千里之行始于一勺 看那些世界闻名的冰激凌

The ice cream had been cut into a half-moon slab that was dense to the touch and so cold my fingers went numb. It required teeth. It tasted as if it had been made on a planet with stronger gravity, concentrated yet airy, and smoking cold all the way down.

冰激凌被切成半月形，摸起来很刺激，冰得我手指发木。你得牙口好才行。它尝起来像是在另一个星球制作的，那里的地心引力更大。它浓郁、空灵，一直冒着冷气。

It’s hard to be astonished by ice cream these days. We’ve grown inured to the exotic, with a new generation of indie Baskin-Robbinses flaunting flavors like banana curry, Sichuan peppercorn, miso, garlic and lox.

如今很少有什么冰激凌能让你感到震惊。我们已经习惯了新一代独立冰激凌店打出的各种奇怪的口味，比如香蕉咖喱、花椒、味增、蒜和熏鲑鱼。

But there are other, older ice cream parlors, tucked away in ethnic enclaves in and around New York City, where the flavors may seem exotic but are familiar to and beloved by those who make them; where ingredients like seaweed and pine sap are not tokens of acquired worldliness but occasions for nostalgia; where even the standard ice cream textures (that is, creamy or icy) don’t apply. Over the last several weeks, I’ve traveled from New Jersey to Westchester County, N.Y., to seek out some of the more intriguing and undercelebrated shops.

但是其他一些更老的冰激凌店藏在纽约市里和周围的少数族裔聚居区里，那里的冰激凌口味可能听起来有点怪异，但是制作者熟悉也喜欢这些口味；像海藻和松香这样的配料不是刻意添加的俗气象征，而是为了怀旧；甚至连冰激凌的质地（奶油状的或冰的）也可能不是常见的。在过去几周里，我走遍了纽约州，从新泽西到韦斯切斯特县，寻找一些更有趣而没有得到足够赞美的冰激凌店。

The ice cream I ate with my teeth isn’t ice cream as Americans know it. Called kulfi, it is an Indian dessert dating back to the Mughal Empire, made from milk simmered until thick as cream, caramelized and nutty. I had tried it many times, from freezer bins at grocers and at restaurants high and low, but never fully submitted to its charms.

有一种冰激凌需要用牙齿咬，它不是美国人所说的那种冰激凌。它叫印度冰激凌，可以追溯到莫卧儿王朝时代。它是把牛奶用文火慢煮，直至和奶油一样浓稠，然后加入焦糖和坚果。我试过很多次，从杂食店的冰箱到各种层次的餐馆，但是从未完全被它迷住。

Then I arrived at Kwality Ice Cream, which has, among other locations, a tiny storefront in Jersey City on a strip of henna salons and Indian cash-and-carries, a few blocks from the PATH station at Journal Square. (Only three stops from Lower Manhattan, folks.) It has three flavors of kulfi to get giddy over: malai (in which the rich milk reduction is steeped with cardamom pods), pista (pistachio, with a nubby rind of nuts) and kesar (saffron, the lushest).

然后我去了瓦利蒂冰激凌店(Kwality Ice Cream)，它有很多分店，在泽西城有个小小的店面，位于一个布满美甲店和印度现付自运店的狭长地带，离日报广场(Journal Square)的PATH车站只有几个街区之遥（伙计们，离下曼哈顿只有三站）。其中有三种口味会让你着迷：玛莱（malai，浓郁的浓缩牛奶里面充满了豆蔻夹），开心果（pista，外面布满了坚果）和凯萨尔（kesar，含有藏红花，是最昂贵的）。

Kwality has traditional American-style ice creams as well, including some confusingly labeled kulfi. “They are kulfi-inspired,” the salesclerk said. One named Mawa Kulfi approximates the flavor of kulfi’s caramelly milk base, which is sort of like vanilla ice cream minus the vanilla; faloodeh, a floatlike drink of kulfi and rice vermicelli, is reimagined as Faloodeh Kulfi, a self-sufficient ice cream permeated with rosewater and crunchy with basil seeds.

瓦利蒂也有传统的美式冰激凌，其中一些也称为印度冰激凌，让人迷惑。“它们是受到印度冰激凌启发而设计的，”店员说。有一款名叫马瓦印度冰激凌(Mawa Kulfi)，它的味道接近于印度冰激凌中的焦糖味牛奶基料，就像没加香草的香草冰激凌；还有一款叫法露德印度冰激凌(Faloodeh Kulfi)，它是用印度冰激凌和细米粉丝做成的，有点像上面浮有冰激凌的饮料，它是一款完满的冰激凌，弥漫着玫瑰水，含有罗勒籽，所以有嚼头。

Here, too, are thandai, a buttery compound of cashews, almonds and pistachios; chickoo, laced with a fruit that conjures malt and spun sugar; and pan masala, named after (and studded with) the sprinkle of seeds, nuts, lime, cloves and menthol that you might throw into your mouth at the end of an Indian meal. It half stings, like toothpaste.

