Great Chef Great Person Cheng Yen-chi(b)

Chef Ah-Chi and the 19 others certainly impressed their guests with the wonders of Taiwanese cuisine. "I've seen so much over the last 40 or 50 years," says Chef Ah-Chi. He explains that while Taiwan's mountains, plains, and surrounding seas provide it with outstanding seafood and produce, the island is home to many nouveaux riches that have the money to eat well but don't know how. They don't appreciate fine foods or understand how they are prepared and instead respond to them by being hypercritical.

Chef Ah-Chi recalls a big-time businessman complaining to him about his rouzao

(肉臊), saying that using pork rind in stewed pork was crude. "He just didn't grasp the pork rind's function in the dish," says Chef Ah-Chi. He explains that the saltiness of the sauce breaks down the proteins in the meat during the stewing process, drying it out and making it tough. The pork rind provides a layer of fat, giving the dish a smoother texture in the mouth. Without it, the meat and fat wouldn't come together, and the dish wouldn't taste very good.

In Chef Ah-Chi's eyes, dishes like serrated swimming crab on glutinous rice and mullet roe with Asian pears are very representative of Taiwanese cuisine because they combine the foods found on land with those in the sea. Strangely, though Chef Ah-Chi will be preparing fine foods and cooking for others until his dying day, he most often fills his own belly with instant noodles, sometimes mixing them with congee. "Congee and instant noodles are awesome together," he says, his face brimming with satisfaction. Don't believe him? Then try it for yourself.

　　阿基师等台湾 20 位名厨，在南京留下了台湾料理的好口碑。『一路走来，4、50个年头，我看太多了。』阿基师说，台湾是块宝地，有山脉、有平地，四面环海，造就台湾的好食材。但当下有很多『有钱的穷人』，有钱吃，却没有文化素养，对于美食的工序、文化不理解，竟大放厥词，恣意批评。

　　以台湾的肉臊为例，就曾经有大老板向阿基师抱怨：『肉臊带猪皮，太粗糙！』阿基师说：『他全然不了解猪皮的功能在哪里。』阿基师解释，瘦肉在卤制的过程中，因为咸度的关系，蛋白质细胞膜被破坏，水分会跑出来，所以肉变得很柴，必须要靠猪皮夹带一层油脂来滑润口感，否则，一定肉归肉、油归油，吃起来就不美味了。

　　在阿基师眼里，红蟳米糕、乌鱼子夹高山梨等菜，都是『山』与『海』结合，最能代表台湾的美食文化。而终日为他人掌厨、烹调美食的他，却最常以泡面果腹，有时还将稀饭和泡面煮成一锅吃，阿基师一脸满足地说：『稀饭加泡面，超棒的！』不信你试试！

本社为尊重《台湾光华杂志》，中文原文注销，仅供参考，中英文如有不尽相符之处，敬请包涵。