舌尖上的航海丨第5集 救生艇里的“宝贝”

“海豚王”号货船在比斯开湾遭遇了罕见的风暴。

比斯开湾是世界闻名的风暴区，常年的飓风使这个海湾，终日波涛滚滚。

经过一天一夜的击风博浪，“海豚王“号终于驶出了这个使人难忘的海区。平安抵达了德国的汉堡港。

“海豚王”号的桅索和救生艇，不同程度受到了损坏。

“海豚王”号仃靠在碼头旁进行检修。救生艇完整无损，艇上的帆布罩被风浪撕了个大口子，艇里积满了海水。

大厨芈罡协助水手靳海，更换艇里的设备；信号弹，淡水桶，应急药箱，备用风帆…。最后芈罡抱出一个大铁桶：“这是救生艇里的《宝贝》！”

芈罡边说边把铁桶小心翼翼地放置在甲板上

救生艇里的宝贝？靳海是位刚上船不久的年青水手，对船上一切都感到新奇：“咋回事！”

羋罡仔细地打开封闭铁桶的盖子，一块块包装完好的饼干，发出诱人的香味。

“压缩饼干！“靳海不禁惊叫起来。

靳海是地道的饼干“粉丝”，从小到大未离开过饼干；撒琪瑪，曲奇，桃酥，奥利奥，巧克力派…而且知道这些糕点的原始产地。外号叫“饼干王子”。

但是，铁桶里类似砖头的饼干还第一次见到，只知道是船舶遇难时，海员的救命粮食。记得在航海学校学习时，老师讲起一个海难事故，说一艘英国的商船在大洋里遇上风暴翻沉。船员登上救生艇，在茫茫大海里漂流了二十多天，除了在海里捕捉鱼虾充饥外，每天每人分得救生艇里一小块压缩饼干。压缩饼干是由多种营养材料制成的食品，使这批海员度过了艰难的海上岁月。海员对救生艇里的饼干“独有情钟”。

靳海拿起一块铁桶里的压缩饼干，仔细端祥着，爰不释手。

望着靳海好奇的眼神，芈罡神秘地说了句：“它不仅是海员的救命恩人，还是饼干的祖先哩！”

靳海早就听说芈罡是有名的海上美食专家，肚里有许多与航海有关的美食故事。

靳海希望知道”饼干祖先“的故事。

由于“海豚王”号即将移泊装货，这个故事暂时“搁浅”了。

“海豚王”号移泊装货开始，救生艇的维修工作也接近尾声。

靳海将更新的“压缩饼干”按标号和顺序放进救生艇。

芈罡望着靳海認真仔细的样子，讲述了一个鲜为人知的，有关饼干产生的奇妙故事。

大约在二百多年前，一艘英国的多恑帆船《环大西洋》号，在比斯开湾遭遇风暴，触碓沉没。幸存的水手们被围困在一个无人的荒岛上。面对饥饿和死亡的威胁，水手们想起了沉船里的面粉，砂糖和奶油。他们费尽周折和全力，潜回沉船。谁料，这些救命的食物被海水淹成了“糊槽“。饥肠辘辘的水手，把这些“蝴糟”搬到荒岛。面对这些无法进食的“糊糟”，人们仰天长叹：”主啊，难道我们就这样走进天堂！“望着大伙绝望的样子，一名水手突发奇想；将这些“糊糟”制成薄饼，放置在荒岛的礁石上灼烤。荒岛上的阳光火棘灼人，很快这些”小饼”被烤成一块块香甜诱人的小饼。

人们吃着这些被太阳烤熟的，香甜可口的“小饼”，在荒岛上生存了三十多天！

当这些遇难的水手被营救上岸，这种奇特的被水手被为“比斯开湾小饼“的食物，首先被船东发现，制成块状食品，做为应急食品，放置在救生艇里。但是，没多久，“比斯开湾小饼”很快风靡世界，成了世界上最早的饼干，並登上了”饼干祖先”的宝座。

The cargo ship King Dolphin encountered a vicious storm on the Bay of

Biscay.

The Bay of Biscay is a well-known stormy region in the nautical world.

Hurricanes and tsunamis roll around the bay and its surroundings all year

long, making it extremely difficult to traverse.

After a whole day and night of battling the violence of the swelling

waves and violent winds of the Bay of Biscay, the King Dolphin ultimately

escaped the dangerous area, and docked at the harbor in the German city of

Hamburg.

