夏嘗黃腳立

Kallen Guo

Senior filmmaker, socialite and bestselling author, authored Don't Fall in Love with Zurich, the winner of The Best Foreign Language Novel.

郭丹

資深影視人、名媛、暢銷(xiāo)書(shū)作家。代表作包括最佳外語(yǔ)小說(shuō)獎(jiǎng)獲得作品《別愛(ài)蘇黎世》等。

smell its uncompetitive fl avour when the dish is still being made.

Wild yellowfi n seabream is said to be a very cunning fi sh. lt even knows how to eat the bait without swallowing the fi sh hook, which makes it so diffi cult to catch. Nevertheless, l don't recommend trying the frozen or the cultivated ones sold in the market. They usually taste muddy and rough. l once heard of Song's Store in Gupu Village, Hong Kong, which is famous for offering wild yellowfi n seabream to mountain climbers passing by. The moment l heard about this, l decided to go there in person, to buy the fi sh from this mysterious shopkeeper, whom is said to be a “senior epicure”. l went there twice, and each time it took me four hours to get there, but both times l returned empty handed. When l think of these two fruitless trips and the unrealized wish to taste the local wild fi sh, l can still feel the bitterness in my throat.

Gastronome Cai Lan and novelist Ni Kuang also have a special fondness for yellowfi n seabream. They keep a watchful eye on Lau Fau Mountain, and go there personally whenever they hear of newly caught batches of yellowfi n seabream. Cai Lan wrote in his article Yellowfi n Seabream:“One day, after eating, Ni Kuang praised yellowfi n seabream as being number 1 among all fi sh dishes, while red-spotted grouper is the second. Hearing this, Cai replied - to be second to yellowfi n seabream is an honour for red-spotted grouper. Ni laughed and said, it's just like comparing Novelists Jin Yong and Gu Long, who are both ranked as the top two, but there is a giant gap between them.”

到了夏天最熱的時(shí)候，該吃黃腳立了——這個(gè)給世間帶來(lái)純粹的鮮甜魚(yú)味兒，值得大篇幅贊美。

一般來(lái)說(shuō)，一斤左右的黃腳立最美味，蒸到最佳的境界是最中間還有一絲兒連骨的肉，那入口堪稱完美，肉質(zhì)鮮嫩，香氣四溢。

我對(duì)黃腳立有個(gè)情結(jié)。這得從吃石斑說(shuō)起。石斑是香港宴客一定會(huì)叫的魚(yú)，一桌上沒(méi)條斑，好像都不算個(gè)體面局子。有段時(shí)間，我以為這個(gè)是香港最好吃的海鮮，就隔三岔五地往家買(mǎi)斑在外吃斑，東星西星老鼠斑，瓜子燕子芝麻斑，通通吃了一遍，手機(jī)里還有個(gè)“斑log”，記著幾月幾日吃了什么斑口感咋樣味道好不好。斑么，肉質(zhì)細(xì)滑，但好像吃來(lái)吃去都沒(méi)有“老子啊，神仙吃的！”那種感嘆。直到有天我偶遇一文，就說(shuō)“識(shí)食”就要吃野生黃腳立，一條好魚(yú)，蒸時(shí)在客廳都能聞到香味。

黃腳立，就是黃鰭鯛魚(yú)，據(jù)說(shuō)野生的特別狡猾，經(jīng)常咬著魚(yú)餌但不吞鉤，特別難釣。街市賣(mài)的一般都是冰凍養(yǎng)殖，一股泥味，肉質(zhì)粗糙，不吃也罷。后來(lái)聽(tīng)說(shuō)香港有家“松記士多”，在谷埔村，地處偏遠(yuǎn)卻特受歡迎，就因?yàn)槔习迨莻€(gè)老饕，經(jīng)常能有野生黃腳立提供給行山客。我當(dāng)時(shí)一聽(tīng)樂(lè)了，必須得親自去感受感受，于是在鯛魚(yú)當(dāng)造時(shí)，花4個(gè)多小時(shí)，從港島跋山涉水去過(guò)兩次，但都無(wú)功而返，至今仍有些遺憾。

據(jù)說(shuō)蔡瀾和倪匡也特別愛(ài)吃黃腳立，每每聽(tīng)聞流浮山有野釣好貨，就飛奔而去。蔡瀾在一篇叫《黃腳》的文章里寫(xiě)道：倪匡有次吃完，贊說(shuō)“黃腳第一，紅斑第二”，蔡答“能做第二，已算很好”，倪大笑，說(shuō)這第一和第二，跟金庸古龍一樣，差十萬(wàn)八千里呢。