The smell of snails

Author: Chen Rongli

In the jiangnan water town of rivers and lakes, there is a common aquarium, although it is not amazing, but it is famous, that is, as old as fossils, in people's tongues and hearts of snails.

"The tuk-conch has been drunk, and the robbers will not let him go when he sees it." Describe the delicacy of the snail, which is the most impressive. Shanghai's "Xinmin Evening News" once published a social news: a thief sneaked into a family to steal, after winning the hand was about to slip away, inadvertently glimpsed a bowl of sauce on the table with a bowl of sauce popping snails, did not hold back, sat down one by one, and was caught by the owner who came home from work.

The delicacy of the snail is due to the fact that the snail perennially inhabits the rivers and lakes with slow water flow and abundant bait, and the crude protein content of the snail meat is as high as 55%; the second is that the snail has been raised in the water before the snail is put into the pot, which is a living "small fresh meat"; the third is that the snail does not open its shell even in the cooking process, which can maintain the original state of the meat delicious and tight.

The variety of cooking methods is the icing on the cake. "There are many viewers in the red curtain, and the beauty sits on the double moth. The broken bottle is drunk like water, and the white bamboo shoots and green snails on the plate are also green. In addition to Zeng Gong's "white bamboo shoots and green snails", braised, sauce bursting, steaming, drunken snails, bad snails, snail meat fried leeks, snail meat steamed sweet sauce, etc., are all common practices in the people's kitchen.

"Qingming snail fat like a goose", the best time to eat snails is around the Time of Qingming. The snails that have been dormant under the water for a winter have long been awakened and are foraging around, and the rain before and after the Qingming Dynasty not only enriches the microorganisms in the water, but also provides favorable conditions for the activity and growth of snails, so the snail meat that has been thin for a winter becomes particularly fat at this time. After a period of time after the Qingming Dynasty, the snail began to give birth to a small baby, generally no longer eaten, and "persuade the jun mo to fight three spring birds", which is the tacit agreement of the people in Jiangnan Water Town.

Temporary guests came to the house, wanted to drink a small glass of wine to reminisce about the past, so they took a washbasin, carried a bamboo basket, or squatted in the river port stone, or reached out to the ditch by the creek, or half an hour down the pond corner, and within half an hour, a large bowl of fat snails entered the house. There are also lazy people who are troublesome to touch the snails, take two bamboo pens and insert them in the small river behind the house, and pull them out after ten and a half days.

In Jiangnan Water Town, snails are not only a delicacy, but also a part of humanities and customs. Describe the place as cramped and cramped, a sentence "do the dojo in the shell of the snail", the same as "although the sparrow is small and complete", it is small, but the content is rich and complete; "the snail's ass can't sit still", which is an accurate portrait of the impatient; "three fingers pinch the snail", which is a firm and reliable image interpretation; "Qingming snail dragon shrimp, eating and climbing (crab) in the Chongyang season", is a foodie secret that is not bothered; "life is a bowl, cooked is a bowl; not eating is a bowl, eating or a bowl", which is both a nursery rhyme and the Zen meaning of the Buddhist language; "Life is a bowl, cooked is a bowl"; "Not eating is a bowl, eating or a bowl", which is both a nursery rhyme and a Zen meaning of the Buddhist language; " On the fifth or sixth floor of the small pagoda, the monk goes out and walks slowly, a fan is half covered, and when he hears people coming, he closes the door", so the picture, characters, and plot are complete, and the vivid and vivid riddle is undoubtedly the work of the riddle.

"The lake light and autumn colors are harmonious, and the pond surface is unpolished without goggles. Looking at the landscape of the cave garden, a green snail in the silver plate. Compared with Liu Yuxi's Qili and heroic, I prefer the romantic fireworks of Lun Wenshu: "Fried snails smell in the alley, envy the immortals under the dust." A small dish with a pastoral flavor is far better than a delicacy full of chen. "In my opinion, the snails that can be seen everywhere in Jiangnan Water Town are not only a delicacy on the tip of the tongue, but also a taste of life."

Guangming Daily (2021-04-30 15 edition)

Source: Guangming Network - Guangming Daily