Waiting is a necessary part of tasting food, and it is also the self-cultivation of a qualified gourmet.
To hold on to the worm, to stick to a heart to eat, to survive the Mid-Autumn Festival, to survive the National Day - the fattest hairy crab, and the people who are persistently waiting for it, finally ushered in the most solemn meeting of the year.
People who are well versed in crab eating know that the tip of the full navel of September is the fullest yellow of the female crab in September of the lunar calendar, and the male crab cream in October of the lunar calendar is the most sufficient. The hairy crabs that were hurriedly met before the Mid-Autumn Festival were slightly worse, and I bought a few to eat, but it was just a chat to comfort. The one who can really solve the pain of lovesickness is the hairy crab before and after Chongyang, which is the generous gift of autumn and the delicacy worthy of the expectation of fist and fist.
For friends who love crabs in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai, this is almost something that does not need to be particularly remembered, and at this time, the stomach automatically makes calculations. Steamed, drunk, coarse salted, fried rice cakes, eighteen kinds of cooking, around this crab all used once, autumn worries are counted but complete.
I once heard a story that a Shanghainese immigrated overseas early, and as long as there were no accidents, every October, the father would always return to China.
After arriving in Shanghai, go straight to the seafood restaurant that has been agreed upon, and get a box of hairy crabs that have just been fished from the lake and are still spitting bubbles in the "bar da ba da". Taking advantage of the strong firepower, I asked the owner to help steam until it was half cooked, and then put it into a lunch box with a stew function one by one, hugged to the airport, took the fastest direct flight from Shanghai, after a few hours of flight, and waited for the customs before the crab was just fully cooked.
So smoothly entered the customs, quickly drove home, the family of old and young people have already set the table, just waiting for this crab to arrive, the crab feast will begin immediately.
When chatting with friends about this story, I can't help but sigh that the hairy crabs in autumn are the veins of Shanghainese, and they can't eat the crabs of Yangcheng Lake, and autumn seems to have no taste at all.
Taiwanese writer Ren Xiang also wrote in "Heirloom" that Shanghainese rarely eat crabs in Taiwan.
At that time, hairy crabs could not be legally imported into Taipei, so they had to wait for acquaintances to bring them from Hong Kong or entrust them to auction them from customs. Every time she ordered crabs, Ren Xiang's mother would solemnly go to the vegetable market to buy vegetables, and come back in the evening to hold a rich crab feast, inviting relatives and friends to share this flavor of autumn freshness.
After the crabs arrived, there was naturally some busyness. Prepare a bunch of condiments, put on a small bowl for washing hands, a pot for warm wine, a small cup for drinking wine, a small embroidered bib for eating crabs... The same, like running a family wine, let ren Xiang's heart flutter when he was a child.
When the crabs are on the table, the mother will choose one by one, and be sure to give the cream to the guests. When everyone is finished, there will be a busy intermission, the host will put away the plastic sheet full of crab shells, and the guests will take turns to go to the bathroom, wash their hands with toothpaste, the lady will make up makeup, and when she returns, the various soup noodles and side dishes prepared by the mother have been filled on the table.
"Thank you so much for this crab", for Ren Xiang, without the hairy crabs of this autumn, she would not have been able to experience the warmth of people from all over the world gathering in a foreign land, nor would she know the memory of the old garden, which could be so deep and tight.
And the mother's "solemnity" is more suitable for the hometown than for the crab. People go far, easily blur where they come from, and the taste buds are always faithfully concerned about the place where they grew up.
No matter where you go, no matter where you are, in the autumn, you will miss the taste of a crab, you will run for this crab, this is not trouble, this is steadfast.
Interestingly, friends listened to the story of this Shanghainese family, just clapped their hands and sighed, but no one felt that it was exaggerated and unbelievable. It seems that the same mind, spent on other foods, will seem a little bit of a fuss, but if it is a good crab, there seems to be nothing incomprehensible - that is a hairy crab, no matter how exquisite it is.
This exquisiteness begins with the first step of picking crabs.
Veteran "foodie" Su Dongpo was degraded to Wudi, after discovering the delicious yangcheng lake crab, the elegant team that followed his steps can now circle the earth three times, and every year the northwest wind is tight, and the people who run to Suzhou to eat crabs can wrap the palm-sized water surface tightly and imperviously, and every mouth must eat authentic Yangcheng lake crabs.
But people who can eat crabs know that if you want to eat crabs well, it is indispensable to be convenient at all times and places, and it is not enough to surround Yangcheng Lake. To be able to infer from the amount of summer rain this year's crab fat is not fat, when to buy the best; to find a high-quality production area, do not have to be stuck in Yangcheng Lake; have to pick, pick golden hair sharp claws, a big belly white, crab feet strong, the spirit is very strong, eat up to be happy.
