“美人肝”，当然不会是美人的肝。在中华饮食文化的语境中，“美人”是个比较特别的符号，大致上可以解读为“柔软鲜嫩”。所谓美人肝，指的是南京板鸭的副产品———鸭肠上的胰白，即连着鸭肠的一块内脏。一只鸭子只有一小块胰白，要四五十块鸭胰白才炒出一盘美人肝。它的做法繁复，成品白里透红，娇嫩鲜脆，被列为民国时期南京清真菜馆“马祥兴”的四大名菜之首。

　　Of course, "The beauty's liver" is not the liver of a beauty. In the linguistic context of Chinese dietetic culture, "A beauty ", a quite special symbol, can be roughly interpreted as " Being soft, refreshing and tender". "The beauty's liver", as it is called, refers to the pancreas on the duck-intestine (a by-product of Nanjing pressed salted duck), i.e. an inner organ connected with the duck-intestine. A duck only has one small pancreas. Made up of forty to fifty duck-pancreases, a dish of "The beauty's liver" fried through complex preparation appears reddish white while tasting tender, fresh and crispy. It ranks the first among four major famous dishes of "Ma Xiangxing", an Islamic restaurant in Nanjing during the period of the Republic of China.

　　曹建新 译