Prose | Distant Mountains: Cold Night, there is you who can finally breathe

Text/Distant Mountain

Autumn from white dew to. Autumn is approaching, the harvest season, the breeze not only brings cool, but also fat hairy crabs. At this time of year, I buy some hairy crabs to make bald butter.

In my memory, I was the kind of child who didn't like to eat, my mother always held a bowl, looked at me viciously, put a feather duster next to me, mechanical feeding, spoon after spoon into my mouth... What kind of experience is this? This feeling is called: Your mother thinks you are hungry.

So, when I grew up, I didn't like to eat either. Until many years ago, by chance, I ate bald butter bibimbap. My liking for food exploded in an instant. I found out that it was not that I did not like to eat, but that I did not eat the meal I liked.

A spoonful of golden-red sauce, smeared on a rice as crystal clear as a white jade grain, spreads out warmly, which is a picture full of Chinese interest. The bald butter color is dark orange, similar to the hue of the wall of the Forbidden City, under the combination of white rice, orange red and pure white collide, the color is between the electric light and flint, instantly combined with a full sense of luxury, just like the harvest and joy of autumn are put into the bowl.

Bald butter, bald, pronounced similar to tēi, is an ancient Wu language, also a Suzhou dialect. The meaning of "only" or "unique". Butter, which refers to high purity, does not allow a trace of crab meat in it, so as to ensure its quality. It seems a lot like the emotions between men and women in eating, with exclusivity and purity.

White rice, bald butter, seemingly random combination, once eaten, you can understand Confucius said that "food is not tired of fine, not tired of fine" is a kind of can't help but be.

Steamed hairy crab, only crab yellow and crab paste, all carefully peeled off. Only freshly disassembled yellow and paste can be sweet and unfishy. Crush the hairy crab with crab yellow and crab paste, mix the appropriate amount of pork belly and green onion ginger, and simmer it slowly with vegetable oil for 6 hours to release the crab flavor and let the oil fully absorb the crab aroma. The residue is then filtered out, followed by the ancient tradition, and the fresh lard boiled in black pork plate oil is mixed into the freshly boiled crab oil.

Then stir-fry the crab yellow and crab paste. Don't think it's simple, not too broken, not too whole, popularly speaking, it is to be "sticky", so the important thing to stir fry is to pay special attention to skill. Add pepper and aged flower carving wine to taste and freshen. Add the chopped ginger, salt and a pinch of sugar. Simmer slowly until golden brown.

According to the "Mountain Family Offering", I soaked rice with white chrysanthemum flowers, and I used Thai koko, if there is no koko, the long-grain fragrant rice in the northeast is also very good. When steaming rice, mix it with warm water soaked in imperial chrysanthemums, so that the steamed rice has the clear air of chrysanthemums. The rice is blanched, the bowl is garnished with yellow chrysanthemums, the golden bald butter is drizzled at will, and the golden cream yellow covers it, and the entrance is plump and sweet. When the chopsticks are gently picked open, you can clearly feel the powder ghee of the crab paste. Next to it, it is accompanied by perilla and pickled ginger, and arranged in turn according to the favorite pattern, and the happiness that belongs to the golden autumn season immediately spreads from all sides.

The fragrance of the rice blends with the delicious crab delicacy, and the bright, yellow rice, bite after bite, can't bear to stop. It is like Su Hang, there is a kind of magic that makes people dream and die, and people can't help it. According to friends in Shanghai, a delicate bald butter bibimbap in Shanghai has been sold for more than 300 yuan a lamp.

The food culture of the celebrity class cannot be ignored is the sense of ceremony. Bald butter has been plump to the extreme, and what can match it is plain rice, tofu, etc., the weaker it is, the richer it is. It is complementary and a sublimation. Beauty can be seen everywhere, and the world is happy on the tip of the tongue, which is a kind of elegant taste of the literati.

Every year during the hairy crab harvest season, I make many jars of bald butter and seal them. After the season, you can still enjoy this delicious meal. The lard inside not only makes the bald butter taste smooth, but even if there is no refrigerator, it can also play a role in isolating and sealing the freshness. This allows you to enjoy the unseasonal delicacies when the crabs are not in season.

Its deliciousness, paired with any dull food, can make your taste buds blossom in an instant. A trip to the human world should be worth it, and you should be kind to yourself when you are alive. When the crab is in season, make more bald butter to preserve. On a small cold day when the air is frozen, a bowl of bald butter bibimbap at night is a beautiful thing for three winters.

Count nine cold winters, snow night closed door to pick the lamp night reading, palm lamp unveil bald butter a few spoonfuls, pour steaming white rice, comfort the body and mind, cold night can finally rest.

【About the Author】

Yuan Shan is a member of the Chinese Prose Literature Association, the Sichuan Provincial Prose Literature Association, the Chengdu Writers Association, and the Sichuan Poetry Association. The main focus is on prose, fiction and poetry. His works have been published in domestic publications at all levels (including online platforms), published a collection of "Rhymes of Time", and won a number of literary essay awards and artistic performance awards.

【"Huanhuaxi" Literary Column Call for Papers】

Welcome to submit pure literary works such as essays (including travelogues) and small novels, and poetry is not within the scope of the call for papers because the editorial department of the department organizes its own manuscripts. In principle, the number of words should not exceed 1500 words, and the title indicates "essay" or "travelogue" or "short novel". Works must be original debuts, exclusive submissions to the "Huanhuaxi" column, and plagiarism, multiple submissions per draft, and even more prohibitions for publicly published works to be submitted. Authors can attach their own profiles and photos to their manuscripts. Don't use attachments in the email, just send the text directly. Some of his works will be selected by the supplement of the West China Metropolis Daily "Wide and Narrow Alley". The author's information includes the bank card account name, detailed and accurate information of the bank and outlets, card number, ID card number, and telephone number. Submission mailbox: [email protected].

<b>[If you have a news thread, please report to us, once adopted, there is a fee reward.] Newspaper WeChat attention: ihxdsb, newspaper QQ: 3386405712].</b>