秋日話蟹 鮮美浮現(xiàn)

王寒

螃蟹渾身披甲，面目猙獰，長得像夜叉，但恁地一身嫩肉卻惹人愛煞。

蟹是人間的至味，誰說不是呢？咱的口福真好啊，一年到頭，菜場上都有各種蟹賣，有什么梭子蟹、青蟹、大閘蟹、田蟹、巖頭蟹（三眼蟹）、沙蟹等等，甚至還有棺材蟹——我們這里的人，把沙蟹中的“紅鉗頭”稱為棺材蟹，大概是取其身材像棺材板之意。早些年，梭子蟹名聲在外，近年來，青蟹成了蟹中的名角兒，被譽為海蟹之王。寧波、舟山、臺州的梭子蟹都很出名，但青蟹則以臺州的三門為最。一說到青蟹，三門人往往口出狂言，搬出明代才子祝枝山的“真乃天下第一蟹也”這句話。這樣，三門青蟹幾成了三門的形象代言蟹，車子一到三門境，大凡眼尖的人都會看到路邊豎著的巨大廣告牌，上面寫著駭人的一句話：三門青蟹橫行天下！三門青蟹的產(chǎn)量占全國五分之一，三門人當然有理由口出狂言，傲視群蟹。

誰是第一個吃螃蟹的人已無從考證，魯迅先生把第一個吃螃蟹的人封為勇士是有道理的，因為螃蟹面目可憎，玉環(huán)人就把螃蟹叫作“唧唧鬼”，言其兇惡。宋沈括在《夢溪筆談》里記載：“關(guān)中無螃蟹，怖其惡，以為怪物。人家每有病瘧者，則借去懸門戶?！标P(guān)中人把螃蟹掛在門上驅(qū)邪，沈括戲謔道：“不但人不識，鬼也不識也。”不但關(guān)中如此，在江南，螃蟹曾被稱為“夾人蟲”，披堅執(zhí)銳橫行田中，糟蹋稻物，百姓叫苦不迭，急得對螃蟹哭拜，后來清官海瑞帶頭燒煮“夾人蟲”吃，“民亦競相捕食”，一吃而不可收。

不知從何時起，這“唧唧鬼”“夾人蟲”被文人上升到“生平獨此求”的高度：“予于飲食之美，無一物不能言之，且無一物不窮其想象，竭其幽渺而言之，獨于蟹螯一物，終其身皆不能忘之……至其可嗜可甘與不可忘之故，則絕口不能形容?！闭f到螃蟹，連李漁他老人家都嫌詞窮了。他把買蟹的錢稱為買命錢：“予嗜此一生，每歲于蟹未出時，即儲錢以待，因家人笑予以蟹為命，即自呼其錢為買命錢?！笨磥砝顫O他老人家是惜命的，只是看到螃蟹就不要命了。

螃蟹生前橫行霸道，但死于非命后卻極盡哀榮，“食過螃蟹有菜無味”，做蟹做到這份上也算功德圓滿了。歷代文人詠嘆螃蟹詩無數(shù)，而廚子們對付螃蟹的方法更多，蒸焗煎炒，往往能弄出個七七八八。周作人感嘆螃蟹無頭無頸只能腰斬，或是囫圇蒸煮，認為這是一種非刑，但無從改良。

關(guān)于蟹饌，各地都有高招，廣東有潮式凍花蟹，京菜里有芙蓉蟹黃，四川有香辣蟹，杭幫菜里有蟹釀橙，臺州有年糕炒蟹之類，林林總總不下五十種。

除此之外，一些大酒店還推出魚翅牛油焗珍寶蟹、蟹黃魚翅、XO醬蒸蟹之類，我頗不以為然。螃蟹是至味，何必加魚翅畫蛇添足;同樣，蒸蟹用花雕已極盡鮮美，難道用了XO螃蟹身價就更高？大酒店里做菜喜歡化簡為繁，像漢賦和駢文，極盡辭藻華麗之能事。