这里还有桑代(thandai)，它是用腰果、杏仁和开心果组成的黄油状的混合物；奇库(chickoo)，它用一种水果进行装饰，这种水果让人想起了麦芽和棉花糖；泛马沙拉(pan masala)，它点缀着瓜子、坚果、酸橙、丁香和薄荷，它就是以此命名的。你可以在一顿印度大餐之后把它一下子放入口中。它有点刺激性，像牙膏那样。

Try to scoop up the ice cream at Cedars Pastry, in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, and it stretches upward, tugging at the spoon, resisting. The tackiness comes from a base of kashta, Lebanese clotted cream, skimmed off the top of boiled and slowly cooling milk and mixed with glassy teardrops of mastic resin. There are mainstream flavors like chocolate and strawberry, but pay them no mind. The stretchiest varietals are plain kashta, chewy yet icy at once, and the less sugary, better balanced kashta with pistachio.

去布鲁克林湾脊区的香柏糕点店(Cedars Pastry)挖一勺冰激凌，会发现它向上拉伸，拽着勺子，不肯松开。它的粘性来自于黎巴嫩凝结奶油(kashta)基料，它是从沸腾后慢慢晾凉的牛奶表层撇出来的，加入了透明的泪滴状的松香。这里也有一些主流口味，比如巧克力和草莓，但是不要理会它们。有两款最粘：一款是纯黎巴嫩凝结奶油，很有嚼头，而且冰感十足；另一款是不那么甜、味道比较均衡的含有开心果的黎巴嫩凝结奶油。

Dondurma, Turkish ice cream, is traditionally made with goat’s milk, mastic and salep, which is derived from the bulbs of wild Anatolian orchids. These flowers are now endangered, so Lezzetli Ice Cream, which recently started selling its homage to dondurma at the Hester Street Fair on the Lower East Side, substitutes Japanese konjac powder. The ice cream is churned in a machine, frozen, then beaten with a long rod (as is traditional) until it clings to itself. Of the four flavors currently available, Chios vanilla, named after the Greek island where the mastic tree grows and thoroughly colonized by flecks of vanilla bean, is the doughiest; pull it and you can see strands part, as with string cheese.

土耳其冰激凌(Dondurma)传统上是用羊奶、乳香脂和兰茎粉做成的。兰茎粉来自安纳托利亚野生兰花的球茎。这种花现在濒危，所以莱泽利冰激凌店(Lezzetli Ice Cream)用日本魔芋粉代替它。该店最近开始在下东区的赫斯特街头集市(Hester Street Fair)上向土耳其冰激凌致敬。这里的冰激凌是在机器里搅拌，冷冻之后再用长杆（这是传统做法）搅拌，直至变得粘稠。目前供应的四种口味中最粘稠的是希俄斯岛香草冰激凌(Chios vanilla)，希俄斯岛是希腊的一座岛屿，上面生长乳香黄连木，这款冰激凌里布满了香草豆。你拉一下，能看到细丝断裂，就像奶酪那样。

Paleteria El Sabor de Michoacan is an unassuming Mexican shop in New Rochelle, N.Y., about a half-mile from the Metro-North station. On my visit, none of the ice creams in the freezer case were labeled, but the salesclerk kindly recited them all. Best were tequila, a shade of blue somewhere between swimming pool and Tulum, tasting almost like the real thing, albeit with the edges buffed; lime, fluorescent green and seethingly tangy; tres leches, loaded with chunks of milk-and-cream-soaked cake; and mamey, hibiscus pink and tasting of almonds, raspberries and sweet potato pie.

米却肯味道冰激凌店(Paleteria El Sabor de Michoacan)是纽约新罗谢尔的一个朴素的墨西哥店，离大都会北站约有0.5英里。我去那儿时，冰柜里的冰激凌都没有命名，但是店员友好地把它们介绍了一遍。最好的是龙舌兰(tequila)，它的蓝色介于游泳池和图卢姆的大海之间，味道很接近龙舌兰，但没那么刺激；酸橙(lime)是荧光绿色的，味道刺激浓郁；“特别好色”(tres leches)里面有浸满牛奶和奶油的大块蛋糕；曼密苹果(mamey)有着芙蓉花的粉红色，尝起来像杏仁、树莓和红薯派。

Sweet Dynasty, next to a gas station on a noisy avenue in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, favors the standard voluptuous American style of ice cream, in flavors like purple taro (almost a deeper, rounder vanilla) and red bean (not too sweet, a rarity for this flavor). Also lurking is durian, the fruit so notoriously smelly that in some Southeast Asian nations it is illegal to eat on mass transit. Even in the freezer case it’s clearly trouble, the only ice cream to have a lid tamped over it. Odd, because it proved to have no scent at all, only the fruit’s vaguely sweaty flavor, a swirl of custard, papaya, caramelized onions, butterscotch and cheese.

