头伏萝卜

潘江涛

金华有两个萝卜，一大一小。大者，产自盘前——婺城北山之顶，块头粗的，五六斤重;小的出自兰溪，一个不足半两，乃天生的腌货。

萝卜品质，无关块头大小。在农人眼里，只有经霜之后，萝卜才迎来一生中最美的年华。

时令就是这么神奇。萝卜虽无早韭、晚菘这般任性，亦有自己的禀赋特性，始终不渝地循时而长。

农谚“头伏萝卜二伏菜”，说的就是萝卜生长规律——水稻割毕，冬播小麦、移栽油菜尚早，水稻田闲着也是闲着，倒不如翻耕起畦，捣碎泥巴，顺手撒些萝卜籽——发芽，出苗，长成萝卜。

萝卜高产，一小块田地，几板车都拉不完。但物以稀为贵，产量一高，身价便低。偌大一个菜场，萝卜与青菜就像患难夫妻，相濡以沫。只是，青菜价格始终比萝卜坚挺——青菜2元，萝卜1元;青菜涨到4元，萝卜只要1.5元。

青菜不耐储，最好日买日清;萝卜买回家，随便丢在厨房角落，即便三两天后想起，亦绝不会“糠心”难吃。

当然，凡事皆有例外，倘若碰上“糠心”，亦应感到庆幸。因为这样的萝卜，大多是催生的——化肥下得猛，个头长得快，不吃也罢。

萝卜耐煮。洗净切片，剜一勺脂油在热锅中化开，下萝卜片炒一炒。加清水，没过萝卜，猛火烧开，文火炖煮。待汤水一紧，倒一小勺酱油和一丁点料酒，拌匀焖一会儿，葱花点缀。

脂油，乃熟猪油的俗称。红烧萝卜，甜鲜软烂，下饭过酒俱佳。倘以素油换下脂油，谓之“素炒”——萝卜切丝，用盐浅渍，滤去汁水，即可下锅清炒。

萝卜清炒，清新爽口，是单位食堂常备的早点小菜。兰溪乡贤李渔亦说：“生萝卜切丝作小菜，伴以醋及他物，用之下粥最宜。”

无论红烧还是素炒，萝卜均要煮透，难点在于炖煮时间的掌控和咸淡的拿捏，而秘诀无非那句老话：熟能生巧。

萝卜味淡，宜与荤料为伍。萝卜瑶柱汤是蔡澜的拿手菜。他说：“取七八颗大瑶柱，浸水后放进炖锅。萝卜切成大块铺在瑶柱上，再放一小块过水的猪肉腱，炖个两三小时，做出来的汤鲜美无比。”

瑶柱，俗称干贝，价追鲍鱼，偶尔为之，尚能承受。要说家常，还数萝卜炖牛腩。

萝卜的清新加上牛腩的鲜腴，光凭想象，就吊人胃口。而且，牛腩性热，吃多了生疮;萝卜性寒，两者混炖，恰好寒热中和，多吃也不用担心身体难受。

“萝卜配牛腩，天生是一对。”尤其是寒冷的冬日，那一碗牛腩萝卜汤温心暖胃。

大锅饭，小锅菜。要想菜肴可口，食材最为关键。但亦少不了厨师的用心用情。

供职的单位食堂可供一二千人同时用餐。规模一大，烹者食者皆有“敷衍”心理。就说上柜的菜肴吧，大盆小碟，琳琅满目，但选择余地不大——除了红烧肉和大排，似乎乏善可陈。相对而言，被人下手频率稍高的，還是萝卜丝炒蛏肉、萝卜丝炖带鱼等，即便蛏肉很瘦、带鱼细小。想来，萝卜居功至伟。

萝卜“可生可熟，可菹可酱，可豉可醋，可糖可腊可饭，乃蔬中之最有利益者。”（李时珍·《本草纲目》）只是，该如何解读这“可”那“可”中的“可腊”？

“腊”者，“风干”也——既有盐腌之后风干的，如腊肉腊鸡;也有风干之后盐腌的，如萧山萝卜干（条）等等。而农家萝卜钿（丝），则为直接风干。

秋阳似火，最宜风干。萝卜洗净刨片（细丝），竹箅摊铺，日晒夜收，燥干存储。何时想吃，取一小撮温水泡发，以猪油烀一烀，萝卜干香持久热烈，格外黏人。喜欢肉食的，剁一大块腊肉，用沙锅炖煮，咕嘟咕嘟的声音悦耳动听，常常引得口水直流。