蟹饌里的香辣蟹曾經(jīng)在許多城市風靡一時，我以為是暴殄天物，在辣味的猛烈進攻下，螃蟹的元氣大傷。

我在上海的城隍廟吃過蟹粉小籠和蟹黃燒賣，一星星的蟹肉混合了少許肉餡，打著蟹粉、蟹黃的牌子，像名家作序題簽的三流作家的作品。據(jù)說還有人拿蝦蛄的黃冒充蟹黃。在西安吃餃子宴時，我也品嘗過蟹黃餃子，味道甚至比不上白菜豬肉餃。

青蟹的學名叫鋸緣青蟹，有些地方叫它蝤蠓。剛工作不久，去飯店點菜，我還鬧了個笑話：菜單上有道蝤蛑炒糕，我鬧不清蝤蠓是什么，遂問服務員，服務員白了我一眼，說蝤蠓就是青蟹唄。我只能怪自己道行還不深，連青蟹就是蝤蠓，蝤蠓就是青蟹都不知。

芙蓉蝤蠓是我們臺州的名菜，以蝤蠓、雞蛋、青菜，加雞湯、紹酒及調(diào)料烹成，色香味俱全。當?shù)厝艘朁S酒烹對蟹為大補——對蟹就是青蟹交配季節(jié)，雄蟹伏在雌蟹背上時被捕捉的一對鴛鴦蟹，把這對鴛鴦蟹用黃酒烹食，據(jù)說能治虛補腎。

青蟹湯面也是鮮美無比，選上等三門青蟹（別的什么蟹都燒不出這個味），將其腰斬，裹上淀粉，放油鍋里過一下，然后待水滾時放入手打面和天蘿絲。一碗面，有紅有綠有白，其鮮無比，蟹味跑入面條，味道遠甚于螃蟹炒年糕。

在新榮記飯店吃過一道菜，叫蟹肉粉絲煲，我覺得它的“藝名”應該叫“銀須將軍”，螃蟹橫行，有將軍的霸氣，而粉絲白而細長，如將軍之銀須。“銀須將軍”里的“銀須”味道鮮美無比，它將蟹的鮮味全盤吸收，而且極為爽滑軟嫩。

五月，蟹籽上市，餐桌上又多了一道蟹籽炒咸菜。蟹籽粒粒飽滿，入口有沙沙的感覺，甚是爽脆。溫嶺人很好這一口。

海邊人做幾個蟹菜不在話下，但山里人不太會燒蟹。外子是山里人，某日同學送他一箱青蟹，他一股腦兒扔進鍋里，來了個一窩端。切開后，見不熟，便將螃蟹腰斬了重新煮過，弄得蟹黃滿鍋橫流，燒落的蟹腳到處都是，我看了，痛心疾首，這簡直是暴殄天物啊。

青蟹、湖蟹味美，但價格不低。有些人嗜蟹，但出不起這個價，就拿溪坑蟹和蟛蜞下酒。溪坑蟹和蟛蜞不是稀罕物，小時候到溪坑里玩水，翻開石頭底，多半能找到溪坑蟹，豎著兩只圓眼瞪人。有時玩著玩著，冷不防腳丫子就被溪坑蟹夾住了，拼命甩也甩不脫。前些年，我還帶著孩子到靈江邊的灘涂上捉蟛蜞，退潮后的灘涂上，蟛蜞到處亂爬。螃蟹大多橫行，因而被人們稱為“橫行介士”。黃昏時候，幾乎所有的蟛蜞都傾穴而出，三五成群，自得其樂地橫爬著，那雙潛望鏡似的眼睛，總是警惕地向四周張望，稍有響動，就遁入洞里。

灘涂上的蟛蜞密密麻麻，手一伸，蟛蜞就被捉住了，把它放到玻璃瓶里，看著它吐著泡泡，怪有意思的。那些買不起上好螃蟹又想解饞的人，便將蟛蜞糊上面芡，下到油鍋里炸了來咀嚼，據(jù)說味道不錯。作家阿成說它“小球球一樣，可以一吃一口，吃在嘴里香香的，脆脆的，如同古怪的小吃、美妙的糖丸”。夏天的晚上到望江門散步，江邊人家把桌椅搬出悶熱的老屋，在露天下吃晚餐，桌上往往有一碟子蟛蜞當下酒菜。不過我總覺得，蟛蜞比大衣紐扣大不了多少，似乎沒多少肉可供咀嚼的。除了油炸，有人還將它腌了過飯。

