孫為剛
筆者30歲之前住在一個內(nèi)陸縣城,對海里的東西知之甚少。幸好當時廠里有一撥兒煙臺知青,他們經(jīng)常帶來海的信息。一次吃午飯時,一煙臺工友把飯盒遞到我面前,讓我吃他從家里帶來的魚。我問他:“這是什么魚?”他操著濃濃的煙臺腔兒答道:“扒皮狼!”我心里一愣,明明是魚,怎么叫成了狼?
幾年后,我奉調(diào)定居煙臺,幾乎天天見海,隔三岔五地去魚市,終于見到了這種被稱為扒皮狼的魚。
扒皮狼學名為“綠鰭馬面鲀”,屬鲀形目、革鲀科。扒皮狼只是“馬面鲀”諸多外號中的一個。生物學物種命名法中,有一個概念叫作模式產(chǎn)地,是指對物種定名的時候,用來定名的原始標本產(chǎn)地。馬面鲀生物學定名的模式產(chǎn)地就是煙臺。可見扒皮狼與煙臺的淵源深厚。
馬面鲀還有許多別稱和外號。因為頭部長得像馬臉,所以得名“馬面魚”。因為整張魚皮可以從頭部到尾剝下來,所以又稱“剝皮魚”“皮匠魚”,煙臺人則稱之為“扒皮狼”。因為魚皮表面粗糙得像砂布,又稱橡皮魚。因為噘著圓圓的小嘴,尖嘴猴腮的,也有人稱之為“猴魚”??傊瞧だ堑膶W名和外號皆因其長相丑陋和古怪而得名,充滿了人們對它的蔑視或鄙視。
除了相貌丑陋古怪,扒皮狼的身上還長著又硬又尖的刺,其中不乏倒刺,掛在網(wǎng)上很難摘,買回家收拾時不小心就被刺得手破血流。所以,在那個水產(chǎn)品還算豐富的年代,扒皮狼是很不受人待見的魚。漁民出海打魚,碰到網(wǎng)上掛著扒皮狼,數(shù)量少的時候,就從網(wǎng)上摘下來,直接扔到了海里,都懶得吃它。有時打得多了,上岸后干脆挖個坑兒,漚作肥料。
按說一種魚混到這個份兒上,也真夠可憐的。誰也沒想到,三十年河東,三十年河西,隨著海里能打上來的東西越來越少,飽受詬病、遭人白眼的扒皮狼也來了個咸魚大翻身。正應了那句俗話:“人不可貌相”,魚也不可貌相。盡管扒皮狼相貌丑陋,盡管人們對扒皮狼存在著鄙視與偏見,但這絲毫不影響扒皮狼自身的價值。20世紀70年代后,隨著漁業(yè)資源的匱乏,扒皮狼的地位迅速上升,許多漁業(yè)公司大量開發(fā)這一新興資源,對產(chǎn)品進行深加工。渾身是寶的扒皮狼也不負眾望。魚肉加上配料深加工,制成小包裝食品,魚骨做成魚排罐頭,頭、皮、內(nèi)臟加工為魚粉,全身上下沒有浪費的地方。長相丑陋、魚皮又糙又厚的扒皮狼從此身價倍增,且走進千家萬戶,產(chǎn)生了較大的經(jīng)濟效益,成為許多海洋漁業(yè)公司的看家魚。此事一度成為海洋漁業(yè)的一大新聞。
更讓人始料未及的是,20世紀60年代前幾乎無人問津的扒皮狼,如今更是身價大增,市場上個頭小的也要二三十元一斤,稍大一些的都要五六十元甚至更高,價格令人咂舌。
扒皮狼是一種溫水性近底層魚類,主要分布在中國的黃海、渤海、東海、南海海域以及日本和朝鮮的沿海,高峰時年產(chǎn)量可達25萬噸左右,是中國位居第二的海洋經(jīng)濟魚類。我們家門口的這片海就是扒皮狼的盛產(chǎn)之地,要不怎么會成為扒皮狼的模式產(chǎn)地呢。
除了數(shù)量大,扒皮狼的營養(yǎng)和口味也毫不遜色。它魚肉潔白,蛋白質和維生素含量豐富,而脂肪的含量卻很低,這很符合現(xiàn)代人對食物低脂肪高蛋白的需求。扒皮狼的肉質細嫩沒有腥味,比較適合清蒸。如果你嫌味道清淡,也可添加豆豉、醬油、姜絲、蒜蓉等作料,家常燉、煮、燜。除此之外,干煎、油炸、紅燒、醋熘、醬燜等,任你各種烹飪手段都能派上用場。扒皮狼魚肉纖維較長,比較適合燒烤,隨著微波爐、烤箱之類廚房家電的普及,將扒皮狼收拾干凈,用調(diào)料腌制后放進微波爐或烤箱,幾分鐘或十幾分鐘后,一盤色、香、味、形俱佳的美味便會呈現(xiàn)在你的面前。如果你覺得這些做法還不合你意,因為扒皮狼的肉味比較清淡,做一道清淡可口的魚湯也是不錯的選擇。
Living in a small town in an inland county before the age of 30, I knew very little about things in the sea. Fortunately, in my factory there were some school graduates from Yantai who often brought information about the sea. One day, one of them handed me a lunch box and asked me to eat the fish he brought from home. I asked him, “What kind of fish is this?” He replied with a thick Yantai accent, “Bapilang”, which means “skinned wolf”. I was stunned. It was clearly a kind of fish, but why it was called a wolf?
A few years later, I settled in Yantai because of the transfer at work. From then on, I could see the sea almost every day and go to the fish market every now and then. Finally, I saw this kind of fish called “skinned wolf”.
The scientific name of the skinned wolf is Navodon septentrionalis, which belongs to the order of tetraodontiformes and the family of aluteridae. It has many nicknames and “skinned wolf” is only one of them. In the biological species naming system, there is a concept called pattern locality, which means naming a species with the locality of the original specimen. According to this system, the locality of its biological naming pattern is Yantai. Thus, it can be seen that there is a close relationship between “skinned wolf” and Yantai.