牛毛菜海蛎子汤

吴春明

過年，吃惯了山珍海味，大鱼大肉，几顿下来早已没了胃口。这时候在家设宴款待亲朋好友，最后来一道牛毛菜海蛎子汤，那一定会起到出其不意，完美收官的效果。

牛毛菜生长在波浪冲击、盐度较高的岩礁上，大多是向光生长。这种贴着礁石生长的短短的黄褐色藻类叫石花菜，也叫海冻菜、凤尾草或草珊瑚。土生土长的海岛人则通常把它叫做“牛毛菜”，是因其晒干后状若牛毛而得名。当地人多在数九隆冬采其晒干贮存，备做汤菜或者打冻用。

牛毛菜含有大量的琼胶、多糖及粘液质，还含有无机盐、钾、钠、钙及多种微量元素，粘性很大，可以制成凉粉、琼脂、冻粉等。琼脂又叫洋菜、洋粉、石花胶，可用来制作冷食、果冻或微生物的培养基。

海蛎子最好选礁石上天然生长的。尽管个头小，品相不及养殖的个头大观感强，但味道浓郁，口感极佳。

牛毛菜海蛎子汤，只有在海岛才能享用到。牛毛菜海蛎汤做法也很简单，油热，蒜末爆锅，炒出蒜香味，倒入牛毛菜翻炒片刻加入温水，熬到稠状再放入海蛎子，三分钟后关火，撒上少许盐提味，无须配任何青头即可出锅。

酒过三巡菜过五味，嘉宾们已经吃不动喝不动了，这个时候厨房里的大嫂喊了一句上汤啦，片刻，一盆冒着热气的汤就占据了餐桌的中间，随后几个大枣饽饽也跟了上来。浓稠的牛毛菜中，海蛎子卧在其间，宾客们见状来了精神，争先恐后，一人一碗，也无须羹勺了，捧起来，呼哧呼哧来上几口，解腻又爽口，再来一块大枣饽饽，这顿饭那才叫圆满，用海岛方言来形容，那就是——真得胃。

After several rounds of wine and several courses of food， all guests become completely full， unable to drink and eat anything any longer. At this moment， with the loud words “Soup is ready” from the hostess in the kitchen， a hot pot of soup is put on the middle of the table， followed by some jujube Bobo. Amidst the thick edible seaweed， locally known as “cattle hair seaweed”， lies some oyster in the soup. All of a sudden， the guests have an appetite and each begin to get himself or herself a bowl of the soup.