风过悬肉掩梅香

三川

兰溪风肉是个地理名称。就像东阳蒋腿、浦江戌腿是金华火腿的珍品一样，“转轮岩”风肉亦是兰溪风肉中的翘楚。

金华人颇有口福。撇开地理环境、物价指数、交通物流等宜居条件不论，光丰富的肉食就让人垂涎不已：焐肉、风肉、出缸肉……

焐肉，多以金华两头乌焖制，油而不腻，哪个不爱？出缸肉来自“博士之乡”东阳，油亮咸鲜，配饭下酒俱佳。而风肉则是兰溪特产，声名虽不及焐肉、出缸肉响亮，颜值却颇高。在我的眼里，风肉肌红脂白，纹理鲜明，颤悠悠地悬挂在青瓦檐头，窗前阁口，美得就像一幅唯美油画。

关于风肉的江湖传说

兰溪风肉是个带地理名称的特产。就像东阳蒋腿是金华火腿中的珍品一样，“转轮岩”风肉则是兰溪风肉中的翘楚。

转轮岩乃金华山余脉，山不高峻，也无奇秀，然顶若旋盘，山风掠过，呼呼有声，故名转轮岩。

转轮岩虽说籍籍无名，但这个以山命名的风肉却是浙江省知名品牌，其生产工艺已被列入省级非物质文化遗产名录。为了避嫌，姑且隐去一些基本元素，但仍绕不开兰溪风肉第五代传人陈道响。

听陈道响说，“转轮岩”风肉在南北朝时便已出现，俗称“干肉”，雅名“风肉”则出于兰溪乡贤舒元舆之口。

舒元舆（791～835年），字升远，唐东阳郡兰溪纯孝乡人，官至宰相，著有《舒元舆集》等，曾与白居易互为唱和，有作品收录于《全唐诗》，名句“宝剑锋从磨砺出”便出自其手。

在兰溪能被称作乡贤的，皆非泛泛之辈，诸如贯休、李渔、赵一荻等等。据坊间传闻，朱元璋与兰溪亦颇有渊源。元末，朱元璋战败后逃至转轮岩，有幸尝到了当地名产风肉。明朝开元不久，朱元璋便按图索骥，将转轮岩风肉封为贡品。百十年之后，朱元璋第八代孙朱厚照游历兰溪，亲见先祖爱吃的兰溪风肉，情不自禁地写下“兰荫深处，风肉飘香”八字。

记忆是一根柔韧的线索，将酸甜苦辣的时光碎片串联在一起。美食需要传承，但诸如此类的历史故事，多为好事者的演绎，只能姑妄听之。

江南才子袁枚曾写道：“杀猪一口，斩成八块，每块炒盐四钱，细细揉擦，使之无微不到。然后高挂有风无日处……”（《随园食单》）不少兰溪人如获至宝，频频拿来丰富风肉的文化内涵。在我看来，且不说误人子弟，总有些牵强附会，不太严谨。因为袁枚所说的“八块”，明明是江南农家常见的腊肉——宰了年猪，剖为两爿，每爿切成四块（后腿、前腿各一只，腹部再一分为二），共计“八块”。

腊肉，是盐腌的咸肉，在烘房中经火烘或烟熏而成。《易经》说：“于阳而炀于火，曰腊肉。”说明我国在2000余年前已有腊肉。腊肉在南宋《岁时广记》、明《丹船总录·饮食》中也多有记载。

当然，烘肉或者熏肉多见于中原腹地。到了江南，腌肉用水泡一泡，退一退盐分，即悬挂于老房子的门梁下、窗台边，任由山风、阳光和时间的催化……

盐会让肉不易变质。风肉无疑是腊肉，但较之于腊肉，它有鲜明的特质——低盐。也许，这是风肉从腊肉中分离出来的缘由，也更符合现代人的饮食习惯。

风肉背后的天时地利

风肉红白相间，是风干的五花肉。两爿百把斤的鲜肉，仅有十来斤好用。剔除肋骨，去净皮质上的毛发和杂质，挤出血管内的淤血，快刀切成两厘米宽的肉条，再给它绑上新鲜棕榈叶，涂抹适量花椒盐，“高挂有风无日处”。如此，挂了洗，洗了挂，往复五六次，才算大功告成。

顾名思义，“风”乃风肉之“魂”。江南孟冬，小雪来临，“天气”上腾，“地气”下沉，空气干燥，最宜风干。

风肉惧湿，但亦不喜干;惧热，但亦不喜寒。太湿，容易使悬肉生虫变质，太干又极易导致肉质硬化;天寒可防腐，但太寒则冻彻悬肉，腌味难以入肉，气候太暖和虽味能入肉，却又不能久放。

“道可道，非常道。名可名，非常名。”曾问道响，如何解決这一“二律背反”矛盾？“地利。”道响实诚，一语中的。

天不帮忙，风肉亦不美。一条上佳风肉必定熟知白雪的气息，吸收了阳光的气味，肉质结实紧致，既可独烹，也可吊汤，更可炼油混炒。

风肉怎么做才最鲜美

“蒸”有真味。上锅隔水蒸半小时，满屋子都是浓浓的肉香。趁热切片，金黄色的是皮，透明粉白的是肥肉，枣红色的是精肉。

有人说，花生米、猪油渣、酱爆螺蛳是俗人下酒之“妙物”。殊不知，等你尝过风肉，“三兄弟”恐怕就要变成“四金刚”。

有一回，我将农家烤豆腐配上刚蒸熟的风肉，居然亦是门当户对——豆腐切片，两面烤黄，风肉薄片与金黄豆腐齐整地码在椭圆形盘子的两端，中间置放一碟土蜂蜜。豆香、腊香，交相混香;一硬一软，一咸一淡，相得益彰。

