推荐的有嚼劲的食物(一年四季都嚼在嘴里)
文化交流杂志特约作者 潘江涛
去餐馆就餐,如果你点的蔬菜不“时令”,合格的服务生会悄悄地提醒你,这个菜不在季节。
时蔬,乃时令蔬菜之简称。江南人的吃食最讲时令,什么季节吃什么菜,一点也不马虎。
一
时值春末浅夏,哪些时蔬可供选择?苋菜、豇豆、黄瓜、天罗、苦瓜、蒲瓜、番茄之类的瓜蔬,沐着春阳,日见日长。
去菜场逛逛,见着这瓜想买,见到那菜也往篮里塞。可转念一想,夏日气温高,新鲜瓜蔬隔夜就蔫,举棋不定是常有的事。再说了,一家三口,食量有限,最好现买现吃。不过,倘若见到藕带和嫩姜,千万不要犹豫,即便隔夜,也要买下。因为一旦错过,就只能苦等来年。
藕带是莲鞭的嫩芽。与藕相比,藕带更嫩更脆,切开的剖面极像微型之藕——小指头粗细,雪白纤巧,不染一点杂色,犹如羊脂白玉雕刻而成的艺术品,精致玲珑,晶莹剔透。
藕带。
姜是老的辣,去腥解腻。但若当作蔬菜,还是嫩的好——浑身鹅黄色,顶端有微微的紫红,水分足,纤维少。一年当中,只有端午前后的嫩姜,食之无丝无筋,还有脆生生的口感。
孔夫子对吃食特别讲究挑剔——鱼馁而肉败不食,色恶不食,臭恶不食,失饪不食,不时不食,割不正不食,不得其酱不食,沽酒市脯不食。但是,他也有自己的嗜好,那就是“不撤姜食”。
至今,我们虽说无法探知孔子爱吃的“姜食”有哪些内容,但笃定是嫩姜派生的。在金华,永康五指岩生姜以“嫩”见长,素负盛名。简单一点,切片切丝,用酱油或者陈醋腌渍一晚,便是下酒妙物。倘若热炒,与鸡块、肉片、鳝丝等等相配,都是上上之选。
二
秋天是收获的季节。放眼望去,不仅有金黄色的稻浪,还有紫色落苏(吴语方言词,即茄子)、青皮丝瓜、橙黄南瓜,就连汤溪的白辣椒也渐渐地由银白转成深黄,最后换上了一身大红衣裳。
岁月不居,四季有序。倘若不事农桑,就体会不到万物生长的微妙变化。就拿芋梗来说,如果不被人提起,是万万想不到,更不说将它当作秋日时蔬了。
鲜美的荠菜羹。
芋头是暮春下种的,想吃芋梗,非到夏末初秋不可。
梗,即芋叶抱合形成的假茎里的嫩芯部分,没晒到太阳,光合作用也不明显,因此芯是白色的。它纤维少,水分多,口感爽脆。
金华人颇懂芋梗,大小餐馆频见“酒糟肉片溜芋梗”——五花肉片略煸,倒入芋梗片同炒,再加少许酒糟调色增味。这菜虽说普通,但吃起来既有芬芳的草木清气,又无丝毫纤维质感。
这些年,各种蔬菜的嫩芯、嫩茎吃得多了,比如婺城塔石的冬笋、磐安玉山的茭白、兰溪诸葛的水芹、武义宣平的藕带等等。以冬笋之鲜、茭白之软、水芹之嫩、藕带之脆,仍然可以看见植物本身的纤维,而汤溪芋梗,却雪白粉嫩,如玉似脂,丰润肥腴,清鲜之极。
如此褒奖芋梗,对小白菜而言,兴许有失公允。因为秋冬时节,特别是经霜之后的小白菜,实乃“秋末晚菘”的杰出代表——叶儿是恣意的绿,茎杆是干脆的白,挺着身子,一株株立在泥土之上,青春、高挑、靓丽、脱俗、有气质。更难得的是,小白菜进了厨房,清水洗洗,用手轻轻一折,就是一段一段的,点燃柴灶,剜一勺猪油,搁些许精盐,爆炒,再加一点豆瓣酱,好糯好香!
小白菜是杭州人的口语,金华人叫它菘菜,厚大“高脚白”是汤溪招牌,也是浙江名特农产品。在汤溪农村,因为“高脚白”腿长叶小,一般用来腌菜。时日一长,菘菜变腐,一款地方名馔“汤溪烂菘菜”香飘婺城。
三
“鱼吃跳,鸡吃叫,蔬吃俏”,乃餐饮界行话。跳、叫、俏三者,皆有先天鲜活之意。特别是“俏”,意指难得、好看。像芋梗、菘菜之类,长在野外,无不让人感到一种小清新、小亲近,立马就能勾起人的食欲。
兰溪乡贤李渔说,蔬食之美“曰清,曰洁,曰芳馥,曰松脆而已矣。不知其至美所在,能居肉食之上者,只在一字之鲜……”(《闲情偶寄》)
花无百日红,人无千日好。晚菘再美,也有吃厌的一天。好在历经一冬的孕育,俗称“春八仙”的春笋、莴苣、芦蒿、茭白、香椿、马齿苋、荠菜、豌豆苗,清绝水灵,脱颖而出。
“八仙”者“八鲜”也。吃了“春八仙”,便把整个春天嚼嚼咽下。但古人为何将春韭和菜薹[tái]排除在“八仙”之外?
