蘭江刀魚

三川

要說蘭江刀魚，先聽一則“舊聞”。

某天清晨，蘭溪老漁民楊清松在三江口一帶捕魚，一網(wǎng)下去撈上3條小魚。這魚體形修長(zhǎng)，臀鰭稀薄，銀光閃爍。楊清松看著眼熟，卻一時(shí)叫不出名來。出于職業(yè)敏感，他把小魚拍了照，上岸征詢水產(chǎn)專家，這才解開心中疑團(tuán)，逢人便說：刀魚回來了！

這一利好消息，發(fā)生在2020年9月。幾個(gè)月后，《浙江日?qǐng)?bào)》記者偶爾聽聞，掂出其中的新聞價(jià)值，于2021年1月3日在頭版作了大篇幅追蹤報(bào)道。

水清魚歸，并非偶然。因?yàn)檎憬摹拔逅仓巍卑l(fā)軔于2013年11月，如今蘭江水域重現(xiàn)刀魚，不單單驗(yàn)證了近8年來的治水成效，更傳遞出整個(gè)錢塘江流域水系生態(tài)改善的強(qiáng)烈信號(hào)。

只是，新聞易逝又易碎，有多少讀者關(guān)心關(guān)注蘭江刀魚的回歸呢？

那天，有同事忽然問我：吃過刀魚嗎？我說，余生亦晚，又世居大山深處，哪有這等口福。

不過，我雖沒見過刀魚真身，卻吃過商店里賣的鳳尾魚罐頭，印在商標(biāo)上的鳳尾魚跟刀魚極其相似。

鳳尾魚多產(chǎn)于上海崇明與寶山一帶，捕撈盛期在5月中旬到6月底。魚長(zhǎng)三寸，滿腹魚籽。油鍋煎炸，香酥可口。而刀魚，雖說和鳳尾魚是近親，卻因生長(zhǎng)水域不同，無論是滋味還是身價(jià)，皆不可同日而語。報(bào)載，十多年前，倘在南京的星級(jí)酒店宴客，3條刀魚湊足0.5公斤，清蒸上桌，時(shí)價(jià)破萬。

“揚(yáng)子江頭雪作濤，纖鱗潑潑形如刀?！保ㄇ?· 清端）刀魚屬洄游性魚類，桃花流水時(shí)節(jié)，春江水暖，成群的刀魚接受江南煙雨之邀請(qǐng)，從咸淡交匯處出發(fā)，潑剌剌地逆流而上，找尋產(chǎn)卵家園，夏秋季又陸續(xù)回到大海……

蘭江是錢塘江的重要支流，上承婺江、衢江，下連黃公望描摹過的富春江，雖不屬長(zhǎng)江水系，卻擁有一個(gè)共同家園——東海。所以，蘭江刀魚與長(zhǎng)江刀魚，僅有一字之差，實(shí)為同一品種。

只可惜，刀魚對(duì)洄游線路的環(huán)境異常敏感，早在三四十年前雖由于污染和屢禁不止的江底挖砂，蘭江水域就漸漸難覓刀魚蹤影了。

“清明掛刀，端午品鰣?！钡遏~，清人稱其為“春饌第一鮮品”，在長(zhǎng)江三鮮（鰣時(shí)、刀魚、鮰魚）中，最先吃到的便是刀魚，但有個(gè)時(shí)令界限，即最好在清明前捕食，其時(shí)肉嫩刺軟，過了清明便稱“老刀”，鱗刺會(huì)逐漸硬化，除了吃時(shí)會(huì)卡喉外，鮮味也遜色不少。所以，吳地有“刀不過清明”之說。

據(jù)說，清洗刀魚，甭開膛剖肚，拿根筷子從魚鰓處伸進(jìn)一攪，卷出魚腸，魚的身形仍然完整。料理如此簡(jiǎn)單，非實(shí)際操持者不能言。

依我的餐廚經(jīng)驗(yàn)，江鮮的烹法不外紅燒、清蒸和油炸。然而，翻了翻資料，才知刀魚做法真是多得去了。譬如，集清代中期廚師經(jīng)驗(yàn)之大成的《調(diào)鼎集》，便載有刀魚圓、炸刀魚、炙刀魚、刀魚湯、刀魚豆腐等十多種。

