◎詹立群
Mr.Eckhouse and his wife, Kathy,began producing "Prosciutto Americano" eight years ago in a plant they built here, just south of Des Moines. The meat has drawn enthusiastic reviews and is on the menus of upscale restaurants and in shops in New York, Chicago and the Bay Area.
美國艾克豪斯夫婦8年前在德梅因南部蓋工廠，打造美製義式火腿，引發市場熱議，並「榮登」紐約、芝加哥與舊金山灣區的高檔餐廳與商店菜單。
Still, the Eckhouses, in hairnets and lab coats, fuss over details and patrol La Quercia’s cavernous curing rooms.
艾克豪斯夫婦戴起髮網、穿上實驗室外套，對所有細節念茲在茲，在有如巨穴般的加工室裡來回巡視。
The plant was designed to mimic the four seasons, and approximate the way prosciutto was made two millenniums ago. Farm families in Italy killed the pigs in late November, salted the meat, then used the cold to help preserve it. Because salmonella, the enemy of all cured meats, thrives in a moist, warm environment, its growth was blocked.
工廠模仿2000年前古法製程，按照四季時序設計。義大利人在11月殺豬，用鹽醃漬，利用低溫天候以助保存，因為所有醃肉的「敵人」──沙門氏菌，會在溫暖潮濕的環境中滋長。
"You salt it in the winter, dry it in the winter, then you’d warm it up in the springtime and kind of age it in the summer. That’s the way our building is laid out." Mr. Eckhouse said.
艾克豪斯先生說，冬天時用鹽醃肉並風乾，到了春天讓肉「回溫」，夏天則讓它們陳化。「我們工廠就是按照這個程序設計的。」
The hams are moved from chamber to chamber, each replicating a season and filled with equipment made in Italy. Computers control temperature and humidity. Specifics of the aging process（how long and at what temperatures） are secret.
工廠裡的每個房間使用義製設備模擬各個季節，用電腦控制溫度與濕度，火腿就在各個房間之間移來移去。陳化過程的具體數據──用多少溫度放置多久──是不能說的秘密。
新聞辭典
prosciutto：名詞，義式火腿。例句：Outside Italy, calling it prosciutto indicates a ham that has been cured. （在義大利以外的地方，義式火腿意指醃過的腿肉。）
fuss over：片語，大驚小怪。例句：Don’t fuss over your pupils.（別為你的學生過分操心。）
mimic：動詞，模仿、擬態。例句：Some animals mimic objects in their environment.（有些動物模擬其周遭物體的樣態。）
本文引用至 自由時報電子報 http://www.libertytimes.com.tw/
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