又中又英｜Sizzling

During my many years in Hong Kong, I often went with friends for dinner at the American Restaurant, also known as the American Peking Restaurant, in Wanchai. The restaurant had Northern Chinese cuisine cooked in a way that Westerners liked. It was always full of Westerners on weekends. The restaurant closed in 2018, which disappointed me. Peking Duck was one of its popular dishes, but I am not crazy about Peking Duck. If you are not crazy about something, it means you don’t like it. If you are crazy about something, it means you like it.

One of my favourite dishes there was sizzling beef. The dish was served at the table on a very hot iron platter (large plate). The waiter then poured sauce on it, creating a lot of steam. I thought about the American Peking Restaurant’s sizzling beef after a critic used an idiom to describe J. D. Vance, former President Donald Trump’s running mate for Vice President in the upcoming US election. Vance’s critic used the idiom all sizzle and no steak. The word “sizzle” means making a sound when frying something, such as an egg.

The American Peking’s sizzling beef dish made a sizzling sound when the waiter poured sauce on it. When someone or something doesn’t measure up to expectations, you can say it’s all sizzle and no steak. If you say your best friend is very talented but he is, in fact, not talented, you can say the friend is all sizzle and no steak. The expression “all talk and no action” has a similar meaning.

我在香港居住的那些年間，不時會跟朋友們去灣仔的美利堅餐廳吃飯，它又名美利堅京菜。餐廳會用一種西方人喜歡的方式煮北方的中菜，每個周末它總是擠滿了西方人客。餐廳於二零一八年結業，令我大失所望。北京填鴨是它其中一樣最受歡迎的菜式，但我自己就 not crazy about北京填鴨——若你are not crazy about something，意即你並不怎麼喜歡它；若你 are crazy about something，意即你很喜歡它。

其中一樣我在那裏最喜愛的菜式是鐵板牛肉（sizzling beef）。這道菜上枱時是盛在一個非常熱的鐵板盤（platter）裏，其後侍應便倒醬汁上去，沸騰出許多蒸氣。當一位評論家用一個成語去形容 J. D.萬斯之後，我就想起了美利堅京菜的鐵板牛肉（sizzling beef）。萬斯是前總統唐納德‧特朗普的競選拍檔，在將要舉行的美國大選中競逐副總統之位。批評萬斯的人用了一句成語 all sizzle and no steak， sizzle是煎炸食物例如雞蛋時所發出的噝噝聲。

當美利堅京菜的侍應倒醬汁在鐵板牛肉（sizzling beef）上時，確實會弄出噝噝（sizzling）聲來。當某人或某事並沒有達到預期的期望，雷聲大雨點小，你便可以說那是 all sizzle and no steak。若你說你最好的朋友才華橫溢，但事實是他並無才能，你可以說那位朋友是 all sizzle and no steak。習語“all talk and no action”，即空口說白話，意思也相近。

mickchug@gmail.com
Michael Chugani褚簡寧
中譯：七刻