甜蜜朝代(Sweet Dynasty)在布鲁克林日落公园一条喧闹的大街上，在一个加油站旁边。它倾心于标准的、撩人的美式冰激凌，比如紫色芋头（差不多是颜色更深、更圆的香草）和红豆（不太甜，对这种口味来说比较少见）。店里还潜伏着榴莲口味，大家都知道这种水果闻起来很臭，在东南亚的一些国家，在公共交通工具上吃榴莲是违法的。即使在冰柜里，它也显然是个麻烦，它是唯一一种用盖子密封起来的冰激凌。奇怪的是，它实际上完全没有怪味，像是蛋奶冻、木瓜、焦糖洋葱、奶油糖和奶酪的混合物。

Sundaes and Cones started out in Brooklyn, before moving to the East Village. Here green tea yields just enough bitterness to prove its origins; black sesame tastes more exactingly of its title ingredient than any I’ve had. But wasabi is strangely deracinated, all flavor and no heat. To the south, Chinatown Ice Cream Factory has the scenic advantage of a cinematically claustrophobic Chinatown block (plus Xi’an Famous Foods next door, for lamb face as a chaser). Scoops are wildly generous. Zen Butter captures the essence of cold sesame noodles without their slickness. But other flavors, like a pleasant but umami-less soy sauce, occasionally go out of focus.

圣代和圆筒冰激凌店(Sundaes and Cones)最初在布鲁克林，后来搬到了东村。这里的绿茶味冰激凌有一丝苦味，刚好可以证明它的出处；黑芝麻冰激凌尝起来比我吃过的其他以黑芝麻命名的冰激凌更具有浓郁的黑芝麻味。但是山葵酱口味却奇怪地与众不同，什么味道都有，就是不冲。中国城街区往往如同电影画面，会导致幽闭恐惧症，而南边的中国城冰激凌工厂(Chinatown Ice Cream Factory)在那里算是赏心悦目的（旁边还有个西安名吃店(Xi’an Famous Foods)，里面的羊脸值得一试）。这里每一勺的量都很足。禅宗黄油(Zen Butter)充分捕捉到了冷芝麻面的精髓，但没那么滑。不过其他口味，比如令人愉快但不够鲜的酱油，有时会有失水准。

Thai ice creams tend to be more crystalline and sweeter, at least the ones found at SkyIce in Park Slope, Brooklyn, which does well with evanescent flavors like cucumber lime and lychee rose; and at Tea Cup Cafe in Elmhurst, Queens, which serves, amid a clutter of Blythe dolls and Polaroids, ice creams suffused with green tea, military in color and tasting almost burned, and Thai thea, garish orange with a distant floral tinge.

泰国冰激凌一般更透明，更甜，至少布鲁克林公园坡的天冰冰激凌店(SkyIce)里的是这样的。这家店擅长做那些味道逐渐消散的冰激凌，比如黄瓜酸橙味的和荔枝玫瑰味的。皇后区埃尔姆赫斯特的茶杯咖啡店(Tea Cup Cafe)除了有一堆布娃娃和宝丽来相机外，还供应充满绿茶的冰激凌，它是军绿色的，尝起来像烧焦了；这里的泰式冰激凌是绚丽的橙色，带有淡淡的花香味。

The Greek owners of Fresco Gelateria, in the East Village, honor their roots with a beautifully light goat cheese fig gelato, with the fluffiness of goat cheese and just enough honey and fig to approach rather than fully embrace sweetness. Across town, at Cones, in the West Village, corn ice cream comes with a toasty undertone and a dusting of cinnamon.

东村壁画冰激凌店(Fresco Gelateria)的希腊裔店主用漂亮的淡羊乳酪无花果冰激凌来向自己的祖籍致敬，羊乳酪的松软以及份量刚刚好的蜂蜜和无花果让这款冰激凌有点甜，却不是很甜。在城的另一端，西村圆筒冰激凌店(Cones)里的玉米冰激凌有烤面包的底色，外面撒了一层肉桂。

One last stop: Johnny Air Mart, a Filipino market in the East Village, for a tub of Magnolia ice cream, produced by a California-based company run by a Filipino-American family. Cross your fingers that they have macapuno ube, coconut mixed with sweet purple yam, purple as hydrangea, creamy and expansive. This is the Filipino vanilla, the baseline, the comfort you return to after other flavors inevitably fall short. It tastes as if you’ve been eating it your whole life.

最后一站：约翰尼空气市场(Johnny Air Mart)。它是东村的一个菲律宾市场。来这里是为了得到一杯木兰冰激凌(Magnolia)，它是一个菲律宾裔美国家庭经营的加利福尼亚公司生产的。祈祷他们有macapuno ube口味吧，它是椰子和甜紫薯混合物，具有绣球花那种紫色，柔滑，昂贵。它像是菲律宾的香草冰激凌，在其他口味让你失望时，你可以从它那里获得安慰。它吃起来像是你一直都在吃的那种冰激凌。