“糖蘸风肉”，据说是朱元璋爱吃的御宴珍品，是否属实，且不管它。兰溪也有一款“蜜汁风肉”，风肉薄如蝉翼，糖霜替代蜜汁，蘸而食之，咸甜交错，嘎嘣有声。

筷夹“刀板香”，心想农家乐。“刀板香”是我杜撰的菜名，自忖有点点创意。因为它让人想起“小桥、流水、人家”，想起“桃花源里人家”，想起“炊烟袅袅香黄粱”的农家大厨房，想起农家切菜的大砧板，更让人想起农家纯情待客的大块腊肉香。

风肉与竹笋是一对欢喜冤家。冬笋鲜美，爱耍小脾气，单独清炒，舌头会有些发麻。但如果和风肉混炖，它的那点小脾气就荡然无存。

“腌笃鲜”乃江南名馔，频现餐桌。春笋以时令之鲜，风肉以内化之鲜，鲜鲜相印，“笃”就了咸肉炖春笋的灵魂。而兰溪人弃“笃”爱“蒸”，亦是别出心裁——春笋切成滚刀块，风肉切薄片，覆盖其上，猛火蒸十分钟，俗称“风肉蒸笋”。

风肉炖萝卜也是不错的选择。萝卜切块，一条风肉对半切断，一块儿入锅。先急火猛炖，再文火慢烀;大火转小火，慢慢熬煮，好听的声音——咕嘟，咕嘟，透出曼妙风味。炖时，你可以在厨房里，望望远，听听歌，还可以随手点开几段折子戏：陈美兰的“穆桂英挂帅”，吴光煜的“小和尚下山”、张建敏的“三请樊梨花”……

婉轉的歌声来自灵魂的吟唱，和现实当中愈来愈浓的肉香交织，精神的物质的，丰沛之至，真让人不知怎样安然消受这丰腴的幸福。

风肉过老酒，乡情暖人心。近代著名记者、作家曹聚仁乃兰溪梅江人，特别珍惜亲友团聚的惬意时光。那一年，他回归阔别多年的故里，信手写下切身感受：“兰江两岸三寸雪，风过悬肉胜梅香！”

（本文图片来自视觉中国）

Lanxi， a county-level city under the jurisdiction of Jinhua in central Zhejiang， boasts the preserved pork， a specially pickled local delicacy， despite the fact that Jinhua is famed for many other brands of bacons and hams.

The preserved pork of Lanxi is also known as air-dried pork. In Lanxi， there are a number of brands of the air-dried pork. My favorite is “Wheel Rock” preserved pork. The rock itself is little known to people beyond Lanxi， but the Wheel Rock Preserved Pork is a time-honored brand of Zhejiang.

Unlike Jinhua Ham which is dried by fire or smoke inside a well-designed and well operated workshop， the preserved pork of Lanxi is dried outdoors， usually under eaves， getting cured by wind， temperature and time. The meat for air-dried pork comes from sides of slaughtered pigs， with ribs removed. The meat is cut into long slices about two centimeters wide. The slices are pickled with salt commingled with the powder of Sichuan peppercorn. The slices are then wrapped up in the palm fronds before they are hanged out under eaves. After a period of time， the pork is washed to remove some salt. And then it is air-dried again. This dry-and-washing process must be repeated at least five times. This process creates an outstanding feature that distinguishes the preserved pork of Lanxi from all other bacons and hams： it is not annoyingly salty. In Lanxi， the appropriate time to pickle and air-dry pork is early November when it is relatively dry and cold. If the weather is too humid or too dry or too cold， the meat will not cure well.

According to Chen Daoxiang， the fifth-generation master of the air-dried pork of Lanxi， Lanxi boasts a full range of opportune weather advantages for preserving pork well. He says that the preserved pork of Lanxi dates back to the Northern and Southern Dynasties （420-589） and it was Shu Yuanyu （791-835）， a prime minister of the Tang Dynasty and native of Lanxi， who first called the delicacy air-dried pork.

Some folk historians in Lanxi eagerly circulate a story about the preserved pork of Lanxi. According to these historians， Zhu Yuanzhang， the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty （1368-1644）， enjoyed the preserved pork of Lanxi after his army of insurgents was routed and he went into hiding in Lanxi. After he founded the dynasty， he ordered the preserved pork to be shipped as tribute from Lanxi to the court every year. Many years later， Zhu Houzhao， an eight-generation grandson of Zhu Yuanzhang and the tenth emperor of the Ming， visited Lanxi and wrote a short inscription in praise of the pork his forefather loved so much. Whether the story is true or not， the pork is indisputably and charmingly delicious.

There are many ways to cook and enjoy the Wheel Rock Preserved Pork. For some gourmets， the preserved pork of Lanxi tastes best after it is steamed for half an hour. Additionally， the steamed preserved pork gives a pleasant odor and looks nice， adding a hedonic pleasure to the deliciousness. The steamed pork can also be served with fried tofu. The delicacy is most enjoyable if it is served with a small bowl of honey. The diner can dip the pork into honey. It offers a thrilling mouth feel. The preserved pork， when cut into extremely thin slices， can be a great treat if the diner dips the slices into fine sugar. The preserved pork， if cut into chops， can go well with fried tofu， also cut into chops. The chops of winter bamboo shoot and preserved pork are a perfect mix. The sliced preserved pork can be best enjoyed if steamed with chopped spring bamboo shoot. Radish chops and preserved pork can also be stewed together and it is popular with many local residents in Lanxi.