However, different components of the King Dolphin were left with

various amounts of damage. The King Dolphin rested on the pier as it

awaited repair. Upon investigation, the crew found that although the body

lifeboat was generally unscathed, a hole was scratched into the sails and

canvas of the ship, allowing the seawater to fill the raft up to the brim.

The head chef of the ship, Mi Kang, helped crew member Jin Hai fix the

lifeboat and replace the parts that were damaged beyond repair: Flares,

water buckets, emergency kits, and spare sails… Until Mi Kang took out a

large barrel, held it in front of Jin Hai, and said, “This is the most

precious item on the lifeboat!”

He placed the barrel carefully on the floor, and went back to the other

components of the raft.

“The most precious item?” Jin Hai wondered. He was a young sailor and

quite new to nautical life, so he was easily fascinated by anything he

wasn’t familiar with. “How could that be?”

Mi Kang cautiously lifted the lid of the barrel, releasing a subtle

aroma. Jin Hai peered inside, and discovered packets of perfectly packaged

biscuits.

“Compressed biscuits!” Jin Hai exclaimed. He had been a huge fan of

all sorts of biscuits and cookies ever since he was a kid: caramel treats,

butter cookies, peach crisps, Oreos, chocolate pies, and more - and he

could always recount exactly where these snacks originated from. When he

was a kid, his friends even went as far as to call him the Prince of

Cookies.

But the biscuits that Mi Kang showed him were unlike anything he had

ever seen before. At first glance, they looked a little like concrete

bricks, stacked on top of one another in large chunks. He only knew that

they were the biscuits that shipwrecked sailors had to rely on as their

only source of food. He remembered a story that his teacher in nautical

school once told him about a British merchant ship that encountered a

fierce thunderstorm at sea. The crew of the merchant ship boarded the

lifeboat and drifted on the ocean for over twenty days, relying on small

portions of biscuits and the fish and shrimp they managed to catch to stay

alive. Surprisingly, compressed biscuits were very nutritious and easy to

store, allowing seafarers to survive harsh conditions for long periods of

time. Some sailors owe their lives to these unassuming biscuits.

Jin Hai reached his hand into the barrel and picked out a biscuit. He

held it in his hand and inspected it, turning it over and to the side.

Mi Kang noticed Jin Hai’s curiosity and fascination, smiled, and told

him, “Not only has these biscuits saved the lives of any seafarers, it’s

also the ancestor of many cookies you see today!”

Jin Hai had heard that Mi Kang was an expert on maritime cuisine, and

knew he had a lot to learn from the chef. He wanted to know this obscure

story about the “ancestor of cookies”.

However, Mi Kang’s story was put on hold as the Dolphin King finished

its repairs and was once again ready to take out a new freight and set out

for another voyage. Jin Hai packed up the compressed biscuits back into the

barrel, loaded it up onto the reconditioned lifeboat, and stowed it away

onto the ship.

Watching Jin Hai’s serious and careful approach to his work, Mi Kang

decided to share with him the tale of compressed biscuits.

Around two hundred years ago, a British tall ship named the Atlantic

Rim sank into a storm near the Bay of Biscay. The surviving sailors were

stranded on an unknown island. Faced with the threats of death and

starvation, the sailors recalled the flour, sugar, and cream from their

wrecked vessel. Summoning all their strength, they dived back to their

sunken ship and tried to retrieve the ingredients, only to find them soaked

together into a soft, squelchy dough. As a last ditch effort, the sailors

dragged the dough through the harsh waters back to the island, but the

dough was nowhere near edible for these sailors.

Just as the sailors were about to lose hope, one crew member came up

with the idea of trying to make pancakes out of the batter, and to place

them on the scorching, sunlit rocks on the island. Soon enough, the batter

was baked into crispy, crunchy pancake-like biscuits.

Using this unique new baking method, the sailors survived on the island

for more than 30 days, eating mainly nothing but “pancakes”.

When they were finally rescued, these “pancakes” were given the name

Biscay Biscuits by the sailors. The captain of the rescue ship was

immediately fascinated by these peculiar biscuits, and asked the sailors to

teach him how to make more. He cut the newly baked biscuits into blocks and

placed them into the emergency compartment of his lifeboats, and made more

to share with other shipowners.

Before long, the Biscay Biscuits became the world’s first cookie, and

were given the honor of being the ancestors of all cookies and biscuits we

know and love today.