柏建斌

春夏之交，土步魚魚肥質(zhì)嫩，肉白如銀，較之豆腐，有其嫩而遠(yuǎn)勝其鮮。

江南的村莊，小河小塘就在屋前屋后。

河塘最大的特色便是那些大大小小的石埠頭，這種埠頭十分簡陋，一些石塊隨意堆砌而成，深深淺淺，全由河水漲落而定。

立夏前后的一個清晨，湖州一帶的村婦照例來到河塘邊，埠頭上便熱鬧起來。

而此時水中同樣熱鬧的，是在石穴間匍匐穿梭的魚兒，被村婦叫做蕩匍。

“今天魚多，輕點聲，幫著多抓幾條，我家男人最喜歡的下酒菜。”一位大嫂邊笑，邊拿起竹籃在石縫那兒一舀，一兩條黑色小魚兒進(jìn)了籃子。

“蕩匍”是湖州長興一帶的叫法，杭州人叫它土步魚。此魚又名沙鱧（lǐ），屬魚綱塘鱧科，江蘇人直稱之為塘鱧魚。

在杭嘉湖一帶有關(guān)這種魚的做法最出名的有兩種，一是“步魚春筍”，再就是“蕩匍蒸蛋”。

做這兩道菜用10來尾魚著實是夠了。炒春筍一般用整條，而蒸蛋，則用魚身上取下的嫩肉。

但如果說要化腐朽為神奇，做到唯美，那就是我要說的這一道“葷豆瓣”了。

奢侈的“葷豆瓣”

也不知道是哪位廚子的異想天開，他發(fā)現(xiàn)這條黑色小魚雙頰上的腮幫肉非常特別，這地方的肉是魚呼吸時活動最頻繁的部分，鮮嫩而筋道。而取下這塊半月芽形的腮幫肉，像極了小粒的豆瓣，于是，奢侈無比的一道菜便出現(xiàn)了。

有史料為證。宋代文獻(xiàn)《玉食批》描述“土步辣羹”時講道：一小碗，耗魚108尾，得“豆”216粒。此菜做法無從查考，但取豆瓣之法，似乎也算是“效法天地，比擬乾坤，法于陰陽，合于數(shù)術(shù)”了。

“如果家中做此菜算是奢侈了，要耗費那么多的魚，但在餐館卻算不得什么，畢竟這魚頭本來就沒什么用?！弊罱鼘Ｗ⒋瞬说臅悦鲙煾嫡f，如果炒著吃或者紅燒，魚頭太小一般沒人在意，而此時腮幫里的豆瓣也老了，失去了鮮嫩勁，“但真要做成‘葷豆瓣卻不那么容易?！?/p>

先把魚頭一個個剪下，蒸至半熟，然后用竹簽等小心翼翼地把腮幫子撥開，挑出完完整整的一粒半月芽形“豆瓣”肉來。

“要盛一盤上桌，那真得100多條的土步魚兒?！比『弥蟮淖龇ê突鸷蚴忠o，一邊把油燒沸，一邊把‘葷豆瓣出水后裝盤加輔料，之后沸油一淋即成。

當(dāng)然，食用時間也有要求：快。因為取“豆”不易，一般上桌前是分而食之。

細(xì)看這一小碗，一粒粒的“豆瓣”晶瑩松軟，藏于蔥絲之間更顯活潑。油淋后的半湯呈栗紅，高級感油然而生。

取幾粒尒湯一起送入口中，首先感覺到的是鮮，其次是Q彈，這“豆瓣”畢竟不同于豆腐，用牙齒輕咬的感覺非常Q彈，有彈牙之感。

“豆瓣”很容易咬開而不會塞牙，除了鮮味更增加了口腔的滿足感。

歷代美食家點贊土步魚

每年的這個時候，美食家沈宏非最記掛的便是這道“葷豆瓣”了，他曾在朋友圈寫下感受：“豆瓣”得之不易，食之更不可大意，蓋因其乃塘鱧全身至嫩至滑之肉，入口后不及細(xì)嚼慢咽，很容易一不小心從唇舌之間直接滑落至咽喉而令人擲匙浩嘆。

描述得非常有趣。

把那么難得的腮幫肉比喻成“豆瓣”，算是一種智慧，也是最為低調(diào)的奢華了。沈宏非還講了一個典故，說當(dāng)年上海“海派川菜”創(chuàng)始人何其坤師傅（曾經(jīng)是老錦江飯店和張愛玲在小說里津津樂道的“蜀腴”川菜社總廚）在為宋慶齡做家宴時，曾獻(xiàn)上一道上海本地人飯桌上最低賤的“咸菜豆瓣湯”：湯里的咸菜是雪里蕻，這其中的“豆瓣”就是這土步魚的腮幫肉。