袁枚喜歡清蒸刀魚：“用蜜酒釀、清醬放盤中，如鰣魚法蒸之最佳。”又說：“金陵人畏其多刺，竟油炙極枯，然后煎之。諺曰：‘駝背夾直，其人不活。此之謂也。”（《隨園食單》）想來，袁才子在錄寫這一條時(shí)心里一定不太痛快。要不然，他不會(huì)把民間諺語列于其后。

清人倪繩中在《南匯竹枝詞》中寫道：“春三刀鱭燉鮮湯，不用煎熬異品嘗。一種作餅宜搗爛，拌和菜韭味鮮香?！睙鯗咆i油，魚肉餅要搭咸菜或春韭。

著名作家汪曾祺“滿口噙香中國(guó)味”，他的美食散文玲瓏剔透，人見人愛。他說，金圣嘆曾以為刀魚刺多是人生恨事之一。不會(huì)吃刀魚的人是很容易卡到嗓子的。鎮(zhèn)江人把刀魚煮至稀爛，用紗布濾去細(xì)刺，做湯，下面，即謂“刀魚面”，很美。

味美的江鮮，大多刺多。鰣魚、刀魚是這樣，就連淡水中的白條、翹嘴、黃尾巴亦不例外。刀魚刺多，許多北方人便不敢享用，但又禁不住那細(xì)膩口感之誘惑，便生發(fā)張愛玲式的“恨意”。

刺多，確是刀魚“缺點(diǎn)”。然而，唯其刺多，才更成就其鮮美。倘若無刺，那鮮嫩無比的魚肉囫圇吞下，幾乎不可能細(xì)品其味。正因?yàn)槟切┸洿?，魚肉在味蕾上才有回旋的余地，一舔一抿間，其味之鮮也就倍覺悠長(zhǎng)。

吃魚讓人安靜。但說來說去，皆為吳地食法。越地蘭溪曾有“一江漁火，十里歌聲”之輝煌，普通市民又是怎么烹食刀魚的呢？

陳金法在蘭江討食已有40余年，是當(dāng)?shù)貫閿?shù)不多的老漁民之一，說起刀魚簡(jiǎn)直如數(shù)家珍。他告訴我們，上世紀(jì)五六十年代，蘭江刀魚主要集中在女兒灘下游，捕撈時(shí)間大多在清明前后。每條大約20來公分長(zhǎng)，大點(diǎn)的四兩左右。刀魚肉質(zhì)鮮嫩，刺多卻很軟，即便給小孩吃，也不致卡喉。至于燒法，城里人喜歡清蒸，而漁民因?yàn)槠鹁硬槐?，只能因陋就?jiǎn)，放鑊里煮煮，醬油蘸了吃。燜飯時(shí)，有的農(nóng)戶喜歡將刀魚直接攤在米飯上烀烀。飯熟揭蓋，取筷搛住魚頭抖一抖，那魚肉便會(huì)自然滑落，真情演繹一鍋幸福滿滿的江南“魚米之香”。

吳風(fēng)越俗，山連水依。蘭溪先賢李漁頗懂刀魚，想必沒有少吃。他說，食別的魚都有厭時(shí)，唯有刀魚是“愈嚼愈甘，至果腹而不能釋乎”。

The Lanjiang River Tapertail Anchovy

By? San Chuan

Before talking about the Lanjiang river tapertail anchovy in depth， lets hear an old story first.

One day very early in the morning， Yang Qingsong， an old fisherman in Lanxi， was fishing in the estuary of the Wujiang River， the Qujiang River and the Lanjiang River and caught three small fish in one net. The fish were long and slender， with thin anal fins and a silvery glint. They looked familiar to Yang， who just could not name them right away. Out of professional sensitivity， he took a picture of the fish， with which he then consulted an aquatic expert. The mystery was solved： the tapertail anchovy was back！

This piece of inspiring news was reported in September 2020. A few months later， a reporter from Zhejiang Daily accidently heard about it， sensed its value and wrote a long follow-up report for the front page of Zhejiang Daily on January 3， 2021.

Yet the return of tapertail anchovy into the clear water of the Lanjiang River is nothing accidental. Thanks to Zhejiangs “Five Water Governance Plan” initiated in November 2013， the provinces water governance has been effectively improved since eight years ago， so has been the water ecology of the entire Qiantang River basin.

