夏嘗黃腳立

夏嘗黃腳立

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

資深影視人、名媛、暢銷書作家。代表作包括最佳外語小說獎獲得作品《別愛蘇黎世》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.”

到了夏天最熱的時候，該吃黃腳立了——這個給世間帶來純粹的鮮甜魚味兒，值得大篇幅贊美。

一般來說，一斤左右的黃腳立最美味，蒸到最佳的境界是最中間還有一絲兒連骨的肉，那入口堪稱完美，肉質鮮嫩，香氣四溢。

我對黃腳立有個情結。這得從吃石斑說起。石斑是香港宴客一定會叫的魚，一桌上沒條斑，好像都不算個體面局子。有段時間，我以為這個是香港最好吃的海鮮，就隔三岔五地往家買斑在外吃斑，東星西星老鼠斑，瓜子燕子芝麻斑，通通吃了一遍，手機里還有個“斑log”，記著幾月幾日吃了什么斑口感咋樣味道好不好。斑么，肉質細滑，但好像吃來吃去都沒有“老子啊，神仙吃的！”那種感嘆。直到有天我偶遇一文，就說“識食”就要吃野生黃腳立，一條好魚，蒸時在客廳都能聞到香味。

黃腳立，就是黃鰭鯛魚，據說野生的特別狡猾，經常咬著魚餌但不吞鉤，特別難釣。街市賣的一般都是冰凍養殖，一股泥味，肉質粗糙，不吃也罷。后來聽說香港有家“松記士多”，在谷埔村，地處偏遠卻特受歡迎，就因為老板是個老饕，經常能有野生黃腳立提供給行山客。我當時一聽樂了，必須得親自去感受感受，于是在鯛魚當造時，花4個多小時，從港島跋山涉水去過兩次，但都無功而返，至今仍有些遺憾。

據說蔡瀾和倪匡也特別愛吃黃腳立，每每聽聞流浮山有野釣好貨，就飛奔而去。蔡瀾在一篇叫《黃腳》的文章里寫道：倪匡有次吃完，贊說“黃腳第一，紅斑第二”，蔡答“能做第二，已算很好”，倪大笑，說這第一和第二，跟金庸古龍一樣，差十萬八千里呢。