美国国家公共电台 NPR Cranberry Relish: The NPR Recipe That Divides Thanksgiving Tables

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Year after year, there are certain ways you know Thanksgiving is approaching. Election time has more or less passed. High school football is finishing up. College football is closing in on bowl season. You're debating people about whether the Christmas decorations went up too early. And as she has for nearly five decades, NPR special correspondent Susan Stamberg reminds us of one of the many reasons she is special - because every year, she shares the unconventional cranberry¹ relish² recipe of her mother-in-law, Mama Stamberg.

SUSAN STAMBERG, BYLINE³: This year we did an NPR call out, asked listeners for their Mama Stamberg's cranberry relish stories. Lots of responses from all over the country, for which many thanks. Now, the recipe is controversial, especially if you only like sweet cranberry sauce. Mama Stamberg's has the usual, cranberries⁴ and sugar. But then you tart⁵ it up with onion, sour cream and, wait for it, horseradish. I did not count up the yeas versus⁶ nays⁷. I'm bad at math, and I was scared of the answer. But here are some listener comments.

JOAN GOUDAKONS: I like doing something that is unusual.

STAMBERG: In Evanston, Ill., Joan Goudakons (ph) took a chance on it.

GOUDAKONS: When I decided⁸ to try Nina's recipe, I wanted to...

NINA TOTENBERG, BYLINE: My recipe?

STAMBERG: NPR's Nina Totenberg.

TOTENBERG: That awful recipe being my recipe? You are out of your freaking mind (laughter).

STAMBERG: Well, Grace Schoettler (ph) in Colorado Springs loves the recipe. She wrote that last year when she ran out of relish and still had more turkey left, she was so disappointed she nearly threw out the rest of the turkey. In Wauwatosa, Wis., Laura Hopper says it's good on more than Turkey. Need a little zip for your ham sandwich, she writes. Bored with meatloaf? Mama Stamberg's to the rescue. And then there's latkes, the fabulous⁹ fried potato pancakes that Jews eat for Hanukkah. Jessica Lichtenfeld (ph) in Raleigh, N.C., loves the combination, but she has some advice.

JESSICA LICHTENFELD: Don't skimp¹⁰ on the sour cream. Do not use light. Don't use Greek yogurt to make you feel better about yourself. A dollop of the relish is all you need. So a little sour cream is not going to hurt you.

STAMBERG: The recipe went international this year, sort of. Andrea Haroldson (ph) made it 30 years ago when she lived in Massachusetts but hasn't since she moved to Iceland.

ANDREA HAROLDSON: Well, there are no cranberries here, and there is no horseradish here. And until recently, there wasn't any sour cream here. And there's certainly no turkeys here. I've occasionally seen in the - maybe the last five years, like, a ratty old bag of Ocean Spray, but nobody knows what to do with cranberries here. So it's hopeless.

STAMBERG: Too bad. After you get all the ingredients mixed - the recipe is at npr.org, by the way - you put it in the freezer. In Iceland, all you'd have to do is put it outside. Now we get to the converts, people who for years heard me say the relish comes out a beautiful shocking pink - OK, the color of Pepto-Bismol, which for some reason turned them off. Meet Andy Milder (ph) in Manhattan Beach, Calif. I wore him down.

ANDY MILDER: Well, I had heard you talk about this recipe over and over again. And finally driving up the 405, I yelled out in my car, you won, Susan Stamberg; I will make your cranberry stuff.

STAMBERG: And he's made it ever since. Now to be fair, there were some naysayers. Vicki Ross-Rhoades in Northern Minnesota thought it tasted awful. She wrote, even my brother Dusty, who generally eats anything, didn't like it. Pam Devour¹¹ (ph) in Atlanta wrote that her family liked the macaroni and cheese better. Kathy Zeidlik (ph) in Columbia, Md., says she has a great cranberry recipe if we were interested. So does Nina Totenberg.

TOTENBERG: I get those cranberries. I put one cup of water and a little bit of orange juice and sugar. And then I cut up pieces of orange. Then I put it in the fridge, and it's really quite good and very simple.

STAMBERG: Well, without horseradish, it couldn't beat mine. Thank you so much.

TOTENBERG: (Laughter).

STAMBERG: OK, the grand finale. David Timothy in Salt Lake City, Utah.

DAVID TIMOTHY: Well, I'll just have to say I've made this recipe several times but with the following substitutions.

STAMBERG: You made substitutions in my mother-in-law's sacred recipe?

TIMOTHY: I'm sorry to say that I did. But yes, that's the way I make it. I use black beans instead of cranberries.

STAMBERG: Wait, you're putting black beans instead of cranberries?

TIMOTHY: Yeah. Instead of sour cream and sugar, I use chili¹² powder. Instead of horseradish, I use hamburger.

STAMBERG: (Laughter) Is there nothing that you retain from the original recipe?

TIMOTHY: Yeah, I still use the onion.

STAMBERG: I love chili but at Thanksgiving?

TIMOTHY: Well, you know, Thanksgiving comes just once a year. You can eat chili anytime.

STAMBERG: Happy Thanksgiving, everybody. I would hold the beans if I were you. Susan Stamberg, NPR News, Washington.

(SOUNDBITE OF THE CRANBERRIES' "ZOMBIE")

1 cranberry   

n.梅果

参考例句：

• Turkey reminds me of cranberry sauce.火鸡让我想起梅果酱。
• Actually I prefer canned cranberry sauce.事实上我更喜欢罐装的梅果酱。

2 relish   

n.滋味，享受，爱好，调味品；vt.加调味料，享受，品味；vi.有滋味

参考例句：

• I have no relish for pop music.我对流行音乐不感兴趣。
• I relish the challenge of doing jobs that others turn down.我喜欢挑战别人拒绝做的工作。

3 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。

4 cranberries   

n.越橘( cranberry的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The tart flavour of the cranberries adds piquancy. 越橘的酸味很可口。
• Look at the fresh cranberries. 你看这些新鲜的蔓越橘。 来自无师自通 校园英语会话

5 tart   

adj.酸的；尖酸的，刻薄的；n.果馅饼；淫妇

参考例句：

• She was learning how to make a fruit tart in class.她正在课上学习如何制作水果馅饼。
• She replied in her usual tart and offhand way.她开口回答了，用她平常那种尖酸刻薄的声调随口说道。

6 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

7 nays   

n.反对票，投反对票者( nay的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The tally was two ayes and three nays. 投票结果是两票赞成，三票反对。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The tally was three yeas and two nays, so the yeas have it. 投票结果是三票赞成两票反对，投赞成票者胜利。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

8 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

9 fabulous   

adj.极好的；极为巨大的；寓言中的，传说中的

参考例句：

• We had a fabulous time at the party.我们在晚会上玩得很痛快。
• This is a fabulous sum of money.这是一笔巨款。

10 skimp   

v.节省花费，吝啬

参考例句：

• She had to skimp to send her son to college.她必须节俭来供她儿子上大学。
• Older people shouldn't skimp on food or heating.老年人不应过分吝惜食物或取暖方面的开销。

11 devour   

v.吞没；贪婪地注视或谛听，贪读；使着迷

参考例句：

• Larger fish devour the smaller ones.大鱼吃小鱼。
• Beauty is but a flower which wrinkle will devour.美只不过是一朵，终会被皱纹所吞噬。

12 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。