夏尝黄脚立

夏尝黄脚立

Kallen Guo

Senior filmmaker, socialite and bestselling author, authored Don't Fall in Love with Zurich, the winner of The Best Foreign Language Novel.

郭丹

资深影视人、名媛、畅销书作家。代表作包括最佳外语小说奖获得作品《别爱苏黎世》等。

smell its uncompetitive fl avour when the dish is still being made.

Wild yellowfi n seabream is said to be a very cunning fi sh. lt even knows how to eat the bait without swallowing the fi sh hook, which makes it so diffi cult to catch. Nevertheless, l don't recommend trying the frozen or the cultivated ones sold in the market. They usually taste muddy and rough. l once heard of Song's Store in Gupu Village, Hong Kong, which is famous for offering wild yellowfi n seabream to mountain climbers passing by. The moment l heard about this, l decided to go there in person, to buy the fi sh from this mysterious shopkeeper, whom is said to be a “senior epicure”. l went there twice, and each time it took me four hours to get there, but both times l returned empty handed. When l think of these two fruitless trips and the unrealized wish to taste the local wild fi sh, l can still feel the bitterness in my throat.

Gastronome Cai Lan and novelist Ni Kuang also have a special fondness for yellowfi n seabream. They keep a watchful eye on Lau Fau Mountain, and go there personally whenever they hear of newly caught batches of yellowfi n seabream. Cai Lan wrote in his article Yellowfi n Seabream:“One day, after eating, Ni Kuang praised yellowfi n seabream as being number 1 among all fi sh dishes, while red-spotted grouper is the second. Hearing this, Cai replied - to be second to yellowfi n seabream is an honour for red-spotted grouper. Ni laughed and said, it's just like comparing Novelists Jin Yong and Gu Long, who are both ranked as the top two, but there is a giant gap between them.”

到了夏天最热的时候，该吃黄脚立了——这个给世间带来纯粹的鲜甜鱼味儿，值得大篇幅赞美。

一般来说，一斤左右的黄脚立最美味，蒸到最佳的境界是最中间还有一丝儿连骨的肉，那入口堪称完美，肉质鲜嫩，香气四溢。

我对黄脚立有个情结。这得从吃石斑说起。石斑是香港宴客一定会叫的鱼，一桌上没条斑，好像都不算个体面局子。有段时间，我以为这个是香港最好吃的海鲜，就隔三岔五地往家买斑在外吃斑，东星西星老鼠斑，瓜子燕子芝麻斑，通通吃了一遍，手机里还有个“斑log”，记着几月几日吃了什么斑口感咋样味道好不好。斑么，肉质细滑，但好像吃来吃去都没有“老子啊，神仙吃的！”那种感叹。直到有天我偶遇一文，就说“识食”就要吃野生黄脚立，一条好鱼，蒸时在客厅都能闻到香味。

黄脚立，就是黄鳍鲷鱼，据说野生的特别狡猾，经常咬着鱼饵但不吞钩，特别难钓。街市卖的一般都是冰冻养殖，一股泥味，肉质粗糙，不吃也罢。后来听说香港有家“松记士多”，在谷埔村，地处偏远却特受欢迎，就因为老板是个老饕，经常能有野生黄脚立提供给行山客。我当时一听乐了，必须得亲自去感受感受，于是在鲷鱼当造时，花4个多小时，从港岛跋山涉水去过两次，但都无功而返，至今仍有些遗憾。

据说蔡澜和倪匡也特别爱吃黄脚立，每每听闻流浮山有野钓好货，就飞奔而去。蔡澜在一篇叫《黄脚》的文章里写道：倪匡有次吃完，赞说“黄脚第一，红斑第二”，蔡答“能做第二，已算很好”，倪大笑，说这第一和第二，跟金庸古龙一样，差十万八千里呢。