舌尖上的美食 第12期:過橋米線 Crossing over Bridge Rice Noodles

Crossing-over Bridge Rice Noodles

過橋米線

In the early years of the Qing Dynasty，Nanhu Lake of Mengzi county in Yunnan Province is a scenic wonderland. There are always men of letters reading poems.

相傳清朝初年，雲南蒙自縣城的南湖風景優美，常有文人墨客攻讀詩書於此。

In order to get an official rank through passing exams , a scholar named Yang builds a hut on an island in the middle of a lake, with one bridge linked to the bank. He studies assiduously on the island every day. His wife is so virtuous and laborious that she sends meals to him back and forth and works the fields from dawn to use of the great distance，when she gets there, the food has become cold and unappetizing. The scholar is wasting away with the passing time, so his wife is much worried about it.

有位姓楊的書生爲考取功名，在湖中小島築了一間茅屋，與湖岸一橋相連，每日在島上用功苦讀。其妻勤勞賢惠，每日往返送食，因路途稍遠，每次送到後，飯菜已涼，書生食之無味，天長日久日漸消瘦，妻子甚是着急。

One day, she kills a chicken and cooks chicken soup in a heated earthen pot, adding some rice noodles and slicing meat and vegetables. Unfortunately when she crosses the stone bridge on the way to the island, she falls senseless to the ground for working too hard every day.

一日妻將家養的雞宰殺，把砂鍋燒熱，煨湯一罐，配上米線、肉片、蔬菜往島上送去，過石橋的時候，因終日辛勞昏倒在地。

It has been a long time before she came to life. She is so surprised to find the earthen pot still hot. Her husband is surprised too. After a careful examination, He finds two secrets: there is thick chicken oil on the surface of the soup and the earthen vessel does not readily conduct heat. As a result, the heat of the soup is well preserved. He rains praises on it after eating it up.

良久醒來，妻摸砂鍋發現還很燙手，妻子很是驚喜，急忙過橋向丈夫奉上雞湯米線，丈夫感到湯很燙手，甚爲驚奇，仔細查看，原來湯表面覆蓋着一層雞油，加之陶製器皿不易傳熱，把熱量封存於湯內，丈夫食罷連聲稱讚。

Since then, the scholar has a balanced diet, becoming healthier and more hardworking. Finally he succeeds in a government examination. When his fellow scholars come to congratulate him, he asks his wife to treat them with the rice noodles with chicken soup. They praise it repeatedly and ask what the splendid meal is. Thinking of the bridge she crosses every day, she blurts out “crossing-over bridge rice noodles”. Therefore, crossing-over bridge rice noodles become famous and spread widely.

從此以後，書生飲食調勻，身體日益康健，越發用功讀書，終獲金榜題名。同窗前來賀喜，丈夫讓妻子如法用雞湯配製米線招待客人，大家食罷連連稱絕，紛紛詢問是何佳餚，妻子想到每天走過的小橋順口說“過橋米線”，從此，“過橋米線”名聲鵲起在民間廣爲流傳。