蔥油餅是我最早學會做的幾道菜之一，是小學放暑假回爺爺奶奶家時，爺爺教我做的。雖然當年我不會用瓦斯爐，也使不動爺爺的鍋鏟，但是我和弟弟總是跳上跳下地幫忙和麵、桿麵、切蔥、做餅，搞得滿身都是麵粉。餅做好了之後，我們就眼巴巴地看著爺爺烙餅。爺爺故鄉的香河肉餅遠近馳名，所以爺爺烙起餅來自然也不含糊，等到熱騰騰的蔥油餅煎好後，我們總是迫不及待地撲上去大快朵頤。
以前在台灣，除了在爺爺奶奶家放暑假、或是偶爾爸爸媽媽心血來潮時，我其實並不常做蔥油餅。一來因為在台灣買現做的蔥油餅實在是太方便，二來蔥油餅雖然材料簡單，但是要做得好其實也頗費工。出國之後，我做蔥油餅的次數才漸漸多了起來。有時候是朋友聚餐，我想做家鄉菜跟大家分享，而蔥油餅是少數幾道在美國超市可以把原料一次買齊的菜，有時候純粹是想家、嘴饞。現在我住在加州，華人超市能買得到冷凍的蔥油餅，但是吃來吃去，我還是最喜歡吃自己做的。每一家的蔥油餅吃起來都有些不同，有一些薄脆、有一些酥軟，當然也有一些不好吃的，只有我自己做的餅，不論是酥脆和嚼勁都始終如一。我放蔥也放得特別豪邁，一張餅可以放一整把蔥，所以蔥香總比外面賣的濃郁。還有什麼食物比現做現煎的麵食更好吃、更能解鄉愁的呢？
這週末去買菜，剛好看到蔥在打折（當然，還是比台灣的蔥貴多了），我就果斷地買了八把蔥回家做蔥油餅。距離我第一次學做蔥油餅大概有二十年了，好在雖然出了國，和麵的工夫卻不曾擱下。同樣的半燙麵食譜，我也用了二十年：麵粉、一半的滾水、五分之一的冷水、蔥、鹽巴、奶油（以前爺爺都用豬油，我吃素了之後才改用奶油，別有一番風味）。現在我長大了，不用等著爺爺幫我烙餅。我自己烙餅，沒有爺爺那種淵渟嶽峙北方人的架勢，但是今天當第一張外酥內Q的蔥油餅熱騰騰地起鍋、我第一口咬下去時，還是差一點掉下了眼淚。我想起了我的家，我想起了我的家人，我想起了我們一起做餅吃餅的時光。出國後，我從來沒有停止想家，從新冠肺炎爆發的第一天起，我沒有一天不想著回家。
Scallion pancake is one of the first dishes I learned how to make. I learned to make it when I visited my grandparents over summer break in elementary school. My brother and I were always excited to help make the dough, cut the scallions, and roll the pancakes. By the end, we were always covered in flour. After we finished making the pancakes, we would watch grandpa fry them eagerly, because I didn’t know how to use grandpa’s gas stove, and his pans and spatulas were too heavy for me. Grandpa’s hometown Xianghe is very famous for meat pancakes (Xianghe meat pie), so he is very good at frying pancakes. When the pancakes were ready, we could never wait to feast on them.
When I was in Taiwan, I actually did not make scallion pancakes that often other than when I was with my grandparents, or when my parents wanted to make them on a whim. It was just too convenient to buy scallion pancakes in Taiwan. Also, while scallion pancakes only require a few simple ingredients, it actually takes some time and effort to make them well. After I came to the US, I started to make scallion pancakes more frequently. Sometimes it is because I want to bring a Taiwanese dish to friends’ gatherings, and scallion pancake is one of the few dishes for which I can buy all ingredients in a US supermarket. Sometimes it is simply because I am homesick and craving home food. Now that I live in California, I can actually buy frozen scallion pancakes in Asian markets, but at the end of the day, I still like my home-made ones the most. Each brand of scallion pancakes taste different — some are thin and crispy, some are flaky and soft, while some others are just not tasty. The ones I make, though, always have consistent texture: crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. I am also very generous with the scallions — I usually use a full bundle of scallions per pancake, so my pancakes are always more flavorful than the store-bought ones. I can’t think of anything else that can soothe me from homesickness better than freshly made home food.
Scallions were on sale when I went grocery shopping this weekend. I went ahead and bought eight bundles to make scallion pancakes. It has been almost twenty years since I first learned how to make them. I have been using the same recipe this entire time: flour, half boiling water, a fifth cold water, scallions, salt, and butter (grandpa usually use lard, but I switched over to butter after I became a vegetarian). Now that I am grown, I don’t have to wait for grandpa to fry the pancakes for me anymore. I probably still don’t fry them as well as my grandpa does, but when I had my first bite into my scallion pancakes today, I almost cried. I thought of my home, my family, and the time we spent together making and eating scallion pancakes. After I came to the US, I never stopped missing home. Since the first day of the COVID-19 outbreak, there is not a single day that goes by without me thinking about going home.
