先日、町のチャイニーズレストランに行って食事をしたときに思ったのですが、いつも最後に出てくる、フォーチュンクッキーって、最初はおいくないと思っていたのに、最近美味しく感じるんですよね。アメリカの味に毒されているからでしょうか。たまにアメリカのチャイニーズで袋ごと売っていたりしますが、欲しくなったりならなかったり。
でも中に入っているいわゆるフォーチュンは、もう少し頑張れば、もっと人を感動させることができたのでは？と悔しく思います。
とりあえず、フォーチュンクッキーを開けてみて、何が書いてあるのかな？って思って、”You like Chinese food.”なんて書いてあると、”Yeah, right.”という気分になります。でもまぁこれはアメリカ人の中でもネタ的フォーチュンで、私も１回しか出会ったことはありません。こうしてネタになればなるだけマシですが、この前Aさんが食べたクッキーには”Be patient. Happiness will come to those who wait.”とか書いてあって、なるほどと思っていいのか、ケっと思っていいのか分からなくて思わずクッキーをバキバキと食べてしまいますね。
というわけで、私にフォーチュンを書かせて！もっと楽しいの書くから！と思ったところで、今日来たGood Cookからのジャンク（失礼）メールにホームメイドのフォーチュンクッキーの作り方なんてあったので載せておきます。まずはフォーチュンクッキーについてのウンチクをどうぞ。
The fortune cookie, that inevitable end to a “Chinese” dinner in the United States, is no more Chinese than chop suey–another American invention. The fortune cookie made its debut in California in the early 1900s, a creation apparently inspired by a story from 12th-century Chinese history. According to popular legend, Chinese monks leading the resistance against invading Mongols passed messages among their numbers through slips of paper baked into “moon cakes,” pastries made of nuts, beans, and dates.
The traditional palate cleanser in most Chinese-American restaurants prior to the 1940s was the almond cake or cookie, until someone came up with the idea for a cheaper but more entertaining cookie. The inventor was either an LA-based restaurateur named David Jung, who thought the messages in his cookies would cheer the local homeless, or a Bay Area Japanese-American, Makota Hagiwara, the caretaker of San Francisco’s Japanese Tea Garden restaurant.
The cookies remained a local treat until the ’40s and ’50s when the real rise of Chinese-American cuisine began with servicemen returning from WWII, bringing with them a taste for more exotic foods.
ということですが、マコタさんってねぇ、どうなんですか？マコトさんだと思うのですが。どっちにしても日系アメリカ人のインベンションだった、というのは実はアメリカにいる日本人の間では超有名な事実だったりします。それではいよいよ作り方へ。
1/2 cup flour
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup corn oil
2 egg whites
1 tablespoon orange flower water
1/2 teaspoon orange rind, finely grated
12 to 16 fortunes, on 1/2- x 3-inch paper strips
1. Sift together the flour, cornstarch, and sugar three times to mix thoroughly, and place in a mixing bowl. Add the oil and egg whites, beating at a high speed to mix thoroughly. Add the orange flower water and orange rind, and mix well.
2. Make just 2 or 3 cookies at a time, dropping the batter by level tablespoons onto a well-greased cookie sheet. Space the cookies about three inches apart. Flatten each cookie with the back of a spoon or spatula until the cookie is about 4 inches wide. Bake in a 325° oven 10 to 12 minutes until the cookies are a light golden brown.
3. With a wide spatula remove the first cookie from the cookie sheet. Immediately place a fortune in the center, and fold it over to make a half-moon shape. Create a second fold by drawing the center of the folded cookie, folded side down, across a thin-edged bowl or pan and crease the cookie in half again. Then place the filled and folded cookie in a muffin pan, pointed ends down, until it is cool and firm to the touch.
4. Use the remaining batter to bake and shape the remaining cookies. When they are all cooled, store the fortune cookies in an airtight container. Makes 12 to 16 cookies.
Originally taken from The Fortune Cookie Book, by Margery Read. Published by Cumberland House Publishing Inc.
曲げるのが難しそうですが、いつか作ってみたらまた感想でも書きますね。