雨后春笋入馔鲜

周江鸿

昭苏万物春风里，更有笋尖出土忙。

一场溟濛的春雨下过之后，山间竹林里“飒飒”冒出好多好多竹笋芽儿，嫩青如玉，秀削玲珑。好竹连山觉笋香，春笋便成了百姓饭桌上一道美味佳肴。

以笋入馔 历史悠久

竹笋，山珍中的翘楚。古代称之为“苞”。以笋入馔，历史悠久。早在夏商时期，华夏先民就开始食笋尝鲜，且代代相传，食笋已有三千年以上的历史。周代，竹笋已和香蒲一起作为人们餐桌上的美味佳肴了。《诗经》中有“加豆之实，笋菹鱼醢”、“其蔬伊何，惟笋及蒲”的食笋记载。

笋，堪称“素食第一”，是山珍美味佳肴，民间有“无笋不成席”之食俗。用笋烹制的各种菜肴，香气清逸，滋味鲜美。周成王临终前，召集满朝的文武诸侯拥戴康王登基，设“敷重笋席”宴请款待诸侯文武大臣，可见笋宴在当时之隆重规格。唐王李世民开创唐朝，建都长安，是一位颇喜食笋的皇帝。但长安少竹，鲜笋难得，故身价百倍。诗人李商隐就有“嫩箨香苞初出林，於陵论价重如金”的描述。

唐太宗在当朝执政期间，每逢春笋上市，总要召集文武百官吃笋，谓之“笋宴”，他爱用笋来象征国运昌盛，天下人才辈出，犹如“雨后春笋，生机勃勃”。

传说清康熙皇帝特别喜食江南春笋。《红楼梦》作者曹雪芹的祖父曹寅与其妻兄李煦，曾用“笋宴”招待南巡的康熙皇帝，并获得赞赏。后来，曹寅在江宁、苏州织造和两淮盐政任内，每年都向京城进贡“燕来笋”(即燕子来时出土的鲜嫩春笋)。

竹笋的种类繁多，如春笋、夏笋、冬笋、毛笋、鞭笋、淡笋、石笋、野笋等等，或鲜或干，或腌或焙或泡，一年四季皆有上市。晋代戴凯写有《竹谱》，其中记述了不同品种的竹笋，大致分为冬笋、春笋、鞭笋三类。清代戏剧家李笠翁把竹笋提到“蔬食第一品”的高度。在《闲情偶寄·饮馔部》说：“凡食中无论荤素，皆用竹调味，菜中之笋与药中之甘草，同是必要之物，有此则诸味皆鲜。”他觉得肥羊乳猪也比不上它。

名人爱笋 书画诗颂

竹笋脆嫩鲜美，清香可口，博得了不少文人雅士的厚爱和赞美，不足为奇。宋代大文豪、美食家苏轼一生爱竹，自题“宁可食无肉，不可居无竹”之“竹铭”。后来传诵的“无肉令人瘦，无竹令人俗，若要不瘦又不俗，除非餐餐笋烧肉”，更说明在他眼里，笋是每日不可少的食物。苏东坡曾做过一首竹笋诗：“故人知我意，千里寄竹萌。骈头玉婴儿，一一脱锦

。庖人应未识，旅人眼先明……”诗中他将洁白如玉的竹笋形容为刚脱襁褓的婴儿，而北方大厨师还不识此为何物，羁旅他乡的南方人，见了春笋后眼睛都发亮了。

唐代诗人杜甫对笋也有赞赏：“青青竹笋迎船出，白白江鱼入馔来。”诗人把嫩笋和鲜鱼搭配一起，可见其馔鲜美无比了。皮日休的“水花移得和鱼子，山蕨收时带竹胎”则称竹笋为“竹胎”。

白居易对食笋也情有独钟，他在《食笋》一诗中写道：“置之炊甑中，与饭同时熟。紫箨坼故锦，素肌掰新玉。每日遂加餐，经时不思肉。久为京洛客，此味常不足。且食勿踟躇，南风吹作竹。”他认为食笋鲜美可促食欲，久之连肉也不想吃了。

宋代诗人陆游将竹笋视为“天厨仙供”，他在《食江西笋》中夸赞：“色如玉版猫头笋，味抵驼峰牛尾狸。”

其他文人墨客赞赏竹笋的诗词也比比皆是，如欧阳修的“残雪压枝犹有橘，冻雷惊笋欲抽芽”；黄庭坚的“竹笋才生黄犊角，蕨芽初长小儿拳”；范成大的“舍后菜畦犹绿秀，邻家鞭笋过墙来”。