《隨園食單》也曾記載，杭州以土步魚為上品。肉最松嫩。煎之，煮之，蒸之俱可。加腌芥作湯，作羹尤鮮。

春夏之交，土步魚魚肥質(zhì)嫩，肉白如銀，較之豆腐，有其嫩而遠(yuǎn)勝其鮮。

西湖里的土步魚更是出名。白居易離開杭州時曾寫詩道：“未能拋得杭州去，一半勾留是此湖。”詩人留戀西湖的晴好雨奇之外，應(yīng)該還有湖中味美可口的魚鮮。清代詩人陳璨曾有一首《西湖竹枝詞》來詮釋白公勾留的一部分內(nèi)容：“清明土步魚初美，重九團(tuán)臍蟹正肥，莫怪白公拋不得，便論食品也忘歸。”清代王端履曾有竹枝詞里也曾寫道：“竹籬輕傍漁舟插，要買新鮮杜父魚?！倍鴵?jù)民國《蕭山縣志稿》載：“出湘湖者為最，桃花水漲時尤美。”

“瓦盆重疊漾清波，賺得潛鱗杜父名。幾日桃花春水漲，滿村聽喚賣魚聲?！边@是說從前“濱湖之家以瓦為阱或用破舟沉水中，隔宿起視則魚已穴處焉”，似乎與村婦用竹籃舀魚同法，這里杜父當(dāng)為土步魚吧。

遺憾的是，從20世紀(jì)60年代起，由于種種原因，土步魚的產(chǎn)量已大為減少。

兩道江浙家常菜

“步魚燉蛋”是長興當(dāng)?shù)匾环N最常見的吃法，將步魚肉的鮮嫩特質(zhì)發(fā)揮得淋漓盡致。

將洗凈的步魚和蛋液盛放在一個瓷盆中，放入少量的鹽，然后架在飯鍋的水米之上，和米一道接受鍋下烈火的考驗。飯熟之時，也是這道菜成就之時，燜幾分鐘后揭開鍋，在蛋上加上蔥末，淋上醬油，倒上一些剛剛沸騰的菜籽油，就是一道完美的步魚燉蛋。制作就是這么簡單，但是味道卻不一般，雞蛋的香味沁入魚肉之中，入口便是滿嘴的鮮香。

“春筍步魚”是杭州名菜，可以說是山珍之鮮與湖珍之美的珠聯(lián)璧合，作為春令美食老少咸宜。與春筍為伍，也決定了這道菜品嘗時間的短暫，必須珍惜。?? （本文圖片由視范攝影提供）

Dark Sleeper： Springtime Delicacy in Jiangnan

By Bai Jianbin

Dark sleeper （Odontobutis obscurus） is a springtime delicacy in Jiangnan， a traditional name for the south of the Yangtze River Delta. The small-sized fish can be easily caught in rivers and ponds in Jiangnan. Usually， it is cooked in two ways： it is cooked with springtime bamboo shoots; and it is steamed with eggs. About ten dark sleepers would be enough for a dish. Fish bones and heads must be removed if dark sleepers are to be steamed with eggs. Most family kitchens would choose these two ways to enjoy dark sleeper in springtime.

Dark sleeper can be cooked into a luxury called “meat-like broad beans”. Few families would bother to do the luxury， simply because the dish needs a tiny part from hundreds of dark sleepers. The ingredient has nothing to do with broad beans， however. The ingredient is a tiny bit of half-moon flesh from inside the fish head. As one fish contributes only two half-moon bits， at least 100 dark sleepers are needed to get an adequate amount of “broad beans”. A heap of the tiny flesh bits from the heads of dark sleepers does look like broad beans in a bowl or on a plate.

A book written in the Song Dynasty （960-1279） mentions a soup made of 216 “broad beans” from 108 dark sleepers. “It is too much a luxury for a family kitchen. But a restaurant can do it easily. After all， the heads of dark sleepers are almost useless，” remarks a modern chef， who knows how to prepare such a dish of half-moon bits from dark sleepers. He first scissors off the heads from dark sleepers， steams the heads to a half done degree， and then pick the “broad bean” bits out of the gill space inside the fish head with a slender bamboo pick. “It needs over 100 dark sleepers to have a full dish of fish ‘beans，” says the chef.

The fish “beans” are then quick-boiled. They are ladled out of boiling water and placed into a small bowl. After seasonings are added to the fish “broad beans”， hot oil is poured onto them. The dish is ready.

The delicate taste of dark sleepers is highly appreciated by gourmets. Shen Hongfei （born in 1962）， a contemporary gourmet， food writer and documentary producer， once wrote about the dark sleeper “beans”. “The ‘broad beans are not easy to come by. Eating them could be a challenging job. You need to carefully put them into your mouth and chew them carefully and thoroughly to get the full taste. If you are not careful， the smooth and slippery ‘beans could fast sneak down into your throat and then into your stomach. That would be a waste of time and delicacy.”

According to Shen， the dark sleeper “beans” and pickled vegetable soup was once served at an important banquet. The rare fish flesh from dark sleepers was simply called “broad beans”. A look at the menu would not reveal what they really were. The delicacy is also mentioned in the written in 1792 by Yuan Mei， a poet and gourmet of the Qing Dynasty （1644-1911）.

Dark sleepers taste best in springtime. Unfortunately， dark sleepers are not as many as they once were in Jiangnan due to the disappearance of some of fishs breeding grounds since the 1960s.