A few days ago, my old friend sent an appointment to write about the food of a generation, and after gladly accepting the order, he hesitated to write. The rest of his life is also late, compared to the predecessors who have experienced what people did in the past, naturally they can't think of those scenes of green curtains selling wine and selling flowers on the red sun. The rest of my life is also early, and it is not as good as the children of the current eighteen or nineteen, playing small is like living in a honeypot, changing the fa'er to make life more exciting. I had to recognize my own small age, not embarrassing situation, facing a pool of ink, a few inches of lights, writing something I had eaten, seen, heard, grateful for the moment, nostalgic for the past.
I remember when I first arrived in Jiangnan, what I couldn't forget in my heart was the vinegar fish of the West Lake, that is, Yu Pingbo's "pouring vinegar to cook fresh with ice, milk lettuce Xincui does not need oil", is Liang Shiqiu's "West Lake Words" "sour favorite silver knife fish, river carp and river bream is always inferior", is the Qing people Duanmu picking "early pour vinegar to beat ginger, cooking wine, people drunk on the bottom of the canopy", but also buried in the bottom of the heart is reluctant to confess, "The Legend of the New White Lady" Xu Jiaorong mouth Shilin's favorite home-cooked side dish. Ancient or modern, elegant or vulgar, where mentioned always reminiscent of many legends and anecdotes, a warm and lustrous.
So I looked for a small shop by the lake, called the boss lady to call the back kitchen to do it, the boss lady is also of just the right age, sunny and beautiful, the mouth is well-behaved, taking advantage of the afternoon diners are not many, while choosing dishes there is a ride without a ride to say some gossip. The raw material of West Lake vinegar fish is grass carp in the lake, and in recent years, some famous shops have cooked it with cinnamon fish, but the West Lake really does not produce cinnamon fish. After choosing the fish, it is best to use the lake water to starve for two days, so that it spits out the dirty sediment in the body, so that there is no earthy smell when eaten. Grass carp is about a pound and a half is appropriate, the body from beginning to end to just scratch seven and a half knives, compared to other vinegar fish or fire frying, or steaming on the shelf, West Lake vinegar fish is boiled with water, boiling water boiled in Hangzhou dialect is used to call "汆", this word to get a real image, the fish that has just been cut knife into the boiling water, sometimes the fish touch tells you that this dish is not good or not. Just like the fins of a fish submerged in the water, it is often like a little fluttering its wings.
Cook the fish to test the cook's kung fu, the boss lady said to be just right, the heat is not enough for the fish to be broken, after a long time, the meat is mushy, and even before it is taken out, it is crushed in the pot. The vinegar sauce of the fish should be used in Jiangnan's own rice vinegar, so that the acetic acid cannot cover the umami taste of the fish itself. After listening to It, Yu also deeply agreed, telling Yi yashe that the juice should not be too much, nor thick, nor oily, light and light, slightly transparent, can be sprinkled with ginger, not shredded onions, especially can not add sugar. The lady boss laughed and said that it was an old-fashioned way of eating, not to mention that foreigners, in today's Hangzhou locals are afraid and determined not to like to eat like this.
Tasting the West Lake vinegar fish, the painter Mr. Cao Gonghua has a text that is particularly wonderful: "Eat the West Lake vinegar fish, the moment your chopsticks are clamped, a sense of touch is transmitted from the body of the fish to your fingertips." This sense of touch tells you that this dish is well cooked. Just like watching a calligraphy, through those rapid lines and strokes, you restore the strength of the original brush running on the paper, that is, the silk of the sheep and the rice paper, that is the entanglement of the rice paper and the sheep. "For the rest of his life in the fireworks world, his understanding and talent are also mediocre, so he can only appreciate the realm of Mr. Cao, but he is not exempt from the vulgarity after all, whether it is good or not to eat it or not to know it." Lifting, pinching, taking in, percussing lips and teeth, and moving smoothly and happily are worthy of the atmosphere of eating such a dish. That time the fish did really well, a gentle sip, first sour, to fresh, to tender, and finally there is a hint of salty sweet, light and palatable, the taste is lovely, eager to remember the poems will come out of the brain, where the interest is, and more to the altar of yellow wine, self-drinking, do not know the fish taste is long, the wine taste is long, the poetry is long, the years are long.
Later, I went around, and in the book I read the story of "uncle and sister-in-law passing on the fish", according to legend, there is a brother by the West Lake, because of too much greed for sister-in-law beauty, forced to die brother, robbed the night before the kiss, sister-in-law and uncle to meet and flee, on the occasion of parting, sister-in-law cooked this fish, warned the uncle that life is sour and sweet, but I hope that after the sour time to think about the sweet, sweet time do not forget the sour time. Later, the uncle took the meritorious name, on the way home, he met a small restaurant, casually ordered a fish and ate the taste of the year, called the kitchen lady to see, it was really the sister-in-law, so the uncle and sister-in-law reunited, returned to Hangzhou, a punishment for evil and good, not to mention. Although the plot is old-fashioned, Yu is very fond of it. And then to stay in Hangzhou, it is two years later, looking for the old dream to return to the place where the fish was eaten, has changed the façade, the service in the store is very standardized, the environment is elegant, the dish is also fast, but the fish is not as good as before, the juice is used to use aged vinegar, it seems to have added a lot of sugar. Pretending to be a tourist to ask the waiter, the girl who served the service laughed and said that the sweet and sour fish is relatively light, the taste of the West Lake vinegar fish should be heavier, and it should reflect the sour taste, and the general aged vinegar should be put in the double portion of sugar.
Think about it, compared with earlier, the cost of living is getting higher and higher, the acid nature in ordinary days is more than sweet, but so the West Lake vinegar fish is only left with the story, Yu did not catch up with the calm and tranquility of the old people, and did not like the enthusiasm of the current people, usually rarely eat the West Lake vinegar fish.