儿时的记忆潜伏在味蕾深处，一经撩拔，便满血复活。最让游子们垂涎的，除了腊肉萝卜煲，还有那一锅鲜鲜香香的汁汤萝卜块。

汁汤，是比高汤还要浓稠的汤水。汁汤萝卜，大多是谢年的副产品。除夕，家中灶膛从早到晚烧得旺旺，一口四尺大镬炖着猪头、猪腿和糯米肠。时辰一到，爸爸捞出肉食，妈妈则将汁汤舀一半留一半，再将十几个萝卜切成大块，噗嗵噗嗵地丢进镬里。添柴烧开汁汤，再喊一声“吃饭了”，一家人便围桌而食——大碗喝酒大块吃肉。其间，膛火慢慢熄灭，而炭火余温会把镬里的萝卜块焖得软烂。

菜蔬吃剩，最忌下顿回锅。但汁汤萝卜有些另类，回锅后更加香鲜软糯，入口即化。

过年时节，乡村灶头不乏鸡鸭鱼肉，但不管哪一餐，最先见底的总是那一碗汁汤萝卜块——不是肉食，胜似肉食。

“秋吃萝卜胜良药”。据说，生饮萝卜汁，醒酒清热止咳，降血压;手足生冻疮，可将萝卜切片在炭火上烤热擦拭患部。这些民间验方是否灵验，不曾尝试。但我知道，萝卜健脾、消积食，有“小人参”美称。

读汪曾祺先生《五味集》，记住一则趣事：有人排便不畅，用了各种药物都不见疗效，后来仅仅生吃几个白萝卜，便通体舒泰。

（由视觉中国供图）

Turnips in Cuisine of Jinhua

By Pan Jiangtao

Jinhua， the central city in central Zhejiang Province， produces two kinds of turnips： big turnip roots produced in North Hill of Jinhua weigh up to 2 to 3 kilograms apiece whereas small ones grown in Lanxi are only about 25 grams apiece， good to be sliced and then pickled only.

In Jinhua， turnips are planted after the rice is harvested in hot summer days. The time is too early for planting of winter wheat or canola. Rice paddies are idle. So it would be convenient to plow the land and throw in some turnip seeds. Turnip output is always abundant and thats why they are cheap in farmers markets across Jinhua.

Turnip roots are easy to cook. In Jinhua， there are many popular recipes. In one recipe， fat bulbous roots can be sliced and then cooked with lard. Add water and let the slices stew for a while. Add some seasoning such as soy sauce and rice wine and stew the slices a bit more. Then add some green union. Its ready to enjoy.

Turnips can also be cut into chops and braised with soy sauce. The cubes are tasteful and taste. People love braised turnip chops because they go well with a bowl of rice or a cup of rice wine. Turnips can also be shredded and pickled in salt for a while; water is squeezed off before the shreds are cooked in lard. Shredded turnips are popular for breakfast in workplace canteens. Even Li Yu （1610-1680）， a native of Jinhua and author of novels and plays and informal essays and gastronomical writings， states in an essay that shredded turnips seasoned with vinegar are the best companion for congee.

No matter whether turnips are cooked with or without soy sauce， they must be cooked thoroughly. The challenging is to make turnips well-done and not too salty or inadequately salty. The secret for cooking a perfect turnip dish is in cooking itself. Practice makes perfect， as the adage suggests.

Chopped turnips are perfect to be cooked with beef and dried scallop while shredded turnips can be cooked perfectly with clam meat and ribbon fish.

Turnips can be shredded and dried and stored for a long time. Dried turnip shreds must be submerged in water for a while before they can be stewed with ham. In the 1970s and the 1980s， the stew of rehydrated turnip shreds and ham was very popular in rural areas of Zhejiang.

Turnips can also be cooked with pork. In my personal memory， turnip chops were also part of the huge pork dish we had at the dinner on the eve of the Spring Festival. Turnip chops were thrown into the big wok in which pork and sausages were cooked. After pork and sausage dishes were consumed， we turned to turnip chops which were extremely soft and melt once they were inside the mouth.

In traditional Chinese medicine， turnips are fine medicine if taken in autumn. It is said that a cup of fresh turnip juice can alleviate intoxication， remove excessive heat， stop coughing， and lower blood pressure. The turnip is an ingredient in some herbal prescriptions.

In an essay by Wang Zengqi （1920-1997）， a gourmet and essayist and storywriter， the author records a short anecdote about a certain man who was afflicted with constipation. The man tried many treatments in vain. Then someone suggested eating raw turnips. Pretty soon the patient had miraculously smooth bowl movements and all was okay. Wang said the patient was a certain leader， but didnt specify whether the leader learned a lesson or two from the turnip experience about life or his career.