“扬州八怪”之一的郑板桥一生酷爱画竹，对竹笋可谓迷恋之极，有诗曰：“笋菜沿江二月新，家家厨灶剥春筠。”“江南鲜笋趁鲥鱼，烂煮春风三月初。”每年阳春三月，他都要饱尝“鲜笋庖鲥鱼”几回，以解口馋。西泠印社首任社长吴昌硕在其画作《竹笋图》上题诗：“客家虽有八珍尝，哪及山家野笋香。”把竹笋的美味摆在八珍之上，可见其对竹笋的厚爱。

鲜美山珍 时令佳肴

俗话说“尝鲜无不道春笋”，通常，清明节前后乃品尝春笋的最佳时令，等笋芽破土之后，短短十几日就长成了竹子，一旦错过了这一节令，就只好等来年了。

春笋味道清淡鲜嫩，营养丰富，含有充足的水分、丰富的植物蛋白以及钙、磷、铁等人体必需的营养成分和微量元素，特别是纤维素含量很高，常食有帮助消化、防止便秘的功能。中医认为春笋有“利九窍、通血脉、化痰涎、消食胀”的功效，竹笋能吸附脂肪、促進食物发酵、有助消化和新陈代谢，可帮助减肥。

春笋，有荤素百搭之妙用，炒、烧、煮、煨、炖等皆可。笋在菜肴中既可当主料,也可作配料。以笋做馔的名菜花样百出，如：糟笋、糖笋、酸笋、笋松、炒春笋、炒冬笋、烧三笋、火腿煨三笋、冬笋煨豆腐、拌燕笋等等。即使是作配料，也非常引人注目。比如扬州的大煮干丝中配上些许笋丝，和干丝中的火腿丝红白相映，爽口且又爽眼，就更加成了蔬菜中的时鲜珍品。

名菜“腌笃鲜”，用咸肉或咸蹄髈与新鲜排骨或新鲜蹄髈慢火炖熬，再加新鲜的笋。冬天用冬笋，春天用竹笋。笃乃方言，即小火慢炖，乍一瞧汤在锅里“咕嘟嘟”地沸滚，似开非开。两小时后，汤清如水，肉烂欲脱，咸肉香嫩，新笋鲜脆。闻之香气四溢，色香味俱全，令食者倾心。而“扣三丝”为沪上传统名菜。逢时过节，老百姓家餐桌上用此菜待客，其中冬笋丝是一道必不可少的重要食料。

春笋除了用肉炖、汤煮外，江浙人最拿手的便是油焖。竹笋焯水之后切滚刀块，用葱花爆锅，下笋块炒软，调进浓油赤酱红糖等调料，加盖焖三五分钟，水干油亮，即可出锅。笋是素中之荤，需油增脂香、酒去泥腥，以油焖烹饪之法，恰恰最符合笋的性格。

如今，在菜市场上大行其道的“手剥笋”其实只是盐水煮笋的一种。而真正的盐煮笋，食之鲜而脆，是下酒的好东西。还有一种腌笋扁尖，用来煮汤、炒肉等。浙江人爱吃腌、糟、霉诸重口味的食物，宁波一带的羊尾笋清香咸爽,是佐餐的佳品。

上世纪五六十年代，生活在苏州的文化人以“淘汰俗情，渐及清望，互相唱咏，以见性灵”为乐子，常常一道雅聚，品尝美酒佳肴，或出于家庖，或出于主持中馈的妇人之手，周瘦鹃的夫人范凤君就是烹饪的高手。周瘦鹃《紫兰小筑九日记》云：午餐肴核绝美，悉出凤君手，一为咸肉炖鲜肉，一为竹笋片炒鸡蛋，一为肉馅鲫鱼，一为笋丁炒蚕豆，一为酱麻油拌竹笋，蚕豆为张锦所种，竹笋则断之竹圃中者，厥味鲜美，此行凤君偕，则食事济矣。

笋，竹之萌。其下有鞭，其上有竹，新芽名笋，笋壳名箨。美者曰篁，秀者曰筠。大者曰筼，小者曰箭。冬有冬笋，春有春筍。宋高僧赞宁编撰汇总历代流传的竹笋烹调之法为《笋谱》。

现在江南菜馆酒家的餐桌上有一款手剥笋，很受食客欢迎，其菜名叫“傍林鲜”，其实早在宋代文人林洪的《山家清供》就有记载：夏初竹笋盛时，扫叶就竹边煨熟，其味甚鲜，名“傍林鲜”。在山林野外烧烤，亲自扫叶煨笋意趣盎然，将烧熟的竹笋剥去壳，撕成细条小段，调个味汁浇于笋上一拌即可。如此煨法，保留笋味而除其涩，有火炙竹箨之香，调汁拌合时，诸味尽入而笋鲜尽显。