正月葱,二月韭。早春时节,一畦春韭,满眼深绿。它没有一丝杂叶、枯梢,一丛丛状如书带,韵如幽兰。割一把,井水洗洗,细细切了,摊鸡蛋、炒豆腐、包饺子……怎一个“香”字了得。只是,一帮吃货意犹未尽,念念不忘香中透鲜的“韭炒螺肉”。
春江水暖,螺蛳正肥。
春江水暖,螺蛳正肥。买来螺蛳,清水静养,滴几滴菜油,使其吐尽泥沙,剪尾。煮一锅开水,加生姜与料酒,将螺蛳一烫(螺蛳不能煮,也不能烫过头,否则鲜味流失),剔出螺肉,去泥肠,晾干备炒。
春韭与碧螺,其实是世间最寻常的东西,却因了初春与初春的相遇,便成世间绝配——“鲜”味当头,宜小酌宜下饭,尤其拿来浇饭,其他菜肴就是多余的了。
韭炒螺蛳,从立春开吃,到清明前后就不太时兴——韭菜渐老,螺蛳也忙着孕育下一代。此时,油菜、蒜苗、苏州青等叶菜则急不可待,纷纷抽芯扬花,随时准备“献身”。
薹,俗称菜心,好多人不把它当正经菜看待。其实,菜薹青春短暂,韶华易老,一不小心就会错失口福。
菜薹我是喜欢的,还曾专门写有《菜薹》。前两天,读安徽作家钱红莉的《滋味闲笔》,才知她也是菜薹的忠实拥趸。她说:菜薹“可遇不可求”,“唯有老人用小竹篮提几把来,才算是霜雪浸透的好食材。去菜市,还要碰巧。早了,老人没来;迟了,五六把紫菜薹,一会儿便被老饕们抢光。”
凡物皆有先天,如人各有资禀。走过四季,每一种时蔬都能让人感受到特定季节的温度,而特定的季节又会唤醒你对每种时蔬的记忆。
是啊,时蔬天生丽质,只要简单烹饪,尽量保持原汁原味,便让人过舌难忘——内心深处总有一种莫名的满足,仿佛自己的生命也与周遭万物休戚与共。
或许,这就是“不时不食”的饮食美学了。
(本文图片来自视觉中国)
People in Jiangnan
Favor Vegetables in Season
In Jiangnan, a region of plenty and in the south of the Yangtze River Delta, people favor vegetables in season. At a restaurant in Jiangnan, you would be kindly informed if something you happen to pick from the menu is not in season. As Jiangnan produces a great variety of vegetables all around the year, people in the region have long been in the habit of being fussy about what gets served at the kitchen table or at a restaurant table.
用香椿炒鸡蛋是江浙人的春天时鲜菜。
There are many vegetables in season in springtime such as lettuce, spring bamboo shoots and even some herb, and Chinese chive. In early springtime, Chinese chive and snail can be cooked together and nothing tastes better at this time of year. Such a gourmet window is small in spring. That is from early February to March. Days around Qingming Festival in early April, the dish tastes different if you ask gourmets.
Toward the end of spring or at the beginning of summer, one can have a lot of choices of vegetables in season: edible amaranth, cowpea, cucumber, bitter gourd, tomato, just to name a few. These are in season and you don’t have to buy a lot for fear that they may be out of supply tomorrow. You can rest assured that you can see the newest supply just in from farms tomorrow. But if you run into baby ginger or baby lotus root at a food market, never hesitate to buy. They are in season only for a very short time. If you decide not to buy them, the next time you see them will very probably be 365 days later. Baby ginger is a delicacy. You see it only in early May. Confucius is known to have a passion for ginger. He must have ginger at every meal. A safe guess is that the ginger he favored must have been baby ginger. In Jinhua, the central city in the heart of Zhejiang, chefs know a lot of ways to prepare ginger dishes. Baby ginger can be made into a cold dish to go with rice wine. It can be cooked with sliced eel and chicken or pork.
豆干炒芦蒿也是一道春天的美食。
One can easily recall vegetables in season when autumn arrives: eggplant, sponge cucumber, pumpkin, pepper. But many people have the slightest idea that taro stalk is available in late summer or early autumn. Gourmets love this rare delicacy. As the ingredient is not easily available on a food market, foodies usually pick a restaurant to enjoy tender vegetables such as winter bamboo shoot, wild rice stem, cress, baby lotus roots.
来源:小时新闻
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