. They unravel like a fire hose.”
在伦敦东部肖尔迪奇地区(Shoreditch)最近新开业的餐厅Lyle’s，大厨詹姆斯•洛(James Lowe)选用产自康沃尔(Cornwall)的英国玫瑰小肉牛的牛脑。“我觉得，给人们提供一些他们平时不会点的东西是一件好事。牛脑的卖点是柔滑细腻，与肝脏紧实浓香的感觉不同。如果你想要牛脑保持完整性，先下水焯。它们会像消防水带一样舒展开来。”
Lowe takes the classic French approach and makes it his own using wild ingredients. He has served brains fried in butter with the salt and sour of pickled and salted elderberry “capers” (unripe elderberries) and ripe elderberries cooked with sugar and cider vinegar. “When you cook elderberries, they make a ton of vinegar, it’s dark and fruity. I make it in the autumn and use it in game sauces.”
洛采用了经典的法式做法，并用风味浓烈的配料做出了自己的特色风味。他用黄油煎牛脑、加盐、用盐和醋腌制的未成熟接骨木果，以及用糖和苹果醋烹制的成熟接骨木果。“烹制接骨木果时，会出大量的酸汁，色泽深黑，果香浓郁。我每年秋天制作，用在野味汁(game sauce)里。”
Probably the most glamorous place to eat a plate of brains is at the sparkling chrome-and-marble counter of Sam and Eddie Hart’s tapas restaurant Barrafina, Adelaide Street, which opened in Covent Garden last summer. Here Basque-born chef Nieves Barragán Mohacho serves milk-fed lambs’ brains “just like my mum used to”, coated in coarse Panko breadcrumbs, deep-fried, sitting on a spicy tomato sauce and topped with a glossy black olive picada, a sprinkling of pine nuts and sprigs of basil.
想要品尝一盘脑花，最迷人的地方很可能是萨姆和埃迪哈特夫妇(Sam and Eddie Hart)的西班牙小吃店Barrafina里铬和大理石制的闪耀着光泽的柜台。这家店位于阿德莱德大街(Adelaide Street)，去年夏天在考文特花园(Covent Garden)开业。店里的大厨涅韦斯•巴拉甘•莫哈舒(Nieves Barragán Mohacho)出生在巴斯克(Basque)，她“就像我妈妈曾经做的那样”烹制羔羊脑，把羔羊脑裹上一层面包屑后油炸，下面铺上一层辣味番茄汁，上面撒上带着光泽的碎黑橄榄酱，少许松仁和几枝罗勒叶。
It’s a rather extraordinary plateful, offering spice, heat, crunch and the aromatic olive and basil flavour as the precursor to the delicate, pearlescent brains. It’s already a big hit with customers. For Barragán Mohacho, offal is something she grew up with and there’s plenty of it on the menu here (kidneys cooked in a Josper grill and a Frit Mallorcan speciality of that island that consists of liver, kidneys and sweetbreads). She counsels that the fat must not be too hot or the breadcrumbs will burn before the brains are cooked.
这是一盘相当令人惊艳的菜，热辣的味道、酥脆的口感、橄榄的香气和罗勒的风味作为前味，然后是细腻柔滑、闪着珠光的脑花。这道菜已经是顾客中的大热门。对莫哈舒来说，内脏是她从小吃到大的食物，也时常在当地餐馆的菜单上出现（用烤网烹制的腰子，还有马略卡岛(Mallorcan)特色菜Frit Mallorquí，用肝、腰和胰脏烹制而成）。她建议油温不要太高，否则脑花还没熟透面包屑就焦了。
If you feel like preparing brains at home, you’ll probably need to give your butcher a day or two’s notice. London butcher Danny Lidgate warns that lambs’ brains are harder to get hold of (the ones served at Barrafina are from Spain). “Lambs’ brains are harder to extract. They have a different texture, smaller and daintier. Pork brains would have a stronger flavour. A lot of people given the option would choose veal.” For Lidgate, it’s the simplest approach that works best and brains on toast is a good weekday supper. “I would blanch them and fry them in butter and olive oil and season them.”
如果你想在家做脑花，你可能需要提前一两天告诉肉贩。伦敦肉贩丹尼•利德盖特(Danny Lidgate)的忠告是，羊脑更难买到（Barrafina的羊脑是从西班牙运来的）。“羔羊脑更难取出。它们的质地不同、更小也更易碎。猪脑的味道比较浓重。所有很多人会选择小牛脑。”对利德盖特来说，最简单的方法最好，把脑花放在烤面包片上，非常适合作为工作日的晚餐。“我会用水焯，然后用黄油和橄榄油煎，之后进行调味。”
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All the chefs agree that deep-frying makes brains less scary to diners. But for the home cook, it’s harder to get right and brains are not something you want to undercook. Harris warns against pan-frying unblanched brains as “undercooked brain is revolting”. Which makes blanching, cooling and then slicing a more fail-proof method. The blanching firms the brains up, making them easier to handle. It also means you can indulge in one of Richard Olney’s “private kitchen pleasures”, the sight of brains floating in a pot with carrot, onions and herbs.
所有的大厨都同意，油炸会让脑花变得不那么可怕，更容易被食客接受。但如果是家庭烹制，油炸的火候更难掌握，而半生的脑花肯定不是你想看到的。哈里斯的忠告是不要用平底煎锅来煎没有用水焯过的脑花，因为“没有熟透的脑花令人作呕”。因此水焯、冷却后切片的方法更加万无一失。水焯会让脑花变得紧实，因此更容易处理。这也意味着，你可以沉浸在理查德•奥尔尼所说的其中一种“厨房私密之乐”里——看着脑花、胡萝卜、洋葱和香草一起漂浮在锅里。
Come summer, I think one of the nicest ways to eat brains is Olney’s cervelles de veau froides à la crème, a dish of chilled brains covered in a dressing of double cream whisked together with lemon juice and mustard, and garnished with chives and chopped celery. It might sound rich but is a good match for sultry weather. Cookery writer Simon Hopkinson showed me how to make this dish, in what turned out to be a masterclass in the gentle touch needed to peel off the membranes and then prepare and cook the brains. Cream and green chives made for a pretty plateful. They were, as Olney promised, “wonderfully creamy” with “a firm yet melting” texture. In short: a rare and cerebral pleasure.
今年夏天，我认为品尝脑花最美妙的方式之一是奥尔尼的奶油冻小牛脑，做法是在冰的熟脑花外面淋上一层由浓奶油、柠檬汁和芥末混合而成的酱汁，再装饰以四季葱和剁碎的芹菜。这听起来可能比较腻，但其实非常适合在闷热的天气里品尝。烹饪作家西蒙•霍普金森(Simon Hopkinson)向我展示了怎么做这道菜，剥除外面的薄膜然后处理烹制的过程需要非常细致的手法，这让整个展示过程变成了一次大师课程。奶油和青翠的四季葱使这道菜肴非常美味。就像奥尔尼许诺的那样，“极其柔滑”而且“紧实但又入口即化”的口感。简而言之：一道世间少有、让人食指大动的美味佳肴。