打開一粒堅果的九種美妙方式

Nutcrackers: Masters of the Hard Shell

打開一粒堅果的九種美妙方式

As a child, Chris Cosentino loved using the simple wooden nutcrackers his grandfather made to separate nuts from their shells. And there were always plenty of bowls of nuts sitting around his grandparents’ homes.

克里斯·科森蒂諾(Chris Cosentino)從小就喜歡用他祖父做的那個簡單的木質胡桃夾子剝堅果。那時候，他祖父母的家中各處總有一碗碗的堅果。

“Walnuts, hazelnuts and almonds in the shell,” he said. “It was a very Italian thing.”

“那些帶殼的核桃、榛子還有杏仁，”他說，“都是很有意大利味道的東西。”

Mr. Cosentino, 42, is now a chef who has been a winner on the Bravo series “Top Chef Masters” and who has a new restaurant called Cockscomb opening in San Francisco in a few weeks. These days, he uses a marble mortar and pestle or a woodworking mallet when he needs to crack nuts. But he had a number of suggestions for those who prefer traditional nutcrackers.

今年42歲的科森蒂諾已經成為了一名廚師，他曾經是Bravo系列節(jié)目“頂級大廚”(Top Chef Masters)中的贏家，而且再過幾星期，他的新餐廳Cockscomb就將在舊金山開業(yè)了?，F在，他在剝堅果的時候會使用一臺大理石臼及一把搗杵，或是一把木質錘子。但是他有許多建議，可供那些喜歡用傳統(tǒng)胡桃夾子的人參考。

At Zinc Details, in the Lower Pacific Heights area of San Francisco, he found several appealing options, including an Andrea Branzi design for Alessi called Scoiattolo (or squirrel). It was heavy, which is a good thing in a nutcracker, he explained, because it means “the nut will give before the nutcracker itself will.”

他在舊金山下太平洋高地(Lower Pacific Heights)的Zinc Details商店里，找到了幾件很有吸引力的產品，其中包括安德烈亞·布蘭奇(Andrea Branzi)為艾烈希(Alessi)設計的一款胡桃夾子，名為Scoiattolo(或“松鼠”)。這件產品非常沉，但對于胡桃夾子來說卻是件好事，他解釋道，因為這意味著“堅果在這樣的夾子面前會自暴自棄。”

It was also functional, he said (“It has two sections for different-size nuts”), and aesthetically pleasing. “You’ve got a squirrel sitting on what looks like a branch cracking a nut. It makes sense and it looks good enough to keep out on the counter.”

而且這款產品也很好用，他說(“它有兩個部分可以用來夾大小不同的堅果”)，而且設計美觀，令人愉悅。“就像一只松鼠正坐在樹枝一類的地方，剝開一枚堅果。這件產品不但很實用，而且擺在臺面上也很好看。”

Looks are important to Mr. Cosentino, who has done a certain amount of designing: of clothing (Chef jeans and Meat Feat socks), sporting equipment (a limited-edition skateboard) and kitchenware (a line of knives). “If it’s something that sits out,” he said, “I want people to look at it and think it’s really beautiful.”

科森蒂諾非常看重外觀，他之前曾做過各種各樣的設計：有服裝類的(Chef牛仔褲和Meat Feat襪),有運動器材類的(一款限量版的滑板)，還有廚房用品類的(一系列的刀具)。“如果這件東西是要擺在外面的，”他說，“我希望人們看見它會覺得非常美麗。”

The Nusskubus, which he found online from Connox, more than fit that criteria. “If you put it on your counter,” he said, “they’ll think it’s a sculpture.”

他上網在Connox商店里找到的一款Nusskubus夾子，則更加符合這一標準。“如果把它放在臺面上，”他說，“人們會以為這是一尊雕塑。”

He also liked a mushroom-like wooden nutcracker from Stone Creek Trading, which he thought resembled a porcini. “You can hold the top or the bottom to twist it together,” he said. “That’s nice, elegant and simple.”

他還喜歡Stone Creek Trading商店里的一款木質胡桃夾子。它的樣子像個蘑菇，讓他聯想到牛肝菌。“你可以拿住頂部或底部，這樣一起扭動，”他說，“那很漂亮，很優(yōu)雅，而且很簡單。”

No one would describe the brightly colored Robot from SUCK UK as elegant or simple, but Mr. Cosentini was equally enthusiastic about it.

大概沒人會用優(yōu)雅或簡單來形容SUCK UK商店里的那款色彩艷麗的Robot夾子吧，但科森蒂諾對這件物品同樣推崇。