清代著名文人、美食家袁枚点食成经，在所著《随园食单》中专门罗列记录了笋类食品，其中就有：煨三笋、笋脯、人参笋、笋油等。

江南湿地德清下渚湖汀屿渚墩数以百计，除了大片芦苇地，还有一墩墩青翠摇曳的竹林。古代，二都一带乡村出产的春笋声名显赫，被列为朝廷贡品，其名称颇古怪，叫“猪蹄红”，可与猪蹄髈相媲美，被称为笋中绝品。春末，浙北民间将笋加工成笋脯豆，消闲小吃，佐茶下酒皆宜。

作家林语堂曾说：“竹笋之所以深受人们青睐，是因为嫩竹能给我们牙齿以一种细嫩的抵抗。品鉴竹笋也许是辨别滋味的最好一例。它不油腻，有一种神出鬼没般难以捉摸的品质。”眼下正是食笋佳季，不妨体味一回文人笔下的竹笋滋味。□

Bamboo Shoots as Springtime Delicacy

By Zhou Jianghong

In Zhejiang, spring is a season for many things. For the dinner table, bamboo shoots are springtime delicacy after it drizzles for a few days.

The Chinese treated bamboo shoots as food as early as 3,000 years ago. The Book of Odes, Chinas first collection of songs and poems edited by Confucius more than 2,500 years ago, has a song that describes bamboo shoots as a delicious food. In an-cient China, the best foods were described as treasures of the mountains and the deli-cacies of the seas and this phrase, still in use today, bears witness to an era of hunting and fishing in very ancient times. The bam-boo shoot is a treasure of the mountains.

The Chinese history relates stories of bamboo shoot as a key delicacy. An emper-or of the Zhou Dynasty (1046-771BC) sum-moned all the ministers to his palace and regaled them with a feast of bamboo shoots. It was at this feast that the dying emperor announced his arrangements for his son to succeed the throne. Li Shimin, the founding emperor of the Tang Dynasty (618-906), had a weakness for bamboo shoots. When the springtime came, he entertained his ministers and generals with a feast of bam-boo shoots. He described the national pros-perity and talents that served the dynasty as bamboo shoots in springtime, so many, and so robust.

It is said that Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) favored the springtime bamboo shoots in the south of the Yangtze River Delta.

Bamboo shoots are as many as bamboo species. As food, some shoots are fresh, some dehydrated, some pickled. Gourmets can easily name names of bamboo shoots and bamboo shoots dishes.

Due to a wide variety of species and vari-ous ways of cooking and preserving, bam-boo shoots as food can be consumed all the year round. However, the best time to eat fresh bamboo shoots is winter and spring.

In ancient China, bamboo shoots as a delicacy appeared in numerous poems and essays. Scholars would like to write poems and essays, relating how they appreci-ated the tasty dishes of bamboo shoots. Su Dongpo, arguably the greatest poet of the Song Dynasty (960-1279) and a well-known gourmet, regarded bamboo as sym-bolizing the decency of life. For him, pork braised with bamboo shoots was the best dish which enriched his life spiritually and nutritiously.

In Zhejiang, bamboo shoots shoot up in about ten days around the Qingming Festi-val in early April. This is the best time for eating springtime bamboo shoots. Bamboo shoots grow fast into bamboos during a short period. If you miss the ten-day season, you miss out on the best taste of the spring-time this year.

According to modern studies, springtime shoots offer abundant nutrients such as plant proteins, calcium, phosphor, iron. In addition, they have high contents of fiber, which helps the movements of bowels. Tra-ditional Chinese medicine considers bam-boo shoots as best medicine and theorizes that the springtime bamboo shoot promotes blood circulation, reduces phlegm, and re-moves indigestion.

Li Yu (1611-1680), a playwright and gourmet of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), commented on bamboo shoots as the best dainty, saying that it could be cooked with vegetables and meats in various ways. Chefs and gourmets of today find that springtime bamboo shoots go with all kinds of vegetables and meats and can be prepared in various ways. Springtime bamboo shoots can serve as a major ingredient or as a minor ingredient. A menu of bamboo shoot dishes can run long. Even as a minor ingredient, bamboo shoots are noteworthy and tasteful.

The dish of bacon, pork and bamboo shoot stewed for two hours enjoys great popularity in Zhejiang Province. The dish can be served in winter or spring. Spring bamboo shoot braised with soy sauce is an-other dish popular in Zhejiang and Jiangsu Province. For those who love to have a drink, a dish of bamboo shoot tips with the shell still on is the best dish to go with wine. In areas around Ningbo, a port city in eastern Zhejiang, pickled bamboo shoots are a delight on dinner table. □