The crab is bought home, and the next step is to cook.
Good crab does not need to be so complicated to cook - "the world tastes good, the profit is in the lonely way", which is tailor-made for crabs. Literati Li Yu is firmly "steaming crabs", just like the sun does not need torches to illuminate, the river does not need a bunch of water to moisturize, a fat crab, in terms of color and fragrance has been perfected to the extreme, if you put other condiments and side dishes together to fry, you are trampling it in a different way, you are "deflating it, disfiguring it"!
Steamed crabs, steam a few, eat a few, eat while hot. You don't have to work for others, it's best to do it yourself. Eat the crab yourself, peel one, eat one, break a fish, eat a fish, let the crab meat just peel off the crab shell, immediately into the mouth, the gas and taste are not leaked, only to treat the crab well.
Pay attention to people's crab feasts, the same is true. A reasonable, meticulous master will always control the overall situation in an inconspicuous place: steamed crab first, take one to eat according to the head, eat the vegetables after eating, wait for the dish to taste almost, and then bring a plate of cut drunken crabs, people who are not full, can mix the condensed crab yellow into the warm rice to give the crab feast a good ending, and those who have almost eaten enough, and then touch half a drunken crab alone, there is no pressure, happy very much.
However, to eat crabs, it must be that each family has its own exquisiteness, there is no conclusion, the only thing that can be determined may be "Chinese pair of crabs, since ancient times there has been attachment and preference."
Although it looks fierce and evil, wielding two large jaws, it is not a good stubble in any way, but we can dig out irreplaceable freshness from this hard shell and enjoy the pleasure of this meticulous tasting.
In addition, the ancient cooks who wrote recipes were not cooks, but all literati and gentlemen with sharp mouths. Crab is delicious, once in love, lyrical love is never ambiguous. As a result, a fierce son plunged into it, that is, the crab-eating culture of thousands of years, and the love for crabs has long been engraved in the DNA of Chinese and cannot be erased.
Having said all this, I haven't had time to ask the most important thing - this year's hairy crab, have you eaten it?
Two days ago, I went to a friend to rub two crabs to eat, and she called me on the phone: "Four males and four females, three female crabs, four male crabs, four two male crabs, just delivered in the morning, come quickly!" ”
Is there any reason not to go?
I grew up in the north, crab is a rare delicacy for me, but for friends who grew up in Jiangnan, it is more than that. The crab carries too many memories of her childhood, and now that she is alone in a foreign country, it is a grateful thing to be able to eat a crab beautifully in the autumn.
She has loved to eat crabs from a very young age, especially crab leg meat, every time she eats crabs at home, adults have to take turns to help her peel crab legs, and when she can't catch up, she cries in a hurry.
When I grew up, I went to school and began to peel crabs to eat on my own — I never felt strenuous, and even loved it.
Children always want to eat longer the better, can look at the TV a few times, no matter what the performance, it is definitely more interesting than writing homework, and eating crab is the most reasonable reason to lengthen the meal time.
Eat slowly, leg by leg, nibble carefully, and break the shell back after nibbling, and in the long run, I have practiced the unique job of being able to eat crabs inside and out without any tools.
Later, her friend left home to work in the north, and for a few years, she could not catch up with the best crab, so her mother made pickled crabs using the family method to send them to her. When I think of pickled crabs waiting in the refrigerator at home, I feel that life is difficult to survive.
The relationship between the friend and her father has not been very close, every time she comes home, her father asks her what she wants to eat, she only replies with two words: "casual", only to come home in the autumn, she will return one more word: "want to eat crab".
And her father will also send a few long voices: "I said hello to the boss, we will go to get it when you get home, we will keep the strongest, how do you want to eat?" The family has just pickled drunken crabs, and you can eat them when you come back..."
She wanted to say "thank you" back to her father, but she couldn't say it, and finally she just said, "It's all good, let's go back and talk about it." ”
As I listened to her talk about these past events, I suddenly felt that we might be more dependent on food than we thought.
In addition to solving the problem of food and clothing, in addition to the appetite for food and stomach, there is a deeper link, that is, our DNA, the stubborn "habit" that grows in the body, a solid bond. And the more expensive and rare the food, the tighter the bondage, and the more "dominant" this gene is.
Golden gui yellow when rainy, chrysanthemums when crab, at this moment, Jiangnan crab fat is just in time.
I hope that this time, my friend can borrow this crab and say the words that have not been spoken - thank you Nong.