到寧波、舟山、溫州等地出差，常能吃到醉槍蟹。醉槍蟹是用糯米酒、鹽、糖、姜、蔥、花椒、八角、茴香等腌制而成的，吃時極為清爽，但很多人不敢吃，怕壞了肚子。我還吃過蟹醬，咸極。二千多年前的《周禮》中就載有“蟹胥”，據(jù)說就是螃蟹醬，不知寧波的蟹醬是否師出其中？

The crab looks hideous and ferocious. Some people in China even go so far as to compare it to Yaksha， the malevolent spirit in Buddhism. But it is a yummy delicacy especially in Zhejiang. Some gourmets even go so far as to say crabs are the best flavor in the world. Fortunately in Sanmen in eastern Zhejiang where I live， various kinds of crabs are available in food markets all the year round.?

In the past， the swimming crab （portunid） was the most favorite of gourmets. It is now replaced by the mud crab （scylla serrata）. Some diners even claim the mud crab is the king of sea crabs. Sanmen is celebrated for the best mud crab in Zhejiang. The residents of Sanmen are so proud of the mud crab that they sometimes arrogantly quote Zhu Zhishan （1461-1527）， a celebrated scholar of the Mind Dynasty who presumably said the mud crab of Sanmen was the best delicacy under the sun. The mud crab is the very call card of Sanmen. Outsiders approaching Sanmen by car are often amazed by the sheer conceit of some local people who trumpet in roadside billboards that the mud crabs of Sanmen run crabwise amuck in the world. The local people have the right to be proud： 20% of the countrys mud crabs are produced in Sanmen.

It would be impossible to determine who first tried the crab as food. Lu Xun （1881-1936）， presumably Chinas greatest writer of the 20th century， conjectured that the first one who ate a crab must have been a hero. The statement is reasonable enough. Who would have thought of putting such a hideous creature into the mouth？ In the dialect of Yuhuan in southern Zhejiang， the crab is called a ghost. Shen Kuo （1031-1095）， a scientist of the Song Dynasty， noted in his ?that the people in Guanzhong considered the crab horrendous and hang it on the door to exorcise the evil when someone at home fell ill. Shen joked that people didnt know what it was and believed even the ghosts didnt know what it was. In Jiangnan， crabs used to flourish in rice paddies and farmers hated them for their fierce pincers hurting farmers feet. It is said that Hai Rui， a honest government official of the Qing Dynasty， demonstrated that the crabs could be food and people followed his example. It was in the Ming Dynasty （1358-1644） that the literati favored crabs as the best delicacy in the world. Li Yu （1611-1680）， a playwright of the Qing Dynasty （1644-1911）， liked the delicacy so much that he saved money all the year round to enjoy as many as crabs in the autumn. In the past， scholars wrote so many poems about the delicacy and invented numerous recipes. In modern times， chefs across the country have cooked crabs in more innovative ways. It is estimated that there are about 50 ways to prepare crabs in the most elaborate ways in regional cuisines across the country. Some top-class restaurants even go so far as to cook crabs with western ingredients such as butter and brandy， which in my opinion is redundant. And I abhor the hot and spicy crab， a dish that was popular for a while in some cities. I dont think it is right to allow strong seasonings to destroy the original flavor of crabs.

The mud crabs are expensive. Some people turn to smaller creek crabs and amphibious crabs on the mudflat. These mini crabs are as large as a buttons. Some people wrap them in flour and fry them. Some just pickle them. Local people have their memories of how they waded into a creek and searched for creek crabs and how they saw and tried to catch numerous amphibious crabs on a mudflat after the river was at low ebb.

In coastal cities such as Ningbo， Wenzhou and Zhoushan in Zhejiang， diners like the crabs pickled in wine. In Ningbo， the crab paste， extremely salty， is a also delicacy favored by many gourmets for breakfast.