But how many readers will continue to actually care about the return of the tapertail anchovy， after the news quickly faded away？

The other day， a colleague suddenly asked me： “Have you ever eaten tapertail anchovy？” “I just dont have the luck，” I answered. I have never seen a real tapertail anchovy， but I ate canned anchovies sold in stores before， and the anchovy printed on the trademark looked very similar to tapertail anchovy.

Anchovies are mostly produced in Chongming and Baoshan of Shanghai， and are caught between mid-May and the end of June. The fish is about four inches long and full of roe， crispy and delicious when fried with oil. And for tapertail anchovy， although it is a close relative to anchovy， the former tastes better and costs much higher because the two kinds of fish live in different waters.

The Lanjiang River is an important tributary of the Qiantang River， connecting with the Wujiang River and the Qujiang River at the upstream， and the Fuchun River at the downstream. Although not a part of the Yangtze River system， it entually flows into the East China Sea as well. Therefore， the Lanjiang river tapertail anchovy and the Yangtze River tapertail anchovy are of the same species.

Unfortunately， tapertail anchovy is very sensitive to the environment of the migratory route. As early as 30 or 40 years ago， due to the pollution and repeated dredging of the bottom sand， it has been increasingly difficult to find tapertail anchovy in the Lanjiang river.

The fish was highly valued and praised by people of the Qing dynasty （1616-1911） as “the most delicious dish of spring”， and it is quite seasonal — usually caught before the Qingming Festival， its texture is extremely tender and the bones soft， but after that the texture and the bones will become harder， hence less tasty.

To clean a tapertail anchovy， you dont have to cut open its belly but only need to stick a chopstick through one of its gills and roll out the intestines， leaving the fish intact. It seems an easy preparation — if you can actually nail it.

According to my cooking experience， there are only a few ways to cook tapertail anchovy， such as braising with soy sauce， steaming and deep-frying. But after browsing through relevant literature， I realize that there are so many other ways out there. For example， Yuan Mei （1716-1798）， a famous Qing poet， loved to eat steamed tapertail anchovy. Ni Shengzhong （1845-1919）， another Qing poet， recommended to use tapertail anchovy meat for filling fish meat pies. Wang Zengqi （1920-1997）， a well-known contemporary Chinese writer， suggested that tapertail anchovy could be fully stewed to make fish soup noodles.

Unfortunately， most tasty river fishes have a lot of bones， which is especially true with tapertail anchovy. Its intimidating number of bones almost makes northerners （who are not used to eating bony river fish） hesitate before they finally decide to have a try — after all， the extremely tender texture is so irresistible.

Being bony is perhaps one of the unappealing features of tapertail anchovy， but it is exactly the same feature that makes its meat taste all the more delicious. If there are no bones， the tender meat will be swallowed without being chewed thoroughly， and that makes it almost impossible for people to fully savor what the meat exactly tastes like. Thanks to those soft bones， people have to slow down to lick and sip， enjoying the tender texture and the lingering flavor with their taste buds.

How do Lanxi folks cook tapertail anchovy？ Chen Jinfa， who has been fishing in the Lanjiang River for more than 40 years， told us that in the 1950s and 1960s， tapertail anchovy in the Lanjiang river were mainly concentrated in the lower reaches of the mud flat， and the fishing time was around the Qingming Festival. Tapertail anchovy meat is tender in texture with a lot bones that are soft enough to avoid being stuck in even a childs throat. As for the cooking method， city people like to steam it， while fishermen tend to keep it simple by putting it to boil， and dipping it in soy sauce after it is done. Some people prefer to spread pieces of tapertail anchovy meat on top of the rice to be cooked together. When the rice is cooked， the fish will also be cooked to the point that its meat just falls off the bones naturally， giving off a nice aroma — that is one potful of happiness.

Li Yu （1611-1680）， the sage of Lanxi， knew well about the Lanjiang River tapertail anchovy and certainly must have eaten many. According to him， you could grow tired of eating other fishes， but tapertail anchovy is the only kind of fish that “the more you chew， the more sweetness you will taste and you just cant stop eating until there is absolutely